Bikeforums.net is a forum about nothing but bikes. Our community can help you find information about hard-to-find and localized information like bicycle tours, specialties like where in your area to have your recumbent bike serviced, or what are the best bicycle tires and seats for the activities you use your bike for.Roody
03-24-09, 12:36 AM
But Roody, there are three factors, local, organic and cost. So I'm a selfish biker but not unaware. I've learned about the ethical dimensions on LCF and how the same considerations can seep over into other areas of your life. So, what I read your rule of thumb to be is local AND organic or avoid the product. So I sinned by buying organic but not local, seduced by the jezebel cost. Well, last weekend I convinced a suburban family to dig up some grass and plant food. They didn't think much of the idea until they saw that Michelle Obama was doing it so that made it OK. Weird how people think.
We can just do the best we can do. The food system is set up to favor big business agriculture, so it isn't easy to get outside that cage! Off the top of my head i can thing of a few guidelines:
Organic--Generally, organic food is better for the environment because no pesticides are used, and less fossil fuel is used in it's production (this is because fertilizers are mostly made out of natural gas, of all things). After that, all bets are off for organic food being better for the environment. Obviously, organic strawberries grown in Morocco and airfreighted to Portland have a HUGE carbon footprint. OTOH, organic bananas grown in Costa Rica and shipped by boat to Boston have almost NO carbon footpring, because boats are extremely efficient. The same banana shipped to Boston, then trucked to Denver, will have a pretty big footprint. Starting just this week, stores in the US are required to label produce and meats with the country of origin.
Local--Environmentally, this is usually the best bet. Less carbon is emitted to ship food a shorter distance, obviously. However, if local food isn't organic, they may use pesticides and the fertilizers made from natural gas. But a lot of food marketed as locally grown is also organic, or nearly organic. One advantage is that you can usually ask the local grower about their growing practices and fuel usage. Many of them use pesticides rarely or never, or they use artificial fertilizers sparingly on only some of their crops.
Cost--Shop around. You will pay more for local and organic foods in many cases, but the quality might be better too. The cheapest place for local produce is the farmer's market or, cheaper yet, a CSA. You have to buy seasonally to get the best deals.
Remember, it isn't all or nothing. Buy as much local food as you can, but don't feel bad if you have to buy imported food also. Like I said, the system is deliberately set up to make it difficult and expensive to buy food that's produced by small local growers. Write your congressman if you think, like I do, that this is a bad deal for American consumers.
We can just do the best we can do. The food system is set up to favor big business agriculture, so it isn't easy to get outside that cage! Off the top of my head i can thing of a few guidelines:
Organic--Generally, organic food is better for the environment because no pesticides are used, and less fossil fuel is used in it's production (this is because fertilizers are mostly made out of natural gas, of all things). After that, all bets are off for organic food being better for the environment. Obviously, organic strawberries grown in Morocco and airfreighted to Portland have a HUGE carbon footprint. OTOH, organic bananas grown in Costa Rica and shipped by boat to Boston have almost NO carbon footpring, because boats are extremely efficient. The same banana shipped to Boston, then trucked to Denver, will have a pretty big footprint. Starting just this week, stores in the US are required to label produce and meats with the country of origin.
Local--Environmentally, this is usually the best bet. Less carbon is emitted to ship food a shorter distance, obviously. However, if local food isn't organic, they may use pesticides and the fertilizers made from natural gas. But a lot of food marketed as locally grown is also organic, or nearly organic. One advantage is that you can usually ask the local grower about their growing practices and fuel usage. Many of them use pesticides rarely or never, or they use artificial fertilizers sparingly on only some of their crops.
Cost--Shop around. You will pay more for local and organic foods in many cases, but the quality might be better too. The cheapest place for local produce is the farmer's market or, cheaper yet, a CSA. You have to buy seasonally to get the best deals.
Remember, it isn't all or nothing. Buy as much local food as you can, but don't feel bad if you have to buy imported food also. Like I said, the system is deliberately set up to make it difficult and expensive to buy food that's produced by small local growers. Write your congressman if you think, like I do, that this is a bad deal for American consumers.