Blog Post 4-Mia Szohr

After doing more research into the negative environmental impacts that the production of fresh vegetable produce have, I would say they are not only significant and considerable but also come with a feasible solution that may reduce these negative impacts. When thinking on a more global or national scale, a possible large-scale solution could be a change in marketing. When looking at any marketing on produce, whether it is a commercial, ad, etc. there always seems to be a subliminal, if not direct, message that these products are not only health beneficial but also environmentally beneficial. In doing so, this pushes consumers to not only not consider the environmental impacts of buying produce from non-local sources, but actually pushes them to believe they are being environmentally friendly with their meal choice. By creating ads that promote more locally sourced produce as well as putting these environmental impacts from things such as transportation of the produce, chemical use and land and water resource use, this could cause a large-scale shift in the way this market of individuals may think. And hopefully, would push them to buy their produce locally. This solution will also benefit on a local scale with small businesses and farmers who often times use less chemicals and more natural fertilizers, farmers who do sufficient crop rotations to save the land, use less single use plastic packaging, save the environment from air pollution from transportation and create less wasted produce that didn't make it to the shelves. In promoting things such as farmers markets, small-town grocers who get their produce locally, and even providing more funds to our local farms could all be a few more local-scale solutions. Finally, a few possible individual or household scale solutions could include actions as small as spreading the message and supporting local farmers. Although we may not be able to completely eliminate out of state produce due to seasonal issues some states face, this could be a great start!

(This is an example of an ad that makes consumers not considerate of the how, where and what environmental footprint was left from their produce by implying it simply was "picked fresh" and "transported from their hands to yours".)

(These are a few ad examples that promote consumers consideration of the how, where and what environmental footprint was left from their produce and promotes local produce!)