Anyone with a shred of concern for the environment knows
that locally grown produce is preferable to supermarket produce, right? Wrong—that
is, according to Salon writer Roberta Kwok, who's done some serious squash-related
research.
The common sense argument for buying local is that transporting
food long distances between the producers and the distributors uses up
unnecessary fuel. But this argument fails to take into account the fact that
conventional distributors drive to supermarkets in big trucks packed with produce,
while farmers markets are stocked by Fords and Chevys carrying only, say, 100
pieces of fruit. Which method has the lighter carbon footprint?
Kwok busted out her calculator at a San Francisco farmers market, and found that,
out of five food categories—apples, oranges, lettuce, squash, and
greens—wholesalers beat out local growers in everything except squash. Score
one for the Man.
But, Kwok acknowledges, precise calculations are tricky: do
more customers bike to the farmers market than to the supermarket? Do more
people buy organic at farmers markets than from wholesalers? And what about the
wholesome, touchy-feely goodness of walking around a farmers market with your
burlap sack of veggies on your shoulder, smiling at your neighbors and tossing a coin to the local organ grinder? Where
does that fleeting sense of communal well-being rank on the carbon scale?
In other words, we could all drive ourselves crazy every
time we buy an apple—because unless you grow your own food, you’re doing something wrong.
This is getting depressing. I’m off to Stop and Shop to buy
a ready-made apple pie.
Image: Salon.com
