In today's global economy, we've become used to the idea of having year-round access to every type of food. No oranges in Australia? No worries. Just fly them in from California. But getting that food transported from faraway paddocks to our plates has a really negative impact on the environment.

This concern has given rise to the Locavore movement, whose adherents source their food and drink from near where they live. The movement began in Canada when Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon decided to spend a whole year eating food and drink grown within 160km (100 miles) of their Vancouver apartment.

The benefits of buying or growing local food are not just reduced transport emissions; the food also tastes better as it's freshly picked. In checking whether your food is within your local range, you'll get to know more about the food itself, and for example, whether your food really is organic or free range. The bonus is that by supporting local farmers and food producers, the money you spend stays within your local economy.

The first step in becoming a locavore is to grow your own produce. Herbs are easy to grow and because they're used straight after picking, they make your cooking smell and taste great.

Potatoes, lettuce, spinach, carrots and onions are just a few of the vegetables that are also easy to grow. Our neighbours recently went one step further by planting fruit trees and having their own chickens. Sampling some of their excess fresh eggs made me realise how much better home-produced eggs are than their industrial counterparts.

But what if you can't grow food at home? Well, helping out and getting food at your local community garden is a good way to go. If you don't have one near you, why not set one up with the help of your local council? Kitchen gardens in schools, which ensure that kids get to grow and eat their own vegies, have also taken off. Many of these kitchen and community gardens have food swap events where you can buy or swap surplus food, so they're worth keeping an eye out for.

Going slightly further afield, you can buy food at your local farmers' market, which is a great way to support your local and regional food producers. You can find your local markets via www.farmersmarkets.org.au and www.australianregionalfoodguide.com.au. You can also search out and directly support local farmers who do home delivery or sell fresh produce at the farm gate.

Thousand of Australians have also joined the Slow Food movement (www.slowfoodaustralia.com.au), the reciprocal to the notion of fast food. They're a great resource for information about local sourcing and food sustainability.

You can check out the 160km radius around your home by visiting www.100milediet.org/get-started/map. It's not realistic to get 100 per cent of your food within this range, especially for foodstuffs like rice, coffee and wine, and especially in a large country like Australia. But maximising the amount of local food that you buy is a win-win for our economy as well as the environment.

Written by Jon Dee

Originally published in G Magazine (Issue 24).

Do Something has provided this information as a public service. If you use this information please credit FoodWise.com.au.