Eating Green
Environmental problems can feel overwhelming and taking action seems pointless. The Jewish text, Pirke Avot reminds us that
“ It is not your responsibility to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist from it”
Some action is better than no action. Food shopping can be a stressful activity for someone trying to make ecologically responsible choices. Before we give up or drive ourselves crazy keep in mind that any change starts with small steps. A simple place to start is to buy more organic foods, eat less meat and support local agriculture. Doing this improves our health and the health of the environment, even if we only take these steps on occasion we are making a difference. It is that simple. One does not have to overhaul the entire diet, just take one meal at a time, slowly doing more and more.
Some things to consider
It takes more than 2,400 gallons of water to produce 1 pound of meat while growing 1 pound of wheat only requires 25 gallons. Six months of showers are roughly 2,400 gallons.
One calorie of meat protein takes 11 times more fossil fuel to produce than 1 calorie of protein from plants.
A recent study found that compared to conventionally grown food to organic food has significantly higher antioxidant, levels of cadmium were 48% lower and there was four times less pesticide residue.