Be a responsibel consumer

I SHARE the sentiments in your report “PJ Council offers green rebates” (Streets, June 5).

Today, the responsibility to know more and get accurate information lies with us.

One area we can control is our buying habits when it comes to food consumption.

We have the power to change what big food and supermarket retailers put on their shelves just by taking the time to read labels and refusing to buy processed junk sold at bargain prices.

If you think it takes too much time to learn all these, think about the impact cheap processed foods have on your health.

There is no mystery to the rise of diseases like diabetes and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in teenagers and children these days.

Take a closer look at what you are feeding your child. The money you saved by buying those cheap foods will end up being used to recover your health. Here is a short list of things we can do that are better for our environment, wallets and health:

- Cut meat consumption to once a week. Mass meat production is responsible for 20% of the world’s CO2 emissions.

- Buy seasonal and locally grown produce, and preferably from your local farmers’ markets. Locally grown fruits and vegetables, which don’t need pesticides and fertilisers to grow because all the nutrients they need in the natural environment are already present in the soil. Mother Nature provides and takes care of our needs. There is a reason that pumpkins and other orange colour produce grow in autumn and winter because they are good mood foods.

- Go organic when it comes to chicken, eggs and milk. Go organic all the way if you can. Processed foods contain chemicals ingredients that are foreign to our body. These chemicals that end up in our liver, and a constant deposit of toxic substances in our livers will cause it to give up on us.

- Reduce fish consumption. Our oceans are overfished. And fish poop can help save the oceans. The increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere not only advances global warming, but also raises the amount of CO2 dissolved in ocean water, making it more acidic, thus threatening sea life. Alkaline chemicals like calcium carbonate found in fish poop can help balance this acidity.
Reduce or refuse plastic bags. Bring your own shopping bag.
This is a bright start. The ideal should be consumers bringing our own recyclable shopping bags every time we shop.

B.S., Jalan Loop Seremban

Be a responsibel consumer

I SHARE the sentiments in your report “PJ Council offers green rebates” (Streets, June 5).

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