Facts and tips on food
I am learning that the best local produce is grown and raised in the backyard, like the eggs laid by our very own hens, pictured here.
Fact: In North America, fruits and vegetables travel an average of 1,500 miles before reaching your dinner table.
Tip: Choose local produce, which cuts back on energy used in transportation and usually guarantees a fresher product.
Fact: If the average American replaced the beef and pork in their diet with poultry, he would save 1,555 pounds of heat-trapping pollutants from being emitted into the atmosphere each year.
Tip: Calculate your food footprint. (You can calculate your overall carbon footprint at The Nature Conservancy's website, http://www.nature.org/initiatives/climatechange/calculator/.)
Facts and tips on trash
Fact: Packaging makes up a third of all garbage tossed in the U.S.
Tip: Whenever possible, look for packaging made from recycled materials, and always check the plastic code to make sure the package is recyclable.
Fact: The average American uses 50 pounds of tissue paper per year.
Tip: Save trees by choosing products with the highest content of "post-consumer waste," or PCW.
Fact: Each year an estimated 14 billion pounds of trash are dumped into the world's oceans.
Tip: Visit oceanconservancy.org to get educated and get involved.
Fact: Roughly 40% of heavy metals, including lead, mercury and cadmium, in landfills comes from electronic equipment discards.
Tip: Look for electronic companies, like Dell, have take-back programs for used products.
Here are a couple of additional tips I received in an email from the No Impact Project. The website for the project is http://noimpactproject.org.
Paper phone books opt-out - http://bit.ly/2p5USA
Stop junk mail - http://bit.ly/4A9v5q
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