I’ve come to realize that what we eat is one of the major, if not the major influence we, as humans, imprint upon our planet.

Certainly through population growth the world has been changed by the sheer need to feed the billions of people now living on Earth. What amazes me is that no one is really talking about food and nutrition as part of conservancy; it is all about pollutants and energy.

A decade ago we lived in Los Cabos, Mexico. At first when we arrived. there was trash on the highway comprised of glass soft drink bottles, paper, organic material, and you often saw fires being lit to burn the organic debris. The last time I was in Los Cabos the highway was littered with 2 liter plastic soft drink bottles, Styrofoam, beer cans, fast-food containers and plastic grocery bags. All of these items have been created for food service. No more fires to get rid of these items.

I believe we can really make a difference in reducing our carbon footprint by taking time to just assess what we buy and how it is packaged when it comes to food. Just food. We buy food out of season brought to us from who knows where just for our convenience. What ever happened to looking forward to perfectly ripe strawberries? Tomatoes (don’t get me going)? Eating seasonally???

Ask yourself next time you are at the grocery store…how far did what you are about to buy travel to be there? How did it have to be packaged to survive the trip? Should we buy more bulk items using our own re-usable containers versus over-packaged and over-priced containers that are all about marketing and not what is inside?

I believe that change begins with us. The more conscious we are about our choices, then every choice we make will make for a better world. A world for others to enjoy.