At the Peak of Perfection

We've been told since we were little to eat our fruits and vegetables. We got dessert if we did (and if you had super awesome parents), and everyone was happy, especially your stomach.

Now that we're older and wiser, we not only need to eat our fruits and vegetables, but we really need to take it to the next level. Eating produce is awesome. It's delicious. (At least this veggie loving girl thinks so...) But really, we can do our planet a huge favor by eating in-season and local produce.

By eating what's already naturally growing around us, we save the earth and keep sustainable processes working efficiently and in an eco-friendly way.

Okay, so "sustainable processes" isn't inspiring you to run to the local farmer's market?

Here are even more reasons why you should (REALLY) make the change.

1. Your food will taste a heck of a lot better. Crops that aren't in their natural environments at the natural time of year won't ripen the same, have the same flavor, or just be the same fruit or veggie you really want to eat. Save your tastebuds. They'll thank you later.

2. You'll feel like a million bucks. Eating food that tastes ripe and delicious and naturally grown? Trust me, you'll just feel... better.


3. You'll save some major bucks. It's supply and demand, people. For those of you not economically talented, that basically means that when crops are growing the organic way, there's plenty of them to go around, so they're cheaper. You get better food, and you save money. Serious win-win.

4. You'll help the environment in an easy but powerful way. That's all there is to it.

What more reasons could you need?!

So check out this map, find your state, and find the best produce for whatever month of the year it is. It's really that easy.

(p.s. If you live in Virginia and you're reading this now, in the month of April, asparagus and spinach are at their peak. Enjoy those greens!)

The Power is Yours.

Paper or plastic? How about neither.

Paper has to be made from our trees, uses four times more energy to produce than plastic bags and takes just as long to break down in landfills if not recycled. Plastic is made from non-renewable resources and only 3% are even recycled, those not recycled take anywhere from 20-1000 years to decompose. The moral of the story you may ask? Simple, bring in your own reusable bag when going shopping. Okay, so I know it seems a bit dorky, but there is nothing dorky about saving the planet! (Yes, I went there.)

Besides carrying around a reusable bag with you to every shopping establishment I’ve got some better  and less obvious alternatives to help save our world that even us small college students can do to help make a difference.

One: turn off your laptop at night. You’re not going to be skyping or writing thesis papers in your sleep so turn it off. You’ll save around 40 watt-hours per day and almost $15 dollars a year.

Two:  instead of buying a “disposable” lighter to light your candles, or god forbid your cancer fix, use cardboard matches. The cardboard is made from recycled paper whereas the lighter uses that awful plastic stuff we talked about earlier, as well as butane, which are both from non-renewable sources.

Three:  use cotton swabs made from paper, not plastic. Are you sensing a theme here? Plastic is never a good choice and in this case if only 10% of U.S. households switched the estimated petroleum energy saved each year would be equivalent 150,000 gallons of gasoline.

Four: ditch the plastic coffee stirrers and straws with your morning fix. Each year Americans throw away over 138 billion of the things. If you are a Starbucks fan they are smart enough to offer wooden stirrers but if not, get the coffee added in after the sugar and creamer to allow it to mix itself.

Five: Last but not least, use one less napkin a day. It sounds a bit basic I know, but if everyone in the U.S. used just one less paper square a day over one billion pounds can be kept out of our landfills each year.

Since we all can’t join Captain Planet and become a Planeteer take some of these ideas into consideration. “The power is yours.”

Looking for more ways to help save the world? Check it out.