A sustainable diet can help guide your way to sustainable living. One of my strong opinions is that sustainable architecture is only as good as the people who use it. You can have the most advanced green Leed certified building in the world and if the occupants do not believe in the goal it was an expensive proposition. People who use buildings have a big impact on making sustainable buildings work. The building can help save resources by using high r-value insulation with air tight construction with air handlers bringing fresh air in and expelling stale air with the efficiency of an HRV (Heat Recovery Ventilator).
Sustainable farming practices and eating foods that can be locally grown without the need of synthetic pesticides, herbicides, preservatives or additives, Genetically engineered seeds or ingredients will promote good results in your health and the earth. If farming is done with good practices the land will be better drought resistant, less likely for erosion, less ground water pollution and improved farm biodiversity. This sounds like a good start to sustainable building but we cannot achieve this without the will of the majority of people on the planet. People promote change.
I had recently interview a nutritionist in a hospital and we discussed organic foods. She was not convinced because the FDA had not ruled or standardized or verify the claims of the organic labels. She is right it is the wilds west when it comes to labeling organic products but the concept of not using the above ingredients in our food makes much sense and where was the FDA here.
We have a population explosion and we need to produce food at a quicker rate than we did 20 or 30 years ago and we need to have it affordable. We need to keep food affordable and safe. I would like to see more studies on how farmers could generate the same amount of crop with sustainable farming practices. I have heard that chickens are raised in 45 days or less before ending up on your table in lieu of 3 months. The chickens tend to be feed a higher fat content and have been engineered to have more breast meat. Corns is feed to almost all live stock. Farm raised Salmon is also being taught to feed on the high fat corn diet. Fast and fat.
If you have a diet that consists of mainly fruit and vegetables and lower amounts of saturated fats and trans fat you will feel much better and have much more energy. If you choose foods that are not processed your body can break it down better without all the preservatives found in packaged processed foods.
So to circle around what you put in your body can effect your heath and well being of you and the planet. The same thing goes for sustainable buildings, it is only as good as the people inside them. People who have sensitivity to these topics will result in manufacturers who want to sell them product that meets their standards with third party verification. The more people who crave sustainable foods, buildings, and cars will promote an environment and a capitalistic environment that is more sustainable without tax incentives. It’s start with you!
