“Eat Global” Movement on the Rise?

Published on Wednesday, January 17, 2007, by Christy Harrison / Edit Post

Eating locally produced fare may be worse for the world than buying produce from faraway developing nations, the UK’s Scotsman newspaper reports.

The idea of reducing greenhouse-gas emissions by trimming “food miles” (the distance from farm to plate) has become something of a rallying cry for environmentalists recently—particularly in the UK, where headline-grabbing environment secretary David Miliband has even suggested placing economic penalties on non-local foods. But a sustainable-development nonprofit argues that flying fresh fruits and vegetables into the country from sub-Saharan Africa actually represents “less than 0.1 percent of total UK carbon emissions.”

Environmental-justice groups also warn that by aiming to reduce food miles, shoppers may unwittingly throw a monkey-wrench into the social and economic development of African countries, which are very dependent on farm exports.

Things are a bit different in the U.S., where I would wager less of our food comes from Africa and more from South and Central America, as well as faraway parts of our own (much larger) country. And as my fave food philosopher Peter Singer reports, some studies have shown that we ‘Muricans use between 1 and 2 percent of our annual energy for transporting food. Still, is that enough to justify a large-scale eat-local movement? Or should locavores just give it up and start supporting some developing nations for a change?

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  • The new issue of Mother Jones has a great piece on local vs. organic vs. industrial farming by Paul Roberts, author of The End of Food. Roberts points out that all of these issues are more complicated than one might think and contends that proponents of all three approaches may have to bend if we're going to grow enough healthy and affordable food to feed the planet:

    ...+READ

    The new issue of Mother Jones has a great piece on local vs. organic vs. industrial farming by Paul Roberts, author of The End of Food. Roberts points out that all of these issues are more complicated than one might think and contends that proponents of all three approaches may have to bend if we're going to grow enough healthy and affordable food to feed the planet:

    http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2009/02/spoiled-organic-and-local-so-2008

    Confession: I work for Mother Jones, but am a long time Bay Area Chow Hound.-COLLAPSE

  • I love local farms and fresh-picked produce, but when my local orange trees are debilitated by winter frost, I'm happy to nibble citrus from Texas, Florida, and Chile.

  • I couldn't agree more with curious baker. supporting diversity and local economies/values is the main reason to be a locovore. The "food miles" are important, but not as important as something like carpooling for environmental purposes.

    It will never completely eliminate the global food economy, I don't know too many places in the U.S. to find locally grown bananas, mangoes, or avocados. We...+READ

    I couldn't agree more with curious baker. supporting diversity and local economies/values is the main reason to be a locovore. The "food miles" are important, but not as important as something like carpooling for environmental purposes.

    It will never completely eliminate the global food economy, I don't know too many places in the U.S. to find locally grown bananas, mangoes, or avocados. We eat globally, that's one of the great things about living in this age of transportation and technology. I can't imagine going without spices, coffee, or chocolate...and when I get a craving for thai food or a ripe, juicy tomato in the middle of February, I want to satisfy that craving. However, if people would think locally and seasonally even 75% of the time, we would have a much more balanced situation.

    Do we really need the factory farming and the genetic engineering? Or have we just grown to think we need it?-COLLAPSE

  • The reasons for eating local are not limited to food miles (although reducing emissions is always a good thing). But here are a few more:

    Supporting your local economy (rather than paying mostly the middle men).

    Supporting small, diverse farms (which tend to improve biodiversity and be more environmentally sound) rather than large, monoculture farms (the only type really suited to the scale of...+READ

    The reasons for eating local are not limited to food miles (although reducing emissions is always a good thing). But here are a few more:

    Supporting your local economy (rather than paying mostly the middle men).

    Supporting small, diverse farms (which tend to improve biodiversity and be more environmentally sound) rather than large, monoculture farms (the only type really suited to the scale of international-level trade).

    Increasing food security. When California is hit by the big one, or gas prices finally start to skyrocket, it would be great to have farms in New England.

    Transparency - if I buy from my local farmer, I can find what workers are paid, how the animals are kept, what chemicals are used. Good luck doing that if your farmer is in Ghana.

    Maintaining cultural diversity - local farmers preserve local traditions.

    Keeping land out of development.

    Food quality and freshness.

    There are crops that are not going to be found locally, and there's no reason not to have a global economy in specialty goods - coffee, chocolate, vanilla. But there's no reason for me to buy an apple from Chile (picked god knows when) when there are struggling farms less than an hour away growing apples sustainably.

    www.newenglandgrown.com-COLLAPSE

  • Uh...do you know what a "merkin" actually is?
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merkin