Living Everyday as Earth Day

I've always been a bit bothered by Earth Day.

All the activity, the hype, the news coverage, and the good intentions don't seem to last much longer than 24 hours. Don't get me wrong, there's certainly value to all those trees planted and those cleaned up playgrounds, but previous Earth Days left me with a guilt hangover.

I've made some changes as a result of Earth Day. I've replaced our paper cups with plastic ones, greened some of my cleaning supplies, stepped up my recycling, and become better about turning out the lights in rooms we leave. But those always felt like small, inconsequential contributions, too little too late.

But this year, we finally made what felt like a big change, well before Earth Day. Influenced by documentaries and books like Food, Inc. and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, I began feeding our family locally.

I'm nowhere near as diligent as Barbara Kingsolver and the others who have basically eliminated their carbon footprint and are living from the food they produce and trade. But I'm drinking milk from Ohio cows, cracking eggs from Ohio hens, eating apples from Ohio farms, and buying meat from animals that have grazed on Ohio grass. I've resisted the appeal of ruby red strawberries in January and have eagerly grabbed for the first bright green English peas that hit the shelves. When I buy a chicken to roast, I make sure it's one that had a chance to see the sky in its short life. Next month, we'll begin receiving our weekly CSA deliveries and our education about seasonal produce will continue.

I can't wait to see the disgust on my children's faces when I present them with kale for dinner.

Making this change was not as hard as it sounds. At BlogHer last year, someone recommended shopping the outer perimeter of the supermarket: the local produce is there, easy to grab. Once my consciousness was awakened, I started to see local food everywhere. It inspired my cooking, and it improved my cooking. Local food simply tastes richer and fresher, even when it has to be bought in bulk and frozen.

We could be doing more to eat local, and there's still plenty that I feel guilty about. I don't have a garden. I don't compost. We eat grapes year round that are shipped in from far off lands. I have many products in my pantry with long, impossible to pronounce ingredient lists that will stay shelf-stable until my children get to college. But 80% of the contents of my reusable grocery bags are perishable, local products every week.

Next year we'll experiment more with canning and take our new food consciousness another level. But this Earth Day, for the first time in a long time, I'm feeling good, like I've made a change that will last longer than 24 hours.