The Environmental Impact of My Meal

1.   a) One of my ingredients was lake perch, which my great uncle caught in a lake in the Madison area.  Another of my ingredients was a potato that came from a farmers market located in Brookfield.  The lettuce I used for my salad also came from the same farmers market.  The dressing I used was T Marzetti dressing that according to the packaging comes from Ohio.

      

      b) My meal affected the water supply by depleting it through the agriculture uses needed to water and grow the crops.  Agriculture also depleted the soil through erosion caused by the agriculture processes.  I do not think that the creation of this meal had any kind of influence on an ecosystem.

c) Chemicals were used in creating my Caesar dressing jar.  This effected the environment by BPA emissions being released into the atmosphere.  If it is in the atmosphere it has the possibility then to be in the water system, which can be detrimental through effecting the growth, production and development of the aquatic ecosystems.

d) The production of my meal contributed to carbon dioxide emissions through the transportation of my ingredients, through my uncle driving to the lake, the transportation needed to get the products to the farmers market and the grocery store and through the fuel emission I created driving to obtain these ingredients.  I believe that it did affect the air quality by putting more pollutants from these emissions into the atmosphere.

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 e) These impacts could be local through the emissions created being in the atmosphere polluting the surrounding area.  This also has the possibility of becoming global through the emissions being able to easily travel through the atmosphere and can end up in a location far enough away from the source’s origin.

2.         a) My meal got to me through a trucks delivering to the grocery store and

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the delivery vehicles used in transporting the products to the farmers market.  I also consider a boat as a way I received my meal since my great        

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uncle used one in order to catch the fish I used.  I bought my meal through a farmer’s market and a grocery store.

b) The ingredient I used that traveled the furthest to reach me was the dressing I used since it came from Ohio.  The fish, potato, and lettuce were local ingredients since they were located near my residential area and I did not have to travel fairly far in order to obtain them.

c) The waste that went into my meal were the glass jar from the dressing, the plastic container from my tea and eggs, the paper container from the bread crumbs and the paper bag from the flour.  I recycled this waste therefore it will go to a recycling facility.  The environmental impacts from this will be reducing the waste that could have been in a landfill, since some they are not biodegradable, reducing the energy needed in order to create absolute new containers for these containers.  By recycling these wastes it can also help to decrease their carbon footprint.

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