Tacos are great

Hey, gang. I know I usually use this blog to talk about ways to save the Earth, but today there’s just one thing on my mind: I’m hungry. You know how it is; you work through lunch and then halfway through the afternoon you’ve got a monster in your belly kicking and growling. You know what I could go for right now? A taco. Dude. Tacos are a perfect food unit. I know soft tacos are traditional, but I’m a hard-shell guy all the way. A big bunch of crunch wrapped around a soft center of beans, salsa, and awesome? Best. Lunch. Ever.

All right, all right, on to the Earth saving. It’s just like Mom always used to say, “Earth first, tacos later.” What? Your mom didn’t say that? Seriously? Well maybe you should start saying it to her. Or maybe you should just let your wardrobe do the talking with one of Tee Hugger’s stylish, eco cotton “Earth first, tacos later” shirts (http://www.teehugger.com/product_p/thjs1011.htm). It’s even got a picture of the Earth in the shape of a taco. Hard shell, not this soft shell nonsense.

If you love tacos, or even if you don’t (inconceivable!), there are things you can do to help make your diet more ecologically sound:

1. Hit the farmers’ market - There are thousands of local community farmers’ markets where you can buy shiny new vegetables fresh from the farm. You can find family and sustainable farms in your neighborhood that are ready to fill your face with produce at LocalHarvest.org (http://www.localharvest.org/).

2. Eat locally - Eating food produced locally, or even eating in local restaurants, helps reduce your carbon footprint and helps your local economy in one fell swoop. There’s a million reasons to eat local food. Why here’s ten of them now: http://www.lifebeginsat30.com/elc/2006/04/10_reasons_to_e.html

3. Eat carefully - Though eating locally is a good idea, you can do even better by making small modifications to your diet. Scientists now suggest that eating less red meat and dairy products could reduce your carbon footprint even more than eating locally. (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080421161338.htm) Of course, eating less meat and eating locally is a one-two punch of greenhouse gas reduction.

4. Go vegetarian - Okay, let’s stop beating around the bush with these “farmers’ market” and “less red meat” shenanigans. If you’re really serious about using your diet to reduce your carbon emissions, you should do what Paul McCartney did and go vegetarian. According to GoVeg.com, “A 2006 United Nations report found that the meat industry produces more greenhouse gases than all the SUVs, cars, trucks, planes, and ships in the world combined.” (http://www.goveg.com/environment-globalWarming.asp) Madness.

All right, I’m out of here. I can’t take it anymore. My belly needs an injection of locally grown vegetarian tacos, stat.