Calculating how much food costs based on how much money you pay to buy it is an underestimation.

Food emissions

Food travels on average 1,500 miles before making it to your local store.

Food transportation in 2017 was found to emit 3.0 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide, a number that we can only imagine kept increasing since and was 7.5 times what it was estimated beforehand.

All these emissions and consumption of resources invested into building the supply chain are paid for by you indirectly.

Emissions’ impact

Diseases caused by emissions are going to affect your overall quality of life and increase your health insurance premium.

Excessive and constant exposure to elevated temperatures can lead to heart disease, heart stroke, faintness, sunburn, dizziness, dehydration, chronic kidney illnesses, and death (Farmworker Justice, 2022). – source

This in turn is slowing down production in the future, which acts like you’re borrowing money from your future self to be able to afford the food today.

What can we do?

• companies should reduce emissions by moving to cleaner sources of energy and investing in climate instead of focusing on shareholder earnings.
• Politicians should hold companies accountable for their footprint and push for quick, enforceable measures to reduce or cut emissions.
• Individuals should reduce their footprint as much as they can.

What can individuals do exactly?

Buying less food is not really an easy thing to achieve, many people don’t waste food already.

Growing some of your own food can be a great help, but it’s not really perceived as a convenient thing to do.

Every little bit counts

A small pot that sits on your countertop, near a window, or on a balcony that grows one vegetable or fruit you like can be a rewarding experience and fun.

Utilize backyards

If you have a backyard, try growing some things besides grass.

Grow a tree and you’ll be happy with how much fruit it will be giving you every year, best thing is knowing no chemicals were used to grow it and you can trust how safe it can be.

Buy Local

visit your farmers market or a local farm to buy food if you can afford it, this food doesn’t travel much, and support for these local farms is much needed.

Try hydroponics

If you can afford it maybe buy a hydroponic system and start growing as much as 10 lbs per month with not much skills.

Start by reading this article and maybe do some more research to find the best system that suits your needs.

If you’re enthusiastic enough and wanna take this a step further, join this discord group and start learning about hydroponics with others using tens of available resources.