I finally got to meet Tom Watson “Mr. EcoConsumer” at Seattle Green Festival! He is with King County Recycling and Environmental Services.

His most recent column is a nice primer on increasing your “eat local” ability by calculating food miles. There also are some very good links you should bookmark if eating healthy, local and sustainably grown food is a topic that interests you.

I have a small King County poster from 2002 that I still have hanging with the message “Homeland Security: Eat Local”. It is a smart way to contribute to your local economies while limiting your exposure to toxic food by knowing your farmer and where your food comes from. It really does matter.

From the Seattle Times:

“Food miles” — how far food travels from the producer to your home — have become the latest preoccupation for folks concerned about their ecological footprint.
But food miles are a complex matter not easy to calculate. King County’s EcoConsumer Tom Watson has put together a guide to different options as you try to buy food produced closer to home — comparing farmers markets, natural food stores, home-delivery services, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)
subscriptions, and full-service grocery stores.

Read Eating local means figuring out your “food miles”

Word of the day bonus:
Urban Dictionary definition of “locovore”
the practice of eating food that is grown locally.