Now that it’s mid-July, summer’s on in full force (finally). Local produce is really coming into its own, and farmers are bringing heaps of it to a farmer’s market near you. You already know that buying fresh, local vegetables and supporting local farmers has a lot of benefits, but did you know that shopping at farmer’s markets helps fight global warming too? Here’s how.

• Food at farmer’s markets is often grown on smaller farms with less and smaller equipment-which burns less fossil fuels.
• Sustainable and organic food requires much less, if any, pesticide and fertilizer, and in turn, less energy.
• Eating locally produced food produces less global warming pollution because the distance from the farm to you is shorter, and less fossil fuel is burned to transport it.
• Generally speaking, the less processing and packaging you see, the less energy went into production and marketing, and the less global warming pollution was created.
• Get the most out of the season’s fruits and vegetables: meat requires much more energy to produce than vegetarian fare (especially compared to meat raised from animals in feed lots or factory pens).

Now that it's mid-July, summer's on in full force (finally). Local produce is really coming into its own, and farmers are bringing heaps of it to a farmer's market near you. You already know that buying fresh, local vegetables and supporting local farmers has a lot of benefits, but did you know that shopping at farmer's markets helps fight global warming too? Here's how.