Why go through the hassle of growing a garden when there is always food available to purchase at the supermarkets? This thought is usually in the minds of consumers everywhere. What consumers do not realize is that a person who grows his or her own food receives many other benefits including more convenience. A person who grows his or her own food can ultimately live a healthy, active, and environmentally friendly lifestyle.
Living healthy means eating healthy. Eating healthy means knowing what a particular product contains as well as its previous location. In the consumer market, all produce comes from some type of farm. This farm is most likely to be around 1,500 miles away, maybe more, from the supermarket. This raises …show more content…
Being environmentally friendly is a goal for all of humanity. Being responsible for growing a garden is one way an individual can get involved in the action. A person can reduce the amount of food waste by growing his or her garden. According to UNEP, United Nations Environment Programme, organic waste is the second highest component of landfills in the US and the largest source of methane emissions. UNEP also states that an estimated thirty percent of the food supply is wasted, equaling more than twenty pounds of food per person per month (Regional Office of North America). The food that a person grows at home is unlikely to go to waste because a person is less likely to waste something that he or she has put a lot of work into producing. Another environmental benefit of a home garden is that it reduces the amount of air pollution in the atmosphere. As the amount of gas required from driving to and from the supermarket decreases, the amount of gas that goes into the air decreases. This can also reduce greenhouse gas emissions that play into global warming. Guaranteed that this may not sound as much, but when hundreds of people are following this act, it makes a big