More Tangerines Per Gallon

When considering the environmental impact of our food choices, the distance the meal traveled to the plate is not the best metric.  A “life cycle” analysis of the food process is far more relevant.

At a 2007 press conference for John Edwards campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, his wife Elizabeth Edwards declared, “I live in North Carolina. I’ll probably never eat a tangerine again.”  While locavores were thrilled with this comment, economists were quick to point out tangerines the farmer trucked from 60 miles away consumed more energy than those sent by rail from California.   The issue is not the distance but how many tangerines traveled that distance.

I had a “tangerine” moment at the restaurant when a guest declared she wouldn’t eat our Kobe burger because it  had traveled more than 1,500 miles.   We use local suppliers and much of our food, especially our produce, is sourced locally.   However several of our menu items travel great distances to the plate and I personally drive to local breweries to pickup beer for the restaurant. 

The book Just Food by James McWilliams presents an economist’s view of the locavore movement and ways to eat responsibly.   His approach considers the entire life cycle of the food from harvesting to production to consumption.   The quick conclusion is that transportation has the smallest impact on the carbon footprint. 

In the case of our Kobe Burger, baking the bun and storing the meat consume far more energy than getting them here.   Since restaurants use energy more efficiently and waste less food than home kitchens, eating a Kobe Burger at JJ Brewsky’s could reduce that reluctant guest’s carbon footprint.

Life cycle analyses have revealed energy inefficiencies in the food production process.  A study on the Danish flatfish industry revealed that switching from trawls dragged along the ocean floor to seine nets would dramatically reduce energy consumption.   New energy-efficient cultivation methods and production techniques have a far greater impact on the overall carbon footprint of our food than how far it was shipped.

Using this approach, McWilliams posits that we should be more concerned with our food after we buy it.  Wasting less food, using energy-efficient kitchen appliances, composting all organic matter not eaten, eating less in general and developing menus that do not require extensive applications of heat are better tactics to lower one’s carbon footprint than insisting on locally sourced food.  He also realizes the problems with this approach:

But of course it’s hard to turn a variety of small, energy-saving domestic tactics into a token symbol of an eco-correct food philosophy. “Cook efficiently” just doesn’t have the same rousing ring as “eat local.”

As with Edwards press conference, the rousing ring is often followed with rants against globalism and capitalism.   This book makes a strong case that globalism and capitalism are reducing more fossil fuel usage in the food chain than locavores.