It reflects poorly on me, but I’m inconsistent about keeping the environment in mind when making food choices. I try to be conscious of where my food comes from and how much energy it takes to get there, but I always end up feeling guilty, and wonder if there is much I can do to change this on an individual level.
One way might be to start with the beverage I depend on the most: coffee. As a coffee drinker, I wonder what initiatives I should take to have less of an impact on the environment. Should I only drink organic coffee? What if I bought from a local roaster? Another question I ask is how to go about this without being hypocritical: what good is it to bring a mug for coffee if coffee production is destroying natural eco-systems that will never fully recover?
Although coffee has a tremendous impact on the environment, beef has the greatest environmental impact. Eating beef is costly: deforestation, water scarcity, soil erosion, and loss of biodiversity are all results of cattle and beef production. And to think that beef is produced in abundance for the West…while millions of children and adults suffer from malnutrition and die from hunger. Based on my little knowledge on this issue, I'm going to cut it off here for now. Hope to add more after our next class.
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