Planting Vegetables to Help the Environment
Growing your own vegetables can make a difference when it comes to preserving the environment. Plant-based diets are widely regarded as being healthier, but there’s also an environmental benefit as well.
Nutritional Benefits of Plants
Vegetables play an important role in a healthy, balanced diet, providing plenty of essential vitamins and minerals, while being low in calories and fat. Eating more vegetables can also reduce a person’s risk of developing certain illnesses and diseases such as cancer, heart disease, and diabetes.
Environmental Benefits of Growing Vegetables
Planting vegetables is one way to help protect the environment. Here are some of the ways that growing vegetables helps the environment:
- Reduces Carbon Footprint: Thanks to their shorter growing cycle, and the fact that they don’t require the same amount of energy to produce as animal protein, locally grown vegetables have a much smaller carbon footprint than meats and dairy products.
- Preserves Natural Resources: By growing vegetables organically, the amount of water, fertilizer, and pest control used is greatly reduced, protecting natural resources from being depleted too quickly.
- Supports Biodiversity: Planting a variety of vegetables helps to promote an organic, diverse environment that supports a range of native species.
- Reduces Waste: Locally grown vegetables don’t have to be transported over long distances, reducing reliance on fossil fuels and cutting down on packaging waste.
- Decreases Pollution: By growing vegetables in your own garden, you can reduce the amount of pollution produced by industrial farming, such as the runoff of nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers and pesticides.
Growing vegetables is a simple way to help protect the environment. By planting a few vegetables in your backyard or starting a community garden, you can make a real difference in reducing your carbon footprint and preserving natural resources.
