Every day, we eat food, choosing what to eat sometimes mindlessly. But what we eat has a big impact on the environment. How our food is grown or raised, how it’s distributed and transported, even where it’s sold can drastically alter the planet we live on. Eating is something we all do, and if we all work together to make sensible, mindful choices with our food, we can make a big difference.
In America especially, we see an emphasis on fast, tasty, inexpensive calories in our food, instead of nutrition or quality. This leads to techniques such as monoculture, or the planting of one crop in the same field, all year, every year. While this might sound efficient and clever, monoculture can deplete soil of its nutrients and minerals. This forces farmers to treat their plants with more pesticides and fertilizers. Some of these chemicals can be very dangerous, and can affect the very water we drink and air we breathe. For instance, there’s a dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico the size of New Jersey, caused by runoff chemicals from the Mississippi River.
The Chemistry Side of Food
These environmental toxins are called xenobiotics, and they include not just pesticides but also herbicides (weed-killers), industrial chemicals, plastics, certain components of packaging, and heavy metals. One type of pesticide xenobiotic, called xenoestrogens, are frequently found in our food and water, and they don’t break down quickly once they’re inside our body. In humans, they can prevent hormone binding to hormone receptors and increase cell division, two potentially dangerous effects in individuals with pre-existing conditions.
But pesticides aren’t the only xenobiotic we should be aware of. Many modern commercial fertilizers contain elements such as nitrogen and phosphorus, and serve only to simplify the biochemistry of plants, not to help them grow. With less complex biochemistry, plants become more vulnerable. This leads to more pesticides being necessary, the consequences of which we’ve already discussed.
Plastic and Packaging
We've all heard about plastic in the oceans and in the stomachs of sea turtles, but did you know plastic and your everyday meals are related, too? In 2006 alone, the United States used 14 million tons of plastic in food packaging alone. Plastic, in a similar manner as xenobiotics, find themselves inside our food, too. When the microplastics in glitter and other materials are eaten by fish or in the water that our livestock eat, then we eat the fish and livestock, we've unknowingly polluted ourselves. Do you really want to eat plastic?
We’ve all heard that processed foods are bad for human health. Since the 1950s, there’s been exponentially less nutrition per calorie in our food, leading to us consuming more food for the same amount of vitamins and minerals. But processed foods and how they come about also damages the environment. Each step in a processing plant consumes energy, typically produced by the burning of fossil fuels. Every truck, train, or plane that ships food across the country releases carbon dioxide into our fragile atmosphere. Even simply keeping food preserved uses up energy, and often involves chemicals that don’t necessarily belong in our bodies. Furthermore, the modern supermarket produces unimaginable amounts of waste, waste that is thrown away at the end of the day instead of going to compost bins or animals.
Want to use less energy? Go local. The less transportation, storage, and processing of your food, the better for your health and for the environment. Plus, you get to support local businesses and clean agricultural techniques.
After all this information, it can be difficult to figure out which foods are best for you and for the earth. Luckily, we’re here to help.
Foods to avoid:
Animals high on the food chain
Animals such as cows and sheep are given immense amounts of grazing land, which frequently come at the cost of forests and rainforests. Their food is also often treated with fertilizers, and the animals themselves are injected with hormones.
An abundance of seafood
While seafood might be tasty and a huge part of local tourism, modern fishing techniques damage the earth sometimes permanently. Overfishing causes many marine species to relocate, forcing fishers to travel further and further to obtain the same amount of food, burning fossil fuels and polluting the ocean.
Processed foods
As previously stated, each step in the processing plants consumes precious energy and depletes your food of its nutritional value.
Foods to enjoy:
In general, organic, locally grown foods are the best for both your community and the environment. Buy hormone-free meat, if you just can’t go vegetarian. While you’re stuck at home, consider starting a garden, so you can be sure of having clean, healthy foods.
Grobbel, Kelsey. “How Food Choices Affect the Environment.” Gordon Food Service, www.gfs.com/en-us/ideas/how-food-choices-affect-the-environment.
“How Are Food and the Environment Related?” Taking Charge of Your Health & Wellbeing, www.takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/explore-healing-practices/food-medicine/how-are-food-and-environment-related.
Moss, Laura. “12 Foods That Are Bad for the Planet.” MNN, Mother Nature Network, 2 Jan. 2020, www.mnn.com/food/healthy-eating/photos/12-foods-that-are-bad-for-the-planet/packaged-and-processed-food.