Jun
23
Food Miles vs. Food Choices
June 23, 2008 |
Great article and data on how food’s method of production has a much more substantial environmental impact than the way in which it is finally transported to consumers. Although the author at Ethicurean ultimately concludes that there are other reasons, aside from environmental impact, to prefer local food, this info still proves very important in the debate over locavorism. It shows that the consolidation and economies of scale being realized in the organic food industry aren’t necessarily as opposed to sustainability as others have argued; neither is globalization. Great news for developing countries who can benefit highly from globalized agriculture. Another important note, which commenters have already pointed out, is that the data do not distinguish between pastured-raised beef, which has much smaller environmental impact, and the conventional grain-fed variety. Doing so would probably show grass-fed red meat to be much less polluting and closer to chicken & fish than is presently implied.
Academic Article: Food-Miles and the Relative Climate Impacts of Food Choices in the United States
Comments
1 Comment so far
I think the article and it was a pretty good read, but im not sure how I feel about this one