Eating Local vs. The Environment

This week, one of my assignments was to research the environmental impact of eating foods that are raised locally. The argument is that food that has to travel has a greater negative impact on the world around us, thanks to greenhouse gas emissions, than food that is grown nearby. At the outset, it seems like a no-brainer, but upon deeper research, it turns out that it is not as simple as that.

It is true that food that travels has a larger carbon footprint when transportation is the only item considered. However, it is not true that simply by eating locally, you can have warm fuzzies about how you are personally saving the planet. The fact is, food that travels is only worse by a very small, some even say insignificant, percentage. The environmental impact of food comes not from transporting items, but from production.

Obviously, the next argument is that production of locally grown foods has a much smaller carbon footprint than those that come from miles away. This depends upon the type of food. Basically, meat and dairy are the worst offenders thanks to a number of factors including grazing, methane emissions, and the basic upkeep of live animals. Researchers and scientists from around the globe agree that if you truly want to save the environment, you should eat less meat. Many promote "meatless Monday," one day each week when families choose to eat meat-free. Researchers argue that reducing meat at this level, or even exchanging beef, pork, or chicken for seafood, can have a 10 percent greater environmental impact than purchasing all food from local sources.

Hold on to those, "I told you so's," vegetarians. While eating less meat is best for the environment, some argue that vegetarianism is actually worse. Us vegetarians need to supplement our diets with foods that are high in protein. Very few of us make our tofu from scratch, thus we rely on foods that are processed to a large degree. Also, the amount of land required to sustain vegetarianism is larger, though the emissions created from cultivation and production are far less harmful than those produced on land that is used for meat or dairy.

What does all of this mean? Never eat local? Don't become a vegetarian? Of course not. These studies focus on one small portion of a much larger issue. People who choose to buy their food from primarily local sources do so for a host of reasons. Sometimes it is related to the environment, but often it is due to health concerns or for the sake of promoting the local economy. People choose to become vegetarian for a number of reasons as well. In the end, buying locally or not is a personal choice. Even though it has been proven not to improve the environment, there are reasons to continue to do so.