Having mentioned in the past that Buying Local is not a realistic manner of saving the environment, we are greatly pleased to see our points of view reaffirmed in a paper by Hiroko Shimizu and Pierre Desrochers entitled: “Yes We Have No Bananas: A Critique of the ‘Food Miles’ Perspective”
They take many examples, and show that goods were bought from far away places for a reason: they are more efficiently grown. Their paper goes on to show that efficient growth greatly outweighs the greenhouse gases emitted in transportation.
For example, British farmers emit 2,394 kg of carbon dioxide (Co2) per ton of tomatoes produced. For Spanish farmers it is 630kg. It therefore makes environmental (as well as economic) sense for British consumers to import Spanish tomatoes.
Their conclusion is that “food miles are, at best, a marketing fad”. Media outlets take note.
Original paper here.
