Great Green Idea: Green Eating: Ways to Eat, Drink and be Green

Ways to Eat, Drink and be Green

As Kermit the Frog often says, "It isn't easy being green," and finding ways to lead a more environmentally friendly lifestyle has its challenges. Human comfort and convenience has been at the forefront of most inventions in the last century as more products have been developed to help human achieve those desired results. Unfortunately, nearly every comfort and convenience results in a trade off on the effects on the environment.

Manufacturers have been reluctant to develop production methods that reduce energy consumption fearing higher prices will result in revolt by consumers. Therefore, they happily remain with the status-quo, hoping their carbon footprint will get lost in the fight between higher costs and environmental impact. Today's debate over global warming continues to brew with many participating in programs to buy pollution allowances to enable them to stay with what they have been doing without the need to reduce their pollution.

Some companies are selling their output limits to these companies and while the result may be that no additional pollution is entering the atmosphere, there is also no reduction in the amount of pollution wafting into the sky. The practice of carbon tradeoffs is not going to have a lasting effect on pollution and manufacturers will need to come to that realization sooner than later.

To help protect your own environment, newly-named locavores, those that eat or drink only products from their local environments, are helping to stop wasteful use of large commercial farms and animal producers. Not only are they helping the local economy they can also help eliminate many invasive species by eating them as well. Invasive species in both plants and animals wreak havoc on the local environment and ecosystems.

mples include the kudzu, a plant native to China and southern Japan; it is running rampant in the southern United States. Sometimes called the pea plant, due to the pods grown on the plant, it has also been the foot-a-night plant due to its rapid growth. It is also being referred to as the "plant that ate the south" as it grows rapidly, consuming land previously used for other crops.

Many invasive plants are blamed for disturbing local ecosystems, harmful to production of local crops as well as having the potential spread diseases. One invasive plant, garlic mustard, can be used as a spice in cooking, but not everyone will be enamored with the flavor of this invasive plant.

It is not only invasive plants that are taking over many areas of the United States. The Asian carp, for example, is rapid populating in the Mississippi River, threatening the fishing industry as it eats the food and takes up space for many local species.

On the manufacturing side of eating and drinking green are manufacturers that are converting their plants to operate in an environmentally friendly manner. Using solar power or wind energy to produce the electricity to operate their facilities as well as using reusable or recyclable containers in which to package their products companies are saving money and resources. By using sustainable energy and reducing packaging, companies are helping to reduce their individual carbon footprint on the Earth.