Social norms have dictated the way I have been eating for a very long time now. When I joined the military I did so to travel across the world and to experience new things, and one of those things is always getting to try the local cuisine. When I lived in Hawaii I ate mostly fish, a lot of Ahi, however now that I live in California, specifically the central coast, which, is mostly rural, and the majority of restaurants are based around Red Meats and local vegetables. My first meal I ever ate in my new hometown was local steak and potatoes with steamed vegetables at the Guest House Grill. That has been a recurring theme for the food I have eaten in the area. The farmers markets all have local barbeque, local trip, local ribs, and local burgers, usually paired up with the numerous local farmers and their respective vegetables.

The societal issues with this are actually fairly well intentioned. The majority of farmers only sell locally. There is a different farmers market in a different town in the county every day, and two on the weekends. This minimizes the food miles and makes for a more sustainable process. The other side of the coin is the local factory farms, which are a major contributor to Methane and a dangerous greenhouse gas. The factory farms are a function of the local barbeque culture that developed in the area over the last thirty years. Other issues that may come about are the use of land, though I did not discuss this in the system drawing the use of land for luxury items, such as wine, (because I am in California) medicinal marijuana, and for the use livestock free-range farming. There is also the shipping of goods, and the transportation of agricultural items, though minimal, will have an effect on the environment with the release of more greenhouse gases. Overall I believe the issues for the area are approached well with the emphasis on locally grown and made but the counterweight to that is the emphasis on cattle farms with the Methane release.