[lofo List] "(U of T) professors square off on local food" & "is eating local worth it?" article + live online event Dec. 7

[Daryl Hepting <hepting@cs.uregina.ca>]

Hi;

I've included the text (below) from 2 articles in the Globe and Mail:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/toronto/is-eating-local-worth-it/article1390549/
and
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/toronto/professors-square-off-on-local-food/article1390546/

The event is linked from the bottom of the first article.

Best regards,
Daryl
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Daryl H. Hepting, Ph.D.
Associate Professor  * Computer Science Department * CW 308.22
University of Regina * Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada S4S 0A2
dhh@cs.uregina.ca    * http://www.cs.uregina.ca/~hepting
tel: (306) 585-5210  * fax: (306) 585-4745 * cell: (306) 596-6312
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Join us Monday, Dec. 7 at noon EST as Professor Pierre Desrochers takes your questions on the benefits of eating local. In Saturday's Globe and Mail, Global Food Reporter Jessica Leeder wrote about Prof. Desrochers' argument that eating local isn't the best way for Canadians to reduce their carbon footprint:

"It doesn't make sense to have cattle ranges in Southern Ontario where the land can be better used to produce tomatoes or cucumbers," Prof. Desrochers points out. "You end up destroying more jobs by buying uncompetitive local food than the number of jobs you create in the process."

As Ms. Leeder writes, Prof. Desrochers' "food-miles calculus has made him persona non grata all the way from his Mississauga campus to Queen's Park, which is in the midst of pushing local food into Ontario's prisons, hospitals and schools."

Whether you agree with Prof. Desrochers or not, it's a provocative argument. Return to this page on Monday at noon to participate in the discussion with Prof. Desrochers, or leave a question in advance using our Comment function below
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Sarah Wakefield is a professor in the department of geography at the University of Toronto. Her current research focuses on sustainable food systems, with projects investigating food localism and the role of community service organizations and municipal governments in creating local food security.

Misunderstood food miles

Desrochers Food miles are a marketing fad … which distorts the environmental impacts of agricultural production, the affordability, energy consumption and environmental impact of modern food production.

Wakefield Food miles are only one tool to help consumers see the “big picture” of food production and distribution. …The activists I know would like to see the existing food system transformed into something more environmentally sustainable and socially just. Local food is seen as a part of that transformation, not the ultimate goal.

The road less travelled

Desrochers The distance travelled by a product between producer and consumer is not indicative of the relative “cost” to the environment as expressed in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. The greatest volume of emissions are often incurred during food production or transport between shop and home in the country of consumption.

Flying versus driving

Desrochers A UK consumer driving six miles to buy Kenyan green beans emits more carbon per bean than flying them from Kenya to the United Kingdom. Driving a car to and from the retailers to purchase food contributes 48 per cent of vehicle miles and 13 per cent of CO2 emissions associated with food purchases, according to one U.S. study.

To grow near, or far?

Desrochers Growing locally out of season (in greenhouses, for example) can be more environmentally damaging than importing foods over long distances from producers that use low-carbon technologies.

Wakefield These three points all riff on the same theme: Namely, that food miles are not the only consideration when assessing the environmental impact of the food we eat. It makes sense to pay attention to personal travel to and from shops, and to reduce our greenhouse-gas emissions where possible. It also makes sense to buy food with the lowest possible environmental impact. However, … information about the conditions under which food is produced is hard to come by. When consumers buy local, they can be confident that the environmental and health standards for their region were met. And they can work with farmers and regulators to change things they don't like, something that is far more difficult in a globalized food system.

Buying local hurts

Desrochers A misplaced emphasis on transported distance from producers to retailers as a sustainability indicator will hurt the development of more distant, poorer economies and therefore hurt their capacity to devote more resources to environmental protection.

Wakefield Literally millions of small-scale subsistence farmers have been displaced by export-oriented corporate agriculture. No longer able to feed themselves, they – and their nations – increasingly rely on food purchased in the global marketplace. This can have disastrous consequences when food prices fluctuate.

ONLINE DISCUSSION: Join us Monday, Dec. 7 at noon EST as Prof. Desrochers takes your questions about local food



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