Vegetable gardens . . . fruit trees . . . raspberry bushes . . . nut trees . . . etc. If we are growing any of these, it means one thing – food security. Add canning to that list, and we get more food security.
I am not, by any means, off of the grocery store yet but that is my goal. It should be everyone’s goal. And, if you aren’t into counting CO2 emissions for everything you do and purchase, you may wonder why grocery stores are something we need to eliminate. Well, our food system creates something like 30% of the CO2 in the atmosphere, and it also contributes to soil depletion, and, you may as well add water depletion to that, too.
From the machinery plowing the fields run by diesel, to the factories manufacturing processed food, along with the necessary transportation of all the food from around the globe, and finally, the coal and natural gas to keep the a/c, heat, and electricity going in those grocery stores 24/7, that is a lot of CO2 being spewed into the atmosphere. I am sure there is some CO2 I forgot to count.
We take it all for granted. It is all we know. Any time of year, we can buy anything we want no matter where it comes from. But, we have to start changing. Although I could not feed myself for the whole year on what I grew this summer from my garden, it is a start. I am not an expert at this and have a lot to learn. Fortunately, I had a decent crop of tomatoes for the first time, enough that I canned 14 pint jars. I am hoping I get another 7 pint jars before the end of the tomatoes.
There are many things we can do to get away from using grocery stores. We can join a CSA (Community Sponsored Agriculture), go to the farmers’ market, buy some vegetables or fruit in bulk to can, grow a garden, or rent a garden plot in the city where we live if we don’t have the space or live in an apartment. These are all ways to contribute to and ensure we have food security.
An Off Grid Life - Climate Crisis Solutions 