Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market

Last Saturday, I have visited the farmer's market at Ferry building as a part of field observation.
CUESA, the canter for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture, is holding this market, and it is the one which succeeds in promoting a sustainable food system through the farmer's market and its educational programs.

Here is the information center with tons of brochures depicting the reason why we should choose locally grown foods. One of these was very worth reading, so I put the content at the end of this post.

As Twilight Greenaway said, one of my panel of experts, a farm map that shows market customers where the farms in the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market are located helps concerned eaters look up the farms they buy food from. There is Google Map version on their website.

Also, just next to the vender's stands, there are the same maps which indicates this farms are located.

Compared with SFSU farmer's marker and UCSF farmer's market, the one at Ferry building is well communicating with their customers in terms of visual and educational approaches.

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Food and Climate Change: A look at the connections

The industrial food system is said to account for around one third of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. In other words, your food hoices can have a real. lasting impact. Today is International Day of Climate Action. 350 is the number scientists say is the safe upper limit for carbon dioxide - measured in "parts per million" - in our atmosphere. Although we've already exceeded 350pm, it is said to be "the number humanity needs to get back to as soon as possible to avoid runaway climate change."

1) Choose organic and sustainably raised food

If everyone converted 10% of their diet to organic, we could capture an addition 6.5 billion pounds of carbon in the soil - the equivalent of talking two million cars off the road each year. Organic farming builds organic matter in the soil, sequestering excess carbon that would otherwise add to climate change. Organic food is also grown without synthetic nitrogen fertilizer, meaning less potential nitrous oxide (another greenhouse gas) in the air.

2) Eat less meat and dairy, especially if it's industrially raised

Livestock production causes more emissions than the entire transportation sector. Animals produces methane, which has over 20 times the global warming effect of carbon dioxide. Industrial scale storage of animal waste is also a huge factor; when it's stored in waste lagoons the product is even more methane. A lot of energy and resources go into raising crops for animal feed; it is much more efficient when plant crops go directly to feed people. To make matter worse, millions of acres of (carbon absorbing) forest have been destroyed in the name of meal production.

3) Hone your locavore skills

Our food travels an average of 1,500 to 2,500 miles to get to us; that's 25 percent farther than it did two decades ago. Not all food transport can be eliminated, but shortening the chain (a great deal of our food travels to multiple countries to be processed) could make a palpable differences. For many of us, it is also one of the easier changes to make.

4) Befriend your compost bin

4% of global greenhouse gas emissions comes from waste, including food waste; a full 27% of the food available for consumption gets wasted. Food that ends up in landfills emits methane. When it gets properly composted, on the otter hand, it can return to the soil and help boost its power to retain carbon.

(written by CUESA)