As we have explored in this here blog oh faithful reader, it seems like there are few aspects of life that the green revolution doesn't touch.



There's your house, your car, your job so why not, your food?



There are a couple green things to consider while chomping away at the table, and I mean more than the broccoli you're pretending to enjoy.



One of the most important aspects of what we eat is the consideration of whether we'll be able to eat it tomorrow.



In other words, sustainability.



As we learned once (and then forgot) in the years of the dust bowl, there are sustainable and unsustainable farming practices.



We are entering a food crunch brought about the perfect storm of several aspects.



The first, as with everything in the American economy, has to do with fuel.



Higher fuel costs are making it more expensive to move food great distances, making locally grown produce suddenly more attractive not only for its diminished carbon footprint, but also for its diminished impact on your wallet.



For several years, some places, like Maysie's Farm Conservation Center in Ludwig's Corner have espoused a sustainable practice called Community Supported Agriculture, as I mentioned in my May 6 blog entry.



The idea is that you buy into a local farmer's crop ahead of time and when the crop comes in, you collect your share.



Another old idea that's new again is to have a backyard garden and actually (gasp!) grow some food of your own.



Of course some people, (me for instance) have a brown thumb and can only seem to grow weeds. For those, and those who haven't the time or the inclination but do have the desire, there are people like Trevor Paque.



As this article in The New York Times outlines, Paque is a new kind of farmer, the kind who comes to your house to tend your garden for you.



According to the article, "even couples planning a wedding at the Plaza Hotel in New York City can jump on the local food train. For as little as $72 a person, they can offer guests a '100-mile menu' of food from the caterer’s farm and neighboring fields in upstate New York."
"Locally grown food, even fully cooked meals, can be delivered to your door. A share in a cow raised in a nearby field can be brought to you, ready for the freezer — a phenomenon dubbed cow pooling. There is pork pooling as well. At Sugar Mountain Farm in Vermont, the demand for a half or whole rare-breed pig is so great that people will not be seeing pork until the late fall," the Times reports.



Then there's the issue of ethanol.



As well-meaning, but misguided officials try to push ethanol as an alternative to Middle East oil, they fail to recognize that growing food crops for fuel, creates a food shortage and further drives up the cost for food.



By next year, biofuels are expected to consume 30 percent of the corn crop.



Grain shortages are also being caused by the improving economic fortunes of billions of Chinese citizens who, newly wealthy by comparison, want to eat more meat.



Cornell University estimates that the U.S. could feed 800 million people with the grain eaten by livestock. Each year an estimated 41 million tons of plant protein is fed to U.S. livestock to produce an estimated 7 million tons of animal protein for human consumption.



For every kilogram of high-quality animal protein produced, livestock are fed nearly 6 kilograms of plant protein.



As a result, consumers and food suppliers are turning increasingly to fish for their protein.



Of course, we've treated the oceans like our farmland by which I mean we've nearly fished it into extinction, giving rise to another new industry, aqua-culture.



In the past, these operations, often experimental at first, have been criticized for clustering fish too closely together, fostering disease and causing problems at their locations, which are often too close to shore.



And so, sustainable agriculture has also spread to the seas.



As this article in The Washington Post shows, "Supermarkets are introducing new standards for the farmed fish and shrimp that make up roughly half of U.S. seafood consumption, riding a wave of consumer demand for environmentally friendly products. "



Whole Foods, Wegman's and even Wal-Mart are all getting in the act, consulting with the organizations which once criticized overly consumptive and practices to certify suppliers as farming fish in a way that doesn't harm the environment, damage sensitive eco-systems or over-use antibiotics.



However, although the nonprofit Marine Stewardship Council provides certification for suppliers of wild-caught seafood -- the labels are used in stores from Whole Foods to Wal-Mart -- there is no widely accepted standard for sustainable farming practices.



Don't be surprised to seen see labels on your flounder and tilapia.