TODAY'S TURN: Take the mileage off your food

THE ISSUE:
You may have noticed a little item in the news lately about gas prices rising slightly higher. Over dinner, we watch in horror as the local news exposes the daily price tag felony. Never mind that the tomato in our dinner salad probably had to travel about 1,500 miles to be the object of an indignant fork stabbing.

Most produce has been ridden hard over the nation's highways, airways and waterways. In fact, the stuff you find at the grocery store travels about 27 times further than produce from a local farmer.

Burning up fuel isn't the only side effect of shipping side dishes. Fruits, veggies, dairy and milk all need to be refrigerated for thousands of miles. That's serious energy. More plastic packaging is used to keep them fresh. And of course they're loaded with preservatives to last longer. Not to mention that every day that passes between pasture and plate is another day's nutrients lost.

THE GOOD TURN:
You can do one thing right now without changing your eating or shopping habits. Simply find out which produce is in season in your area and buy more of those foods. It's no guarantee, but chances are better that in-season foods don't need to travel as far or be preserved as long.

Here's a fantastic resource for finding out what's in season in your state. Right now in my area (late May near Cincinnati), seems that collards, peas, strawberries, spinach and asparagus are all in season. Sounds good to me.

CLICK HERE TO DO THIS GOOD TURN:
See which produce is in season in your area
A list of commonly airfreighted foods and their country of origin
General idea of what's in season across the country
Good guidelines for eating well locally