Signs of Sustainability: Food choices for a healthy planet

Several times a day we eat and thereby engage with the food system.  The food system is huge globally $8T; $1.82B in the US; and $250M for Tompkins County.  There are six components of the food system production, processing, distribution, retail, preparation – consumption, and waste. Each component has several pathways with varying environmental impacts.  In his book Drawdown, Paul Hawkins identifies seventeen food system pathway choices to reduce greenhouse gas. The top four actions with the most impact are: #3 Eat a Plant-rich Diet, #4 Reduce Food Waste, #9 Use Silvo-pasture technique for grazing animals, #11 Practice Regenerative Agriculture.

During 2020-2022, the Food Policy Council of Tompkins County, in collaboration with Cornell Cooperative Extension, created the first characterization of our local food system and developed, with input from over 2000 residents, a food system plan.  One can find both documents at  https://www.tompkinsfoodfuture.org/.

We learned that 90% of our food comes from non-regional sources, travelling an average of 1500 miles to our plates. 35% of our food is wasted. We learned that local programs are saving 1400 pounds/day from landfills by being distributed to the food insecure families of our community. We learned that 94% of local farmland is used for growing food for animals.

Much of the available food has created unhealthy outcomes. 25% of our adult population is obese. Many have chronic diseases.  We learned that one source of unhealthy diets is over-processed food. These slick marketed products are loaded with sweeteners, salt, and compounds you won’t find in a garden that affect flavor, extend shelf life, and create texture. 

When making your food choices, consider that we are walking chemistry sets that process and retain what we eat. Health professionals tell us to move toward more of a whole food, plant-based diet.  We learned that folks eating an unhealthy diet, of predominately over-processed foods, pay $1800 more per year for medical expenses than those eating a whole food, nutritious diet.

One purpose of processing food is to extend shelf life.  Buying local food reduces the need for this extra processing. Fresh fruits and vegetables have all their nutrients which makes a healthy diet choice and saves the impact on the environment of both processing and transporting great distances to your plate. When looking for local produce, we have approximately six farmers markets and many roadside stands where you meet the farmers who produce these foods.  We have an expanding commercial kitchen space for value-added processes by local farmers. And many local restaurants market their use of local food products in their offerings.

Food also has a community building effect.  Gardening, food preparation, and eating with others strengthen human bonds.  And local food activity in any sector creates local wealth which is retained in our community.

Our daily food consumption choices can be an intentional action to build a local, resilient food system which is healthier for our bodies and our planet. Also, we can plan meals and make portion size choices to reduce food waste. We can eat for our local economy and increase our intake of nutrients at locally owned restaurants and retail shops that buy from regional farms. And purchase produce and value-added products from farmers markets, farm stands, and local CSA shares. Recognize when eating local food, we need to eat seasonally and be flexible about the varieties.

We can impact our planet and ourselves positively by growing more of our own food, prioritizing preparing our owns dishes from whole foods and using that food prep as family as community building times, and don’t forget U-pick opportunities.