Reflecting on the environmental geography of my meal:
My Meal was generally
green compared to most meals. I made homemade gnocchi, tomato sauce, salad, and
had a water to drink. My meal isn’t necessarily a solution as a whole, but it
also isn’t the problem as a whole.
Certain ingredients such as the tomatoes I used were homegrown, without
pesticides, and only watered with rainwater. This is a great solution to cut
down on water use and pesticides that damage our environment. Unfortunately,
the only time my family is able to grow tomatoes is during the warmer seasons
because they don’t survive during the winter. My meal also consisted of a few
other water demanding products such as lettuce, potatoes (for the gnocchi) and
lemons. If all of these products were grown at my house, without pesticides, my
meal would have been much “greener”.
My
meal contributed to the solution of global problems in many ways. By home
growing some of my ingredients, I cut down on pesticide damage, water use, and
most importantly the transportation of these goods that emits pollutants into
the atmosphere. This also helps reduce local demand for the products, which
means transportation declines, water use declines, and pesticide use declines.
Overall, the most negative impact comes from the pollution from transporting
the goods to my local market place. Since we live in a place where most goods cannot
survive in the harsh winter, we have to have certain goods transported to us.
However, if there are products that do not use pesticide or are organic we can
help support them by only buying those products and forcing other carriers to
change to organic and more eco-friendly methods. These methods would also help
our local community be “greener” when buying goods.
At
the micro-scale of my household, growing our own goods keeps the products at
our fingertips. We prevent the amount of pollution that emits from our cars
driving into town to get groceries, and also the transportation from bigger
farms that grow our products. We also
only rely on rainwater for our products, so our water use is not a significant
negative impact either.
The main dish of my meal, gnocchi, is simple and for the
most part, an eco-friendly dish that anyone could make and eat. By encouraging
people to eat healthier and to grow all the goods they can at home, they are
saving gas, money, and saving the environment one good at a time. If everyone
did this, even only when the seasons allowed, the amount of water use and
pollution emissions would decrease significantly. We can’t always have
eco-friendly meals, but it is a great thing to keep in mind when cooking up
your next meal. Avoiding meat is one of the most environmentally friendly
things you can do when it comes to food. The amount of energy and waste that
comes with meat production is insane compared to the amount that is actually
produced. This activity definitely made me more conscious about my food, how it
impacts the environment and myself, and where it came from!
Thanks for reading,
Ellen
