After a product is produced, it has to go somewhere.
By paying attention to how far a product travels before it gets to you, you can cut down on waste associated with transportation. Opting for products with smaller transportation footprints can be as simple as buying local. Farmers’ markets don’t have the freshest produce for no reason: that organic tomato traveled fewer miles from field to your shopping bag. There are many reasons to buy local, but in zero waste terms, the local choice is often the least-packaged, closest-to-source product out there.
Practical steps:
1. Take stock of seasonal produce grown in your region. Visit the farmer’s market to see what farmers are able to produce in different seasons where you live.
2. Look for “local” signs wherever you shop, or ask a clerk about them. And if you can’t buy something produced locally, try finding it in a locally owned store. Shopping locally keeps more money in your community – supporting schools, religious organizations, and public services like the library.
3. Incorporate walking, riding a bicycle, or taking public transportation into your routine if possible. If those options aren’t possible, try grouping your errands. Even choosing to ride your bike to school or work only when the weather is nice will reduce your impact considerably.
Resources
Read: The “locavore” movement is one good place to start when you’re learning about the value of local economies and keeping transportation distances minimal. At the library, you can find informative books at 641.31, 641.5092 and 641.563 – though these numbers are chock-full of cookbooks, so you’re better off searching in your library catalog for the term “locavore.”
Two books you might consider looking over first are:
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life (Barbara Kingsolver, 2007, Harper Perennial)
The Locavore’s Kitchen: A Cook’s Guide to Seasonal Eating and Preserving (Marilou K. Suszko, 2011, Ohio University Press)
Figuring out which fruits and vegetables are available in your region when could be your next step. A resource like The Old Farmer’s Almanac can help you learn about frost dates and other planting schedules, and the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone is a steadfast tool for figuring out how hardy, or resistant to cold, a plant needs to be to survive in your region. Reading about these skills for yourself can be a good way to doublecheck what you see at the store and market and, if you’re so moved, will serve you well in your own food-growing endeavours.
And while we’re on the subject of transportation, it wouldn’t be fair to forget the excesses in our personal transportation. The Environmental Protection Agency’s 2019 guide, Transportation, Air Pollution, and Climate Change, can help you learn about why limiting personal car rides is a good idea (hint: it’s all about pollution). As for the how: “bicycle commuting” is the term to search if you want tips on riding your bicycle to work. Magazines like Bicycling and even Popular Mechanic also run guides to bike commuting, and print copies are frequently available at local libraries.
For information on public transportation where you live, your city, town, or county’s government website is the place to look. Many towns and cities are already implementing recommendations for carbon-neutral transportation, like those found in the Rocky Mountain Institute’s Carbon-Free City Handbook: Transportation and Mobility (2017). Browsing their policy suggestions and sources could give you an idea of what’s coming in your town – or of items to suggest at the next gathering of elected officials.
Lastly, you should recognize trends heading away from the locavore movement, too. If you worked through the production section of this guide, you might already know about decentralized and outsourced business models, that place producers and consumers in different sites. You can start to learn more by following analyses of huge corportations like Amazon, like this recent article from David Streitfield in The New York Times: What Happens After Amazon’s Domination Is Complete? Its Bookstore Offers Clues.
Watch: “The Biggest Little Farm” follows the story of a pair of new farmers as they make a go of small, sustainable farming.
Search: Local Harvest is a US-based network of local farmers. While it is used widely, some listings on Local Harvest are not up-to-date. Make sure to check the date of the latest update on each listing you view!
Listen: From the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, try the podcast Building Local Power. In production since 2016, this podcast focuses on community autonomy.
Try: When buying gifts for others this year, stick to local options. If your loved ones ask for your wish list, request gifts for yourself from local sources.
HOW-TO ZERO WASTE 