August 21st, 2009
Locavore: more than a matter of taste
There was a good discussion on NPR of the locavore trend among some people. Does the carbon footprint of the food matter? How bad is the negative environmental impact of American farm subsidies? Money for corn and rice, not for tomatoes or blueberries. Why is meat-eating so carbon intensive? Miles travelled by your meat or veg–does it matter? Pesticide and chemical fertilizer pollution. Could organic ag feed the world?
Two of the program’s guests: James McWilliams
Author, “Just Food: Where Locavores Get It Wrong and How We Can Truly Eat Responsibly”; Michael Pollan, Author, “In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto”. I have to warn you burger kings, McWilliams is strongly urging Americans to eat less meat. That’s where the carbon footprint of food is heaviest. Nobody on the program argued with him. McDonald’s marketing must have missed it. You can find the half-hour of audio here.
Food prices and long-term ag policies will be under discussion across the globe. India has a famine and needs to buy tons of food.
“Google Books sued by a pig, cat and dog”
Thus sayeth the first talkback. Like who cares about food on a tech site. right? OK, follow the connected dots. Millions of dollars are spent hourly on food. How it’s grown, where it’s grown, how it’s processed and delivered all use various forms of technology and energy. If there were to be a movement or regulations here or elsewhere that started to measure the impact of a food item, it could drastically alter the above food industry processes. What if you got a tax credit for every food you bought that was produced within a 100 miles of your home? What if Wal-Mart or some other retail giant begins demanding low-carbon food products? What if electric tractors or solar-powered freezer plants got sudsidies while diesel did not? What if drug-laced meat products were outlawed or simply exposed to the public? What if all school lunch programs had to go organic or reduce their carbon footprint within a decade? All this seem ridiculous? In America it probably could never happen because of the political clout of the ag industry in the Senate. But Sweden already has carbon footprint labelling. Perhaps one more reason why it won’t happen here. But it’s probable similar labels will be found in other places on this earth, especially in small, rich places like Norway and Switzerland. Carbon labelling might spread virally.
It seems obvious the food industry could quickly replace transportation as the #1 customer of greentech in America.
A newsman since 1969, Harry Fuller has worked for CBS, ABC, CNBC Europe, CNET and was founding news director at TechTV. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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