In 2005, Jessica Prentice coined the word "locavore" at World Environment Day. Ever since then, people have debated whether or not we are better off eating only locally grown and produced food, instead of food flown in from around the world. The locavore movement is gaining in popularity, and is both important and necessary for the sustainability of planet earth, and for the health of all its inhabitants, on the land and in the sea. Furthermore, people are learning that less processed and more plant based food is another way to maintain better health and a cleaner planet.
In order to better understand the ideals of the locavore movement it is important to recognize that our food choices are not necessarily plentiful, or obvious and given. Certain animals, such as cats, which are carnivorous by nature, would simply die if they did not eat meat. Humans, however, can survive on a variety of food from many different sources, and they have the brainpower to make decisions about their eating, as long as the economy allows for such choice. Factors that come into play include the economic benefits or the concerns about production and the environment, and emotional satisfaction or dissatisfaction from a lack of variety or from bad crops. People may become bored with a lack of variety in their choices or might not have access to enough food. According to Kathy Freston, concerns about the environment include many factors such as "the grain that gets wasted on feeding livestock; water and soil here and abroad are being used at a wasteful rate. Instead of growing food for subsistence in their own backyards, the world's poor are starving while farming cash crops to send abroad. A plant-based diet would reduce our reliance on a system of trade that is harmful to the global poor.' Freston, in her book, "Veganist," argues that everyone should switch from an animal to a plant based diet.
