Comments on: The dark side to local eating? http://www.LocalEating.ca/2008/04/05/the-dark-side-to-local-eating/ Discover. Eat. Connect. Tue, 07 Sep 2010 08:47:39 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5 By: tanny http://www.LocalEating.ca/2008/04/05/the-dark-side-to-local-eating/#comment-32 tanny Thu, 08 May 2008 01:52:24 +0000 http://www.LocalEating.ca/2008/04/05/the-dark-side-to-local-eating/#comment-32 Lorraine, Thanks for the comment. While I fully agree that eating locally and seasonally is better for the environment, it is a very complicated issue and I wish that there were more in depth studies in the subject. Most articles I find are UK-based. Feel free to post links to journal articles on the environmental impact of food. Tanny Lorraine,
Thanks for the comment. While I fully agree that eating locally and seasonally is better for the environment, it is a very complicated issue and I wish that there were more in depth studies in the subject. Most articles I find are UK-based. Feel free to post links to journal articles on the environmental impact of food.

Tanny

]]> By: lorraine http://www.LocalEating.ca/2008/04/05/the-dark-side-to-local-eating/#comment-30 lorraine Sat, 26 Apr 2008 01:02:15 +0000 http://www.LocalEating.ca/2008/04/05/the-dark-side-to-local-eating/#comment-30 It always amazes me how people continue to invent excuses to justify an unsustainable lifestyle. First, the greenhouse argument. Buying local means buying fresh food in season and not relying on produce grown in a greenhouse. Second, the manual labour argument. The argument states that produce grown in another country not only uses less petroleum to produce the food but that the difference is great enough to offset the oil used to transport the food. It is difficult (probably impossible) to trace how much manual labour was used to produce any particular vegetable in another country and to buy only the vegetables that were planted and harvested using manual labour. We do know, however, that transportation always uses a great deal of energy. Finally, the storage argument. Yes, local food has to be stored but fruit and vegetables have to be kept cold to prevent them from rotting. Not much petroleum is used to keep a room cold. It always amazes me how people continue to invent excuses to justify an unsustainable lifestyle. First, the greenhouse argument. Buying local means buying fresh food in season and not relying on produce grown in a greenhouse. Second, the manual labour argument. The argument states that produce grown in another country not only uses less petroleum to produce the food but that the difference is great enough to offset the oil used to transport the food. It is difficult (probably impossible) to trace how much manual labour was used to produce any particular vegetable in another country and to buy only the vegetables that were planted and harvested using manual labour. We do know, however, that transportation always uses a great deal of energy. Finally, the storage argument. Yes, local food has to be stored but fruit and vegetables have to be kept cold to prevent them from rotting. Not much petroleum is used to keep a room cold.

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