How much does eating locally-produced food help the climate problem? What are the other potential environmental and social benefits of eating locally-grown/produced food? Do you have a food garden in your school or at home? If not, do you want one?
Home Grown >
Local Food is Better!
I think that many people discuss the implications of food as they relate to genetic modification but when I look at these questions I primarily think of the environmental impacts of transportation. Locally-produced food helps the climate problem because it limits the emission of greenhouses due to transportation. Non-local food usually requires processing and chemical use and also requires shipment most commonly by truck or train. I'm sure you have seen produce trucks many times on the freeway. Just imagine the number of these trucks you have seen and compare that to how many travel daily within the U.S. This clearly has a large impact on climate change and environmental degradation considering the wide amount of travel and demand for non-local produce. Eating locally grown food can thus help the environment by reducing transportation emissions. In addition, it can lead to small business growth by stimulating local economies instead of putting money back into companies that have monopolized the agricultural industry. We have a school garden in our school's living lab. I actually built an edible garden last year within the living lab and have been able to take home vegetables that I have grown, including chives which I used to make fried rice!
I believe you are right. I think that when food is made in factories, there are many chemicals and fuels being released into the atmosphere from all of the food processors and machinery. Also, it has a large impact on anyone who works there or lives near there. Not only does it make the food less nutritious and more filled with chemicals, but it causes a lot of carbon dioxide. Transportation emissions are so high and it can be caused because of the thousands of trucks shipping food all across the US.
A simple solution would be for each community to start buying their locally produce. This would lower much of the carbon dioxide released by factories and trucks delivering food. Also, school’s could start their own garden and share it with those who wish to contribute in return of some of the produce. It could become a class and could involve environmental science and ecosystem conservation. The key is to make your community change their lifestyle and start purchasing local produce which is healthier and more environmentally friendly.
nadinecorsano, I liked your idea about school gardens. It would teach students about the applications of ecology and biology in real life, and especially impact the younger ones. I predict that if young children are taught about gardening early on, then they will be more likely to grow food locally in the future. This could drastically reduce the carbon footprint of many. Fortunately, according to www.bridgingthegapresearch.org , the amount of school gardens have grown over the past several years!
You are correct. In addition to your idea, the use of locally grown and organic produce also reduce the contamination of soil and water with fertilizers and pesticides due to run-off. For these same reasons, the use of local and organic produce increases public health. This is because the produce do not have to be manipulated to withstand transportation and storage. They do not need to be manipulated to maintain freshness. Therefore, we could benefit from the quality of locally grown and organic food. So better quality, more local business, healthier people, less contamination, and less transportation required sound like a good way to reduce the carbon footprint.
SOURCES:
http://www.worldwatch.org/node/6064
http://www.heathernicholds.com/nutrition/local-food
I agree with your idea because I believe that transportation is one if not the greatest factor that contributes to damaging one's carbon footprint. I also frequently travel on the state highways that elongate California and I'm extremely appalled by the amount of trucks that are used to transport produce. One way people can become encouraged to start growing their own local produce is by educating people about the importance of the impact on not only the community but the world. Eventually if locally grown produce became consistent and successful throughout our nation we would increasingly lower our carbon footprint.
I would agree with you in the sense that when you think about it the farther away food is grown the farther it has to be transported, but does that truly have a quantitatively long-term effect? I feel like one true benefit to buying local would be that the farmers who farm locally take better care of the land they’re working on. Also local farmers use balance and don’t overproduce like larger farms that are further away. My friends family who owns a rice farm has in the past overproduced their crops to the point of having to throw away some of the yield.