Over 20,000 plant species on earth are edible, and in the past, humans have been using only about 2,000 of these plants for food. Now, an even smaller range of species are used as food. For example, the different varieties of rice in Asia have dropped from thousands to about ten. Also, farmers raise animals that grow faster, so there aren’t as many animal species for food.
 Indigenous Foods
Indigenous foods are foods that come from your local area. They help the environment because to get them, you don’t have to use as much energy to bring the food to your neighborhood. In order to ship food over distances, it has to be transported in trucks, trains, and ships that burn fossil fuels and pollute the air.
Eating indigenous foods will also give you a wider variety of foods. You might even taste foods you’ve never heard of!
Endangered Animals
Using endangered animals for food is not good for biodiversity because it would cause the species' population to drop. For example, monkeys, gorillas, and chimpanzees are sometimes eaten in underdeveloped countries and in Britain. One species of monkey became extinct just from being eaten! Also, here is a list of endangered fish that shouldn’t be eaten:
- Modoc sucker
- Razorback sucker
- Santa ana sucker
- Shortnose sucker
- Warner sucker
- Gila Topminnow
- Apache trout
- Bull trout
- Gila trout
- Greenback cutthroat trout
- White sturgeon
- June sucker
- Lost river sucker
- Lanhontan cutthroat trout
- Little kern golden trout
- Palute cutthroat trout
- Woundfin
Ways You Can Help
You can help by trying to find out what ingredients are used in the food you eat and where the ingredients come from. Then, if it’s made from an endangered or threatened species or if it has been shipped over long distances don’t eat it. You should shop at local green markets where local farmers sell their crops. Another way you can help is eating tuna that isn’t from southern bluefins, or that is “Dolphin Safe.” If you don’t like tuna, that’s not a problem. |
