How does grocery stores affect the environment?

The financial costs of energy in stores cannot be compared with the environmental impact. Every year, the average grocery business emits 1,900 tons of carbon dioxide from the electricity and natural gas needed for operations, equivalent to the emissions of 360 cars. A casual walk down the aisle of a grocery store shows that it's not easy to determine the environmental impacts of a given food. The food industry plays an important role in environmental issues such as deforestation, land use change, water waste and excessive fertilizer runoff.

And that's not to mention the greenhouse gas emissions associated with agriculture, shipping, and food processing and storage. Carbon emissions are a good indicator of many of these environmental problems, so let's focus specifically on the climate impact of food. Later, living in Chicago, where I had to drive to a grocery store, I bought more food per visit and wasted more.