Family meals are usually one of the most enjoyable times of the day. It provides an opportunity for families to slow the pace down, eat some delicious food, and talk to each other. For green families it also provides an opportunity for them to further their dedication to the environment by choosing foods that compliment their goals and ideals. This might seem rather simplistic but many green families believe that what you choose to eat is essentially a vote for the type of world you want. There are various ways that families might choose to “green” their meals.

Eating Local

Eating local means purchasing and eating foods that were grown in or near your local community. Choosing to eat local foods is better for the environment and it is better for the local economy as well. It is said that dollars spent locally go twice as far.

Local food usually travels 100 miles or less from farm to plate so needless pollution is avoided when our food does not need to be frozen, refrigerated, or trucked across country for thousands of miles. Local food is fresh because it doesn’t have to travel very far. The taste of a fresh picked tomato is infinitely better tasting and healthier for you than a tomato picked a week ago and ripened with chemicals. Local eating is also referred to as seasonal eating because you are only be to find what can be grown seasonally in your area. This makes local eating a more economical choice in most cases as well, since you won’t be buying expensive imported foods that are not in season. Local eating also reduces the chance that your food has been contaminated while being processed or shipped.

Organic Foods

Organic agriculture is sustainable agriculture. It is a method of producing food without harming the land in any way. Organic farmers seek to work the land without preventing future generations from being able to use it as well. Organic farmers conserve water, preserve the soil, and provide food products that are chemical free and fit for human consumption. Organic farmers may also sell locally many times, helping to conserve energy and fossil fuels that would otherwise be spent in transportation. They are a healthy choice for humans and the planet alike.

Organics are becoming widely available in mainstream grocery stores in addition to the health foods stores where you would normally find them. Local farmers and farmer’s markets are also a good place to purchase organics from. If your access to organic food is limited by availability or budget you can also grow your own in your backyard or through a community garden.

Reduce Meat Consumption

It is estimated that we feed 70 percent of the grains and cereals grown in the USA to farmed animals and one-third of our fuel and other nonrenewable resources is consumed by the farmed animal industry. Our taste for meat and animal products is taking a toll on the environment and in response, more and more green families are reducing their meat consumption or eliminating it from their diet altogether. Even if you don’t want to become a vegan or a vegetarian you can reduce your environmental impact by electing to add two or three meatless meals to your family menu every week.

Reducing meat consumption, eating local sourced foods, and eating organic are just a few of the ways green families might lighten their environmental footprint on our planet.

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The very act of growing plants would be considered by most of us as doing something green. Growing plants brings the experience of nature closer to our families and local communities, provides a home for a wealth of living organisms, and each and every one acts as a filter for the air we breathe, thereby contributing to a cleaner global environment.

But gardening can be an activity that is far from green. For many people, their gardens become an arena in which they wage war against nature through the liberal use of highly toxic pesticides. Others think nothing of using products that have been created at the expense of precious natural resources, like peat from the fast-diminishing peat bogs and garden furniture made with wood plundered from tropical forests. And many gardens are grown with the help of excessive amounts of water drawn straight from the tap (faucet), despite the hundreds of gallons that fall from the sky each year and go uncollected in most areas.

The good news is that this environmentally wasteful approach to gardening is no longer in vogue. Gone are the days when a good garden was meant to be regimented in design, with uniform plants grown in weed-free, dark peaty soil surrounding a perfect sprinkler-watered lawn, without a daisy or buttercup in sight.

The new wave of gardening recognizes that a good garden is a complex ecosystem, with each element having a role to play. Native plants are now just as fashionable as exotics and are much more of a hit with the local wildlife. Unruly borders and meadows filled with wildflowers are now just as keenly cultivated as any neatly tendec bed of roses. The modern gardener accepts nature and works with it and in so doing produces naturally healthy plants in an efficient and safe way.

Whether your gardening aspirations stop with a cheese plant in the corner of your living room, or stretch as far as a vegetable patch, some fruit trees and perhaps a chicken or two roaming about, this eco-friendly method offers you the chance to get truly close to the natural world and to put something back into your environment.

With domestic gardens making up many millions of hectares of land worldwide, the combined efforts of green gardeners can produce the largest nature reserve on the planet - and you will have your very own slice of Eden on your doorstep.

Reasons to go green in the garden:

• You can grow food that you trust - free from chemical sprays and other contaminants that have been implicated in health scares worldwide.

• It gives you the chance to recycle in one of the most exciting ways, turning your food scraps and garden cuttings into compost, which, in turn, will support the growth of further food.

• You can save the environment from the polluting effects of transporting fresh produce to you by growing your own.

• You are sparing the environment from the impact of pesticides, which kill many beneficial insects, birds, plants and animals, can pollute our water supplies and harm our children.

• You can teach your children where food comes from and the wonder of nature in a safe environment.

• Your garden will become a haven for wildlife and be safer for your own pets.

• By growing rare or unusual seeds you can contribute to global biodiversity and introduce new flavours to your diet.

• Gardening is great exercise and fun for all the family.

• You will save money by not having to pay for fertilizers, pesticides, compost and so on, and by growing your own food. Recycling will also prevent you spending a fortune at the garden centre.

• You will be saving fragile areas of natural beauty from further ravaging by no longer buying peat-based composts and limestone, and by making sure that your garden furniture and other wood products are from sustainable sources.

• Green gardening puts you in touch with nature and its cycles, aiding relaxation and giving you an outlet for and sanctuary from the frustrations of your busy day.

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