Sustainable eating habits that can help the environment without taking over your life

What we eat plays a role in the health of our environment. Here are some things to consider when trying to make doable changes to improve your impact without breaking the bank.
When we talk about eating local as a climate solution, we’re talking about the energy and resources needed to get that tomato from a farm in Florida to your kitchen. But as
:
“[I]n the middle of New England winter, nobody is growing tomatoes locally unless they’re hydroponic or in a greenhouse. While these practices can be environmentally sound, studies show that tomatoes grown in a Florida field had a lower environmental impact than greenhouse tomatoes from Ontario or hydroponic tomatoes from Maine.”
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Back in 2022, WBUR Boston’s Andrea Shea
to see how practical it would be. Beyond the obvious switches (sourcing local bananas, lemons and avocados in New England is challenging at best,) finding lots of staples within 200 miles of home
Sourcing local maple syrup? Check. Eggs? Check. Coffee? Not so much.
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When you’re striving for perfection when trying to source exclusively from your area, you can quickly get overwhelmed or blow your budget.
This boils down to taking advantage of what’s in season, available and affordable.
Not all of us have
, let alone find locally produced grains or spices that are in our budget. But more options are popping up, and when you can take advantage of them, it can help improve that access for others.
This
in Charlotte, North Carolina, is serving a food desert in the community and raising money to add a local grocery store, teaching kitchen and meat processing facility. As
, the effort is designed to help local farmers, increasing access to locally made food in the area.
“If we want to save farmland, then our farmers need to make money,” Carolina Farm Trust CEO Zack Wyatt says. “If we care about climate change, then we need to farm the right way.”
As a target, for our health nutritional scientists recommend adults
That works out to about 3.5 ounces — or a single serving of red meat —
. And it’s far less red meat than Americans currently consume on average: between an

Climate scientists also
to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the resources involved in commercial meat production.
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That’s not zero, but it’s certainly a lot less for most Americans. And
can have an impact on not only your climate footprint but
.
Back in 2022, WBUR Boston’s Barbara Moran looked into the plant-based vs. traditional breakdown of a few
.
Access to easy and affordable vegetarian or vegan food is getting better in many parts of the country. In Idaho, “despite their red-blooded meat and potatoes reputation,”
a number of menus providing options to reduce meat consumption.
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Just last month in the Bay Area,
“a multicultural smorgasbord of jollof, lumpia, curry rice bowls, Cajun fried chicken and Dole Whip–style soft serve” — all vegan — at one of the area’s biggest food festivals.
Then there are some creative solutions that won’t work for everyone but might inspire you as you tackle finding more sustainable eating habits.

KCUR put together a
you can try if you’re in the Kansas City region.
Certain seafood that’s causing problems in some parts of the country could make for an easy sustainable switch from harder-to-source options. For example, in the Pacific Northwest, green crabs are invasive, but they can also
found in lots of East Coast recipes.
As
, invasive species of snakes snakes in North Carolina are being
and featured in recipes like “Southern Fried Python,” “Burmese Python Nuggets,” and “Cajun Style Grits and Python.”
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After the most recent emergence, finding things to do with all the cicadas was a big goal. One option?
In some situations, growing your own produce or herbs can be the best option to help you reduce the cost of eating sustainably.
Not sure where to start?
(no matter how little space you have available.)