31. Eat Local
For this weeks’ #52climatesolutions, we ask that you eat local food. We talk about how and why, and share some inspiring resources for you to ponder.
The global food industry has many problems, which we have talked about in the climate solutions ‘preserve food’, ‘support regenerative farming’, ‘forage’, ‘ferment’ and ‘make your own drinks’. One of the less-touched-upon problems relates to the transport of food over long distances (food miles), with convoluted journeys between its origin, factories, distribution centres, retail outlets and your home. Foods generally include the place of origin on their labelling, so you know when your maple syrup is from Canada, or your canned tomatoes are from Italy, or your chocolate is from Germany or Peru. These far-travelling foods may have a high ecological footprint, having travelled around the world to reach you, on diesel-fuelled ships, trucks or planes. Whilst transport makes up only around 10% of the greenhouse gas emissions from the food industry (most occurs on-farm), this still could amount to as much as 2.5% of global emissions.
Local food helps avoid transport, but there are other benefits too. Local food can instil a stronger connection to the area that you live in. Local, fresh food is likely to be less reliant on long-term (GG-emitting, energy intensive) and refrigeration. Local food can also improve local resilience, reducing dependency on faraway places to meet local needs.
For this weeks’ #52climatesolutions, we ask that you eat local food. How you define ‘local’ is up to you, but as a guide, see how much of your food comes from within, 100 km from your home. Perhaps you would be willing to try a locavore challenge this Christmas? What would your Christmas dinner table look like if laden only with local food? Maybe fewer tropical fruits than usual? Less maple syrup, and more local honey? Local seafood rather than imported frozen stuff? Celebrating does not have to be wasteful or environmentally harmful. Visit your local market, independent grocer, or other local food producers, or grow your own. Avoid local food produced in fossil-fuel-demanding ways – you may need to chat with your growers to learn more about the energy demands of the food you buy. But being informed enables better choices for the planet.
If your Christmas lunch is already decided, perhaps consider giving a locavore diet a go in the new year? Aim for as much local as you can, or go local-only for a week, a month or a whole year! Decide on how local you want your food to be. Find out where to access your food fresh and preserve some for the winter months - summer is a great time to do this!
Dive a little deeper…
A couple of books that were particularly inspiring to us before shifting to living waste-free just happen to focus on local food challenges. If you can get your hands on these, we highly recommend them!
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