Blog Post 4: Let's go Green!

    My previous meal consisting of tomato basil soup, grilled cheese, cucumbers, grapes, and a banana has some significant environmental impacts. The cheese, while sourced locally from the Wisconsin Cheese Company, is likely produced through dairy farming practices that contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, overuse of water, and deforestation. Additionally, the banana is grown in countries with intensive farming systems that lead to deforestation, pesticide use, and soil degradation. These environmental costs are compounded by the transportation of both products, which results in carbon emissions from the trucks used to transport them.

Global or National Scale Solutions:

    On a global scale, solutions would need to focus on promoting sustainable dairy farming and better transparency in supply chains. Regulations could be formed to reduce emissions from dairy production and encourage farms to adopt more environmentally friendly practices.  One example of something that the state of California has already started doing is reusing water in dairy farming. With a large chunk of California being in a drought, reusing water allows for less water to be used overall. The practice is simple: the first cycle of water is used to chill the milk. Then it is used to wash both the cows and the barns. Finally, it’s used to water the crops. This cycle has led to an 88 percent decrease in water use to produce a gallon of milk!

The Golden State is going greener

    Governments could also push for policies that reduce deforestation related to agricultural expansion, especially for crops like bananas. However, limitations to these large-scale solutions include political resistance, differing economic priorities, and the challenge of enforcing international environmental standards.
Local Scale Solutions:

    At the local level, efforts could focus on sourcing food more sustainably by supporting local farms with lower environmental footprints, reducing food waste, and encouraging eco-friendly packaging. Supporting local farmers is a phenomenal way to support your community, but it is also more sustainable. This chart shows greenhouse emissions across the supply chain. With shopping locally, this allows for less time transporting goods, which reduces gas emissions.

Food: greenhouse gas emissions across the supply chain

Additionally, local policies could push for better waste management systems and infrastructure for recycling or composting packaging like plastic or banana stickers. However, local solutions might be limited by budget constraints and insufficient infrastructure to handle these changes effectively. Additionally, local communities may have limited influence over global supply chains for products like bananas.

Individual or Household Scale Solutions:

  

     On the individual scale, people could reduce their environmental impact by choosing plant-based alternatives to dairy or selecting products from farms that use sustainable practices. They could also opt for bananas from more sustainable sources or reduce their consumption of such high-impact products. Households can minimize waste by recycling packaging and composting organic materials. The limitations to micro-scale solutions include the higher cost of sustainable products, limited access to eco-friendly options, and the challenge of changing consumption habits without broader systemic change.