Stop! Right there! Do you know what you’re eating? Do you know where it comes from? Do you know how the livestock was treated? How about your fruits and veggies—do you know how far they’ve traveled before reaching your caf tray? Chances are you don’t have the slightest clue as how to answer these questions. And perhaps you’re wondering how you could…

There’s a good chance that the food that you consume on a regular basis has been produced much too carelessly and shipped much too far for comfort. As Luther student Zach Hawkins commented in a recent Chip’s opinion piece: “…farms are run like factories geared toward maximizing efficiency rather than raising healthy plant and animals.” Hawkins goes on to detail the confined, medicated manner in which many livestock exist. And produce has its own similarly disturbing tale: it is estimated that a strawberry that contains five calories of energy has been transported by 435 calories of energy in fossil-fuel form.

Is there a better alternative? YES!!! Organic and local foods are a wonderful alternative to foods that have more industrial and possibly questionable origins. Food that is produced close to your home or campus are a positive force in oh so many ways. Some reasons that LutherCollege ECO (Environmental Concerns Organization) offers up that just may convince you:

Local foods are yummier: Since local produce doesn’t have to travel as far to get to its intended consumer, more care is taken to cultivate both taste and freshness. Local foods are less likely to hurt you: With local foods, you are able to dialogue with the farmers about what pesticides, if any, they use. These, as well as other concerns about ways in which animals are treated, and, in general, what the food goes through before it gets to you are easily answerable. Local foods keep the earth green: Well, gee whiz, local food doesn’t have to travel so far, thus reducing both pollutants in transportation and waste in packaging. Local foods keep local economies booming: When the money that gets spent on food stays in the town, it helps to enrich the local economy, and encourages the production of more locally, organically produced food. You’ll become more popular! Just think of all the new friends you’ll make at the farmers market!

As liberal arts students, many of us are guilty of living an informed existence that does not include taking action when an issue surfaces that concerns. There are simple things that we can do as a college community to communicate a desire to support foods that are not only healthier for us to consume, but also for the precious environment in which we live.