"UN-Sustainable Meal"

Evaluate your contribution to our (un?)sustainable meal. Consider a cradle to grave assessment of the inputs required to make your product. Relatively speaking, does it meet the criteria for sustainable (as we defined it in class)? How does it compare to comparable options on the market? How might you go about evaluating an “eco” and conventional product side by side? 

My contribution to the (un?)sustainable meal was a vegetable tray (broccoli, cherry tomatoes, and carrots) with ranch dip. The vegetables came from different regions in North America, but none from Florida. The vegetables were first grown in a farm, and then harvested, then shipped to a distribution center, where the vegetables were cleaned and cut, in the right portions, and then packaged for shipping.  Both the vegetables and the dip are biodegradable, if they don't get eaten, but the plastic that cased the dip and the plastic container that contained the vegetables are not.  There is so much unnecessary packaging that goes into the vegetable tray, that it makes it more so unsustainable. 

Compared to other options in the market, this food choice is more sustainable because the vegetables contain antioxidants, which is very good to have in our diets. A better diet, means a healthier lifestyle. My people that eat more junk food are more wasteful compared to those people who eat less, and more healthier options. 


I would go about evaluating an "eco" and conventional product side-by-side by first observing how much unnecessary packaging the product has and if the product contains more biodegradable parts, than not. Also I would evaluate the size of the carbon foot print that the product leaves behind.