Locavores or Loco-Vores?

A locavore is someone who pledges to only consume foods what was produced within a 100 mile radius of them.  While this movement has not been around for a very long time, it is starting to get some attention in the past few years around the nation.  Locavores believe that by eating within an 100 mile radius, they are helping solve air pollution, global warming, as well as doing a great amount of good towards their local economy, however, I believe otherwise.

According to James E. McWilliams and his article about locavores, there is a lot or errors that they are not accounting for.  Major issues that locavores claim they are solving is global warming, as well as the issue of air pollution, are being solved.  While locavores believe that by buying locally, they are lessening the air pollution which leads to global warming, however, they do not account for the miles that the locally grown foods are traveling.  Take for instance a truck and an airplane, the truck can only transport little goods over a small amount of distance, while an airplane can take a large amount goods over a large amount of distance.  There was even a study done for this funded by the New Zealand government that found if you account for the amount of goods per miles, the carbon footprint left is virtually the same.

Like I mentioned before, locavores main reason for eating locally is to lessen the air pollution of foods transported across the world.  According to a graph analyzing the climate impact of certain foods used in conservation magazine, showed that the transportation of foods is not a problem at all when looking at the greenhouse gas emissions let off.  In fact, the transportation only accounts for roughly 10% of emissions from food consumption.

One last reason why locavores choose to eat locally is to help their local economy prosper.  Wouldn’t going to your local grocery store or farmers market be helping your local economy?  Also, what do locavores do in the winter months, which are brutal almost all across America?  Just saving up some foods for 4-5 months doesn’t sound very appetizing, and your food would not be nearly as fresh as going to your local market or convenient store instead.

http://www.locavores.com/

"Join the Locavore Movement." N.p., 2007. Web. 19 Apr. 2014.