The Earth is undergoing a considerable change. Of course it has always changed, thanks to a variable climate and the evolution borne from it, however until recently it’s been in a period of beautiful stability that lasted tens of thousands of years. And then mankind started chopping everything down, digging everything up, and burning it…

The result is a climate changing at a rate that is way beyond the pace that life can adapt to survive, and once the permafrost melts and releases the methane trapped within it, we’re on a one-way train to doomsville.

It’s not too late though, as nature has a remarkable ability to heal itself if given the chance. One way we can limit the damage is to consume less, whether that’s energy, material things, or food. Food production, particularly meat, is the single largest contributor to the destruction of our wilderness. Buying local, and not eating the meat from intensively-farmed, chemical-filled, miserable animals, is both better for us and the planet upon which we live.

Cue Chris Elliott‘s Japanese mobile greengrocer, bringing locally grown produce to your door in a converted minibus. Chris’s beautifully detailed creation includes a range of brick-built veg, breads and pastries, a burst of pink flowers down the side, and even LED lighting. Plus there’s not a battery-farmed chicken in sight.

Reducing consumption doesn’t necessarily mean buying less, as at present an average of 219lbs of food is wasted annually by every American, equating to over a third of all U.S. food production.

Throwing less away, and recycling it when we do (even food), means less chopping down, less digging up, and less burning. Cue Jonathan Elliott‘s excellent Dennis Eagle garbage truck/bin lorry, which is where what we discard usually ends up. Jonathan’s bin lorry captures the real thing superbly, and there’s even a working lift mechanism at the back.

Sadly it only has black and grey bins, but change them for green and blue (or whatever the recycling colours are where you live), and we might just avert the looming catastrophe yet. Click the links above to follow the food from land to landfill, and ask yourself if there’s a better way…