5 Earth Day Friendly Tips for a Healthier Body and Planet

In celebration of Earth Day and Earth Week, Terra Tech Corporation, a leader in sustainable urban agricultural products is offering up 5 Earth Day friendly tips which show how to eat in ways that create both a healthier body and a more sustainable planet.

At the turn of the 20th century, the United States was a large agricultural country with farmers who produced crops and livestock that were grown and processed and, to a large extent, consumed locally. Today, that has changed dramatically. Production of food is not highly industrialized with most foods transported hundreds to thousands of miles for consumption, and a much larger amount imported from overseas.

To help change this, Terra Tech has developed a line of Hydroponic and aeroponic technologies which can be used to grow on rooftops in urban settings drastically cutting emissions that result from transportation. Just one of the ways to embrace Earth Day, the company says that indoor agriculture reduces risk of food borne illness, eliminates the dangers of cross-pollination with GMO’s, and maximizes efficiency thus producing a safer product with a small carbon footprint. Limiting “food miles” also ensures our produce retains the nutrients, enzymes, vitamins, and minerals essential to good health.

Here are 5 Earth Day tips which can potentially improve your health and that of our planet.

1. Eat locally grown produce: Farmer’s markets are sprouting up in urban centers across the country. This locally grown produce is more likely to offer heirloom varieties of crops that have been grown by a small family farmer as opposed to industrialized factory farms who eliminate food diversity while using heavy amounts of chemicals throughout the growing cycle. Eliminating long bouts of transport not only reduces the use of fossil fuels but also minimizes the time from “farm to table” ensuring your produce will have a higher nutrient content. In addition handling is drastically reduced, mitigating many risks of food borne illness. The benefits of speaking to the farmer who grew your salad fixings are numerous and reconnects us to our food in a way that has been lost over the last 50 years.

2. Plant a small garden at home: Gardening is fun for the whole family and gets kids interested in eating more fruits and vegetables. Even where space is limited, many plants and herbs will thrive in pots on balconies or in kitchen windows. This provides your family with a low-cost consistent supply of fresh foods while adding to the aesthetics of your home.

3. Eat organic: It is impossible to avoid all the chemicals that surround us in the modern world. Everything from cosmetics, to household cleaners, and food additives are full of potentially harmful toxins. One way to reduce our toxin exposure is to eat as much organic produce as possible. If organic seems out of your budget familiarize yourself with the “clean 15” which are often thicker skinned and naturally resistant to pests making the conventional versions safer for consumption. The “dirty dozen” are often thin-skinned fruits and leafy vegetables that are more susceptible to retaining heavy amounts of pesticide residues. By purchasing organic we can cleanse our bodies from the inside out reducing our risks of diseases and other side effects of traditional chemical agriculture.

4. Veg out on weekdays: Factory farms and feedlots that house commercial livestock are one of our environment’s worst enemies. Disease is rampant, water use is inefficient, desertification and deforestation of land is devastating, and animal agriculture produces more atmosphere-altering emissions that all of transportation combined. Toxic runoff from these huge operations is responsible for many outbreaks of food borne illness such as e.Coli and Salmonella contaminations. The United States alone slaughters 10 billion food animals per year! By vegging out on the weekdays we could cut that amount close to 66% – think of the impact that would have on the health of our air, land, forests, and ground water!

5. Eat sustainable fish: Fish is very high in brain-boosting DHA and long-chain fatty acids essential to human health. The ocean’s fish have been drastically depleted by the commercial fishing industry however there are watchdog groups that monitor which wild-caught fish are sustainable choices. It just takes a little research – but with all the brain-boosting power of fish you can certainly do that! If you are purchasing farmed fish make sure it is organic, sustainable, and raised without the use of antibiotics. Avoid fish that are high in mercury and other toxins such as shark, king mackerel, and tile fish.

Source: Terra Tech