Although swapping out light bulbs and exchanging a car for a bike continues to gain popularity among the environmentally conscious, experts say one of the biggest ways to reduce your carbon footprint is as simple as thinking locally about the food you put on your plate.

By purchasing locally-grown foods, consumers reduce the amount of energy needed to transport out-of-town foods, improving diet and supporting the local economy said UW-Madison nutritionist Pete Anderson during the Focus the Nation teach-in last Thursday.

According to Anderson, the combination of food products heavy with water weight transported across the country in refrigerated trucks equals high energy.

The greater the distance the food is shipped, the greater the energy burned, causing more carbon dioxide to be released in the atmosphere, which contributes to global warming.

“The number one thing you can do as a consumer to cut your energy expenditure and CO2 output is to eat food produced as locally as possible,” Anderson said.

In addition to reducing the energy spent transporting food, purchasing local foods will help consumers improve diet by supplying them with the freshest quality and largest variety of food products.

While foods in route to the grocery store can spend days on the road, they begin to lose vital nutrients, explained Anderson.

“With better freshness you get better nutrient retention,” Anderson said. “When things start to turn yellow or brown or wilt they start to lose certain nutrients, particularly vitamins.”

In the four-season climate of Wisconsin, local seasonal food means variety, such as tomatoes and zucchini in the summer and potatoes and root vegetables in the winter.

“Variety is one of the key concepts in giving you a nutritionally adequate diet. The more variety you have the more chances you have for being covered on all nutrients you need.”

“One of the best things you can do for the environment is to patronize local food vendors, farmers markets and CSAs,” Mayor Dave Cieslewicz said, addressing the public at the teach-in.

CSAs, or community supported agriculture, are organizations where local citizens buy into a share of a farmer’s production for a growing season.

“The consumer gets a tremendous deal [from CSAs],” Anderson said. “[They] save a lot of money for everybody because you cut out distributors and wholesalers.”

According to the Madison Area Community Supported Agricultural Coalition website, more than 34 CSAs serve the southern half of the state.

Year-round farmer’s markets in Madison and local grocery stores, such as the Willy St. Co-Op, Wholefoods and Woodmans, also provide the opportunity for consumers to browse local food selections.

“[Local foods] taste better,” Cieslewicz said. “And, you get to know something about your food before you eat it.”