Greenpeace's top three tips for green summer eating

1. Choose local, organic and GE-free.

Local, organic, GE-free—the trinity of green eating. Stick to this simple formula, and you'll go a long way towards cutting down greenhouse gas emissions, reducing the use of toxic chemicals and supporting local agriculture.

Organic food is not treated with chemical pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers. It's also not allowed to contain genetically engineered (GE) ingredients. Third-party certified organic food is widely available in Canada, but, here's the rub: it's not always local. It's up to you to balance the local (supporting local agriculture, eating fresh food in season, cutting down on transportation related greenhouse gas emissions) against the organic (chemical-free).

Luckily, local organic food is available at farmers’ markets and food coops across the country. To find organic food in your area, visit the Canadian Organic Growers and the Eat Well Guide.

You can also grow your own at home or in a community garden. Check out the fabulous You Grow Girl website for tips for gardens big and small.

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is another good option. CSA gives you the opportunity to invest directly in a farmer's crop. The dividends: fresh food, as soon as its ripe. Use a search engine to find a CSA program near you.

2. Eat low on the food chain

Eating low on the food chain might be the most important thing you can do for the environment (right up there with not driving).

First of all, meat wastes other sources of food. Vast amounts of grain must be fed to cattle, for example, to produce even a small amount of animal protein for human consumption. According to the Worldwatch Institute, the total amount of soy and grain fed to livestock in the US each year could feed everyone on the planet approximately five times over. In 2008, the United Nations World Food Programme warned it lacked the resources to keep up with rising food prices which it attributed to a number of factors including climate change, biofuels and increased demand for animal feed.

But heavy meat eaters don't just waste more food than vegetarians. They also use more water, produce more greenhouse gas emissions and help chew through forests at a breakneck pace (large areas of the Amazon have been cleared to grow soy, much of it for animal feed in Europe.)

If you are eating animal products—including seafood, dairy and poultry—you are using far more resources than you need to in order to build a healthy, balanced diet. Consider phasing in vegetarian meals. Start with one per week and then ratchet it up as you become more comfortable with meat-free cooking.

3. Choose sustainable seafood

There is growing consensus within the scientific community that the largest single threat to marine ecosystems is industrial fishing. New technologies are allowing industrial fishing vessels to harvest in deeper waters, generating new forms of destruction as they go and threatening smaller, local fisheries that operate closer to the coasts. Add in the build-up of mercury in certain species of fish and the problems associated with some types of fish-farming and the seafood section of your grocery store can get complicated.

Across Canada, people like you are looking for sustainable seafood (almost 7 out of 10, according to a new poll by Greenpeace). Unfortunately, truly sustainable seafood is hard to find and even harder to source. You won’t find the information you need at seafood counters in most supermarkets. Greenpeace's general recommendations are to eat less seafood, buy from smaller-scale, sustainable fisheries and choose species that are lower down the food web, like mussels.

But while we can't tell you exactly what to choose, we can tell you what to avoid. In fact, Greenpeace has created a Redlist to help you stay away from the worst of the worst. The Cole's Notes: say goodbye to.Atlantic Bluefin tuna, Atlantic Cod, Orange Roughy and tropical shrimp. For the full Redlist, visit: www.greenpeace.ca/redlist. To see which species have consumption advisories due to mercury, visit: www.oceansalive.org

For more information, and to find out Greenpeace's new campaign to get sustainable seafood into Canadian supermarkets, visit the Sustainable Seafood Markets site.

Take action for sustainable agriculture and oceans:

1. Say no to food-based biofuels. In Canada, Parliament is considering (NOTE needs to be checked with campaign I think it PASSED) Bill C-33, new legislation that will increase the use of biofuels in conventional gasoline. Biofuels are most often made from food crops like corn, contributing to global food shortages and driving up food prices around the world. Click here to tell your MPP that you don't think food should be used for fuel!
2. Demand fair labour conditions for agricultural workers in Canada and around the world. Choose fair trade certified products like coffee, chocolate and sugar. For more information on agricultural workers in Canada and to take action, visit: www.justicia4migrantworkers.org.
3. Ask the United Nations to establish marine reserves. You can help Greenpeace convince governments and the United Nations we need to protect our oceans by creating a global network of marine reserves. Sign Greenpeace's petition.

For a whole book full of green tips, check out the fabulous Greenpeace Living Guide.