I am a very environmentally aware person, which is no big surprise since I have a degree in it, and I have been teaching environmental science for 30 years now, but even I get surprised every day. A recent article I read about the Yangtze River in China drying up led me down the rabbit hole on water issues with food. This led me to learn that 70% of the U.S. lettuce supply comes from California, and another 20% comes from Arizona! Lettuce is a cool weather crop the world over, why is it growing in the desert? AND, lettuce is basically crunchy water! How can we be using precious dessert water on lettuce? As a major consumer of salad, and romaine in particular, I was shocked and frustrated. I am a part of this problem, and this is a big problem! We are fueling the desertification, wild fires, food miles, high carbon emissions and on and on, for our crunchy greens fix, which we could so easily grow here!
Being a person of action, I set to researching and then to work! I built myself a Kratky method hydroponic lettuce planter! While this may look totally underwhelming, in 5 weeks or so, I should be enjoying super fresh, organic romaine from my back yard with zero food miles! Hopefully. We just have to make some changes in our systems if we are going to have any hope of modifying our carbon emissions and turning our temperature around. As for me, lettuce begin to eat a more plant forward, planet healthy diet!
