How Green Are Those Veggies?

Posted by phunkychic666 on December 2, 2009

By Brendan Borrell for the Washington Post:

I know you can buy local or buy organic, but I’ve heard that some crops are simply more resource-intensive than others, regardless of how or where they are grown. So what’s the key to picking foods that have the smallest environmental footprint?

We’ve been over the environmental benefits of choosing poultry over beef in a previous column. But you’re right to suggest that the same sort of logic can apply to picking vegetarian foodstuffs. Certain crops require loads of phosphate fertilizer, for example, which is mined from the ground and can eventually cause stream-choking algal growth. Other fruits and veggies are grown with heavy doses of pesticides, fungicides and other chemicals that can pollute waterways and cause reproductive problems in animals.

So how do you know which crops are best to eat? Here’s the Lantern’s rule of thumb: Try to keep your more extravagant fruit cravings in check, but don’t sweat the low-impact calories that come with your carbs…

[continues at the Washington Post]