Group Spotlight: True Cost of Food

Photo Credit: Mary Papavasiliou A true cost of food tabling event

Eating has more of an effect on the environment and our health than anything else we do everyday. Our eating choices impact the longevity and sustainability of human life worldwide. Without food and excellent health, the human race will cease to exist.

Really bad habits have crept into our culture in the last hundred years. To educate and urge people to change these habits, the Sierra Club National Sustainable Consumption Committee started the sustainable agriculture/eating project: True Cost of Food.

Why True Cost of Food? Because the price we pay when we purchase food is only part of the costs that are incurred as food is produced, distributed, and used. The hidden costs come to us as taxes and medical bills.

Hidden Cost #1 comes from the use of petroleum-based chemical fertilizers and pesticides. These products pollute soil, air, and water. They deplete soil nutrients and upset the balance of beneficial and harmful pests. Some of these effects cause and aggravate disease situations.

Hidden Cost #2 comes from the growth of population and our switch over the last century from a plant-centered diet to a meat-centered diet. Supplying enough meat is a gargantuan task requiring an enormous amount of resources. The environmental bill that results is humongous. Trees and habitats are destroyed, an abundance of the worst greenhouse gases are created, tons of toxic excrement builds up, and cooked animal products destroy health. Tax dollars directly support the meat habit with subsidies to grain farmers.

Hidden Cost #3 comes from our lifestyle. We are in an age of speed. We don't have time to eat! We grab convenience food - packaged, indestructible, and easy. At every step in the production process, nutrients are lost and pollution and waste challenges are created. The resulting non-food product sends us down the road to disease.

Hidden Cost #4 comes from all the environmental and health woes that come with transportation. The detrimental environmental effects of transportation are well-documented. Little discussed is the development of disease that results from the decrease in food nutrient value during the delay between farm and table.

The True Cost of Food project recognizes that we have created a very expensive food system which is not sustainable. The mission of the True Cost of Food project is to create awareness and provide information that stimulates and supports alternative food choices that will create a sustainable and affordable food system.

Alternative #1 - Skip the transportation. Grow you own and buy from local farmers who bring their products to Farmers' markets.

Alternative #2 - Skip the chemicals. Skip GMOs. Grow organically. Buy organic. Recycle your kitchen waste as compost.

Alternative #3 - Return to a plant-centered diet. Limit animal products to one small serving a day or less.

Two True Cost of Food groups are active in Angeles Chapter. The Verdugo Hills activists arrange an eco-meal once a month. They gather at a restaurant or potluck at someone's home to dine vegetarian for the planet's health to celebrate environmental camaraderie. The Long Beach Group, including some Orange County activists, have several projects: 1) Vegan Dining Events; 2) Information Tables and Speaking Opportunities; 3) Movie Nights; 4) Activism Alerts. Outings at Huts and Composting/Gardening/Farm events are other ideas that True Cost of Food has tried or wants to try. Available time and volunteer leaders are the limiting factors.

Our food choices have more effect on health and the environment than taking shorter showers, driving an alternative fuel car, and exercising. Eating one pound of California beef is equivalent to 2500 gallons of water (75 five-minute showers). The worldwide greenhouse-gas (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, etc) emissions story: Raising livestock, 18 percent; Entire transportation sector, 14 percent.

To connect with the Verdugo Hills Group, contact Michael Beck, 818-246-3661. To connect with the Long Beach Group, join the Yahoo Group (It is free!) Sierra Club True Cost of Food or contact Mary Papavasiliou, mpapavasiliou@verizon.net, 562-856-2145. Start a group in your area. Michael and Mary will help you. Even a few people doing a few activities can make a big difference. SAVE YOURSELF AND THE PLANET ONE BITE AT A TIME. MAKE YOUR FOOD CHOICES LOCALLY GROWN, ORGANIC, MOSTLY PLANTS.