Deciding whether my meal is more of a problem or solution is actually quite difficult. In many ways, I find it to be both. Still, if I were to choose just one, overall my meal was probably more of a problem.
We should all garden like Winnie the Pooh!
The reason I would consider some of it a solution is because of the green beans that came from my mother's garden. Along with coming from her garden, the waste actually went back into it by way of her compost. By growing them in our own backyard, we're doing it on a much smaller scale, versus the large agricultural farms that exist which can cause many issues with products like pesticides or even with soil erosion. If everyone had their own garden and supplied their own produce, or at least some of it, I believe it could make a huge difference in the way this country's agriculture works. Still, I understand that everyone supplying their own fruits and vegetables isn't truly feasible as a) not everyone wants to do that and b) not all climates will allow it. But I still believe having personal garden's is a benefit to the environment.
As for the problems with my meal, many of them come from ingredients that I didn't actually discuss in the last post but, as they were still a part of my meal, they still count. I think many of the problems relate to the solutions I found in the green beans, namely the fact that they were locally (home) grown. I think our food industry has become something of a machine itself these days, cranking out mass amounts of a food and not always in the healthiest or most environmentally conscious way either (the most relevant example I can think of would be the meat industry). Although it is nice to have strawberries from California in the winter when we can't grow them here in Wisconsin, there are many other aspects about having such an interconnected, commercial food industry that I believe cause more problems than good. It becomes a matter of the amount that can be produced rather than the quality, which leads to things like pesticides and corn-fed cows. Also, it leads to the large amount of machinery involved with harvesting the food and transporting it across the nation, using even more fossil fuels.
From my understanding, one of the best solutions to this is to buy locally grown foods and support your local farmers (I've found that one of the easiest ways to do this is by attending the farmer's market). I think the commercial agriculture industry will continue working the way it does now until individuals decide to make a change by buying different products (myself included!). And, of course, there are many many other factors involved, making the solution much more complicated than just buying local foods. However, I think the solution truly starts with the individual. If each individual buys locally or has his or her own garden for example, it will eventually affect the local community and hopefully someday, will affect the entire nation.
As for the problems with my meal, many of them come from ingredients that I didn't actually discuss in the last post but, as they were still a part of my meal, they still count. I think many of the problems relate to the solutions I found in the green beans, namely the fact that they were locally (home) grown. I think our food industry has become something of a machine itself these days, cranking out mass amounts of a food and not always in the healthiest or most environmentally conscious way either (the most relevant example I can think of would be the meat industry). Although it is nice to have strawberries from California in the winter when we can't grow them here in Wisconsin, there are many other aspects about having such an interconnected, commercial food industry that I believe cause more problems than good. It becomes a matter of the amount that can be produced rather than the quality, which leads to things like pesticides and corn-fed cows. Also, it leads to the large amount of machinery involved with harvesting the food and transporting it across the nation, using even more fossil fuels.
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