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Commit to Buying that Good Green Food

In lesson 6, you spent some time looking at the options available in your community for buying local, organic and seasonal foods. That's the first step, of course, but unless you commit to incorporating greener food choices into your diet, it's easy to just continue the routine of buying what's available at the supermarket. Commit to incorporating more sustainable food into your diet with the following steps:

1. Identify a source of greener options for the food you buy. If you're lucky (and this may be the case), your grocery store already carries some of these items. If you unsure, ask the manager of the produce, dairy and/or meat sections.
2. If your grocery store doesn't offer such options, go back to the list you created from Local Harvest. Which of these farmers' markets or co-ops is convenient, and could be combined with other trips that you might make (don't want to add food miles on your own!).
3. Commit to spending a percentage of your regular food budget on local and/or organic foods. This doesn't have to be huge: 10% is a good place to start, and you may be surprised at how much you can buy.
4. Want to make this really easy? Join a community-supported agriculture program (CSA), and just pick up your green food each week.

Your Action for Today:
Commit to Buying Greener Food

1. In your Green Journal, commit to spending 10% of your grocery budget on local and/or organic foods. Keep in mind that organic foods keep harmful chemicals out of the soil, and local foods keep CO2 emissions out of the air. Let others know where and how you plan to keep this commitment.
2. After you make that first shopping trip (or receiving your first allotment from a CSA), make another entry in your Green Journal about the experience. What did you buy? What did you think of the quality and prices? Will you continue shopping at this location, or try another?

Tomorrow: Review your progress and update your plan.

Sincerely,

The GO Team
GreenOptions.com