Explore your Farmers Market in Fall

Buying healthy organic fruits and vegetables from neighborhood farmer’s markets is an important part of a green lifestyle. Supporting local growers reduces the amount of energy used to transport, store and display food and other goods. By supporting local agriculture, you are pumping money into your local economy. By eating locally grown produce, you are eating seasonally which is not only sustainable, but has tons of nutrition benefits too.Grocery_instagram

It is not only local grown produce which makes a sustainable difference into our lifestyle. But the way we transport our locally grown goodies can make a difference too. Plastic and one-use bags are a waste of natural resources. Here are a few disturbing statistics about the environmental impact of one-use and plastic bags:

  • According to Conserving Now, almost 90 percent of the debris in the world’s oceans is plastic.
  • Plastic bags are one of the most common items found in coastal cleanups and every year they’re responsible for more than 100,000 marine-animal deaths.
  • If just one person replaced one-use bags with reusable grocery bags it could eliminate more than 22,000 bags from ending up in our landfills and sensitive eco systems.
  • Plastic shopping bags like to hang around, it can take 15 to 1,000 years for them to decompose.
  • Burlap tote bags and jute bags are attractive and durable, but efficiency isn’t even the best reason to use them. Opting for an eco-friendly bag has a ripple effect on your consumer habit. When friends see you carrying a stylish burlap tote at the farmer’s market it will remind them to bring their own reusable bags next time. We can opt out using single-use plastic bags for our shopping needs. We can choose to use eco-friendly, reusable cotton and jute bags. We have a responsibility to make this planet a better place to live. We can help promote a greener Earth through our choice. We owe it to our next generation.