by Julie Cummins
I was listening to KQED radio (San Francisco) this morning and heard a piece about food miles. Did anyone hear it? They referred to a recent Natural Resources Defense Council study that showed that local is better. Despite our ability to grow an abundance of crops year-round in our region, according to the study, most winter produce in California supermarkets is shipped from so far away (Chile and other Southern Hemisphere locations) that, all else being equal, you have a lower carbon footprint if you buy local, even if the modes of transport are less fuel-efficient. It said something like that, anyway. I hadn't had any high-carbon-emission coffee yet, so I can't be sure. I looked around on the web and couldn't find the story, but I did find this pdf on the NRDC site. It has an interesting chart about some of our biggest import crops, their transport methods, and their pollution potential.
NRDC also has this excellent seasonality page on its site. Select your state and the month, and you get a list of what produce is in season in your area! (Even in Alaska, they have local carrots and potatoes right now. I just had to check.)
Julie Cummins lives in Oakland, CA and is Director of Education for the Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture (CUESA).
