Prepared by Donnie Dann
Does what you eat and drink really have an effect on the environment? Consider just 3 foods; meat, bananas and coffee, all 3 consumed in large amounts by people worldwide.
MEAT
Those yummy burgers. Or scrumptious filets. The savory juices, laden with flavor are dripping from the barbecue. Meanwhile, cattle ranching accounts for 80% of the Amazon rainforest’s deforestation. Our “lungs of the earth” (Alert of January 2022) are steadily being cleared for a bite of beef. Next time you have a hankering for that juicy burger could you consider an alternative? Per Reader’s Digest, “ It takes approximately 1,700 gallons of water to produce a single pound of beef—but just 39 gallons of water are needed to produce a pound of vegetables. By skipping meat one day a week, Americans could save an estimated 100 billion gallons of water each year”.
BANANAS
Thiabenzadole, Nematicide, Mancozeb, Azoxystrobin, Imidacloprid and Chlorpyrifos (fatal to birds). To one degree or another these and other chemicals are used in growing bananas on conventional plantations. Not all of these are equally harmful and keep in mind most of what you consume is within the peel. Today, bananas are the most popular fruit in the United States, purchased by nearly 70% of people. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, at 57 cents a pound, they are also the cheapest item in the produce department by far. Organic bananas average only around 10-15 cents more per pound, so why not put organic bananas in your grocery cart?
COFFEE
Coffee, northern Latin America’s most important export crop, has traditionally been grown under the shade of native forest trees, providing essential habitat for an abundance of wildlife, and reducing the need for heavy treatment with fertilizers and pesticides. In Western Africa where coffee originated, it grows naturally as part of the forest understory and below the old growth canopy. Since the 1970s, however, many farmers have bulldozed their forest and switched to an open field full sun system to grow their coffee. This method has increased yields, but requires the use of more agro chemicals, and essentially eliminates wildlife habitat.
The most effective motivation to farmers to retain their shade grown coffee farms and protect biodiversity in the process is economic. Shade grown coffee is available from a number of sources at a somewhat higher cost, but commensurate with far greater value for the environment. Speaking personally, I think it tastes better!