On Mondays, Michael explores the world of environmentalism and its intersection with queer culture in the column It’s Easy Being Green, despite what Kermit says.

There are so many aspects of one’s life that can be “greened” that it’s hard to find a good place to start. Let’s start with food, because it’s something that everyone does every day and the layers of greenability are like that of an onion: copious. I’m going to explore the greening of food through an example of what I call the least green food item:   Individually Packaged, Processed, Frozen Meat Entrees

I’m nominating frozen meat entrees as the least green of all possible foods. Unfortunately, they are often the most convenient for busy people on the go, and make up the a good sized portion the caloric intake of a lot of people I know. So, what’s so bad?

Individual Packaging: while the ability to “heat and eat” a food item is very appealing to those who dislike doing dishes, the disposable packaging is extremely wasteful. While often recyclable (in part at least), the boxes, bowls and “revolutionary grilling” trays tend to end up in the landfill, wasting valuable resources.

Processed: these sorts of food items are generally made in a factory somewhere. As economics dictate, having one large factor is more cost effective than having one in each state, major market or metropolitan area. As such, these items all get made in one place and are shipped to your local grocery store. Who knows the landmarks and roadside attractions your lunch today has seen? South of the Border? Wall Drug? The World’s Largest Ball of Twine?  Even if you live in farm country, if you are eating processed foods, they likely travel many many miles before ending up in your microwave.  This transportation wastes a lot of fuel, and contributes to global warming and local pollution.

Frozen: Frozen foods have one major drawback, which is that they must be kept frozen once they’re made. This means that all the transportation mentioned above must be done in freezer trucks, resulting in more fuel and more pollution. Once these meals arrive at your grocery store, they must be kept frozen as well, using electricity that, in many regions in the US, is still generated by burning coal, which is rarely good for the environment.

Meat:  As I mentioned before, the meat industry is the largest generator of greenhouse gases.    According to an infographic linked from the referenced article, a meal of vegetables and rice requires 1/16th as much fossil fuel as a 6 oz. steak, and results in 1/25th of the greenhouse gas emissions.

So, what’s the alternative to the above?   Well, logically speaking, it’s homemade, whole, fresh, local, vegetarian entrees.

Homemade meals require little packaging unless you want to make them portable.  For this, you can reuse other containers that foods have come in. I keep a storehouse of mason jars in my pantry from all the pasta sauce I’ve purchased.  In the wintertime, I cook pots of soup and fill the jars with them.  Other containers are seemingly infinitely reusable as well, such as hummus containers, and yogurt tubs.  Why buy food in a container that you are going to throw away when you can make food at home and put it into containers you already have?  Additionally, when one buys whole foods, those foods come in their own, biodegradable packaging.  Think onions, potatoes and bananas.  (Unless you shop at Trader Joe’s, where even the produce comes wrapped in plastic packaging.)  If composting is available nearby, you can easily return all this “packaging” to the earth.

The other big dimension here is “local.”  If you can purchase foods that come from nearby, you can drastically reduce the fuel consumption required to put that food on your plate. Shop at farmers markets.  Sign up for Community Supported Agriculture. Shape your diet around local seasonal foods.

Finally, the vegetarian aspect is important. Meat eats up a lot of resources and creates a lot of pollution, so dining on vegetarian options instead will have a much lighter impact on the environment.

Now, where you get these meals is up to you. Dine at the hot/salad bar at Whole Foods and compost your dining materials, or buy the ingredients yourself and do it at home. The options are there, waiting to be explored.