Canadian Food Imports
July 27th, 2009
One commenter on this Youtube clip stated, “I don’t care how where my food is from, I just want it to taste good.” Another remarked, “If you listen closely to what the narrator says, she doesn’t actually give any reason why it matters where Canadians food comes from, other than the implication that if the world trading system completely falls apart it will be easier to get food nearby. She hints at the economy and the environment but there’s no actual case made. The whole thing is an appeal to emotion.”
The latter comment implies appealing to emotion is invalid when making any argument. However, people buy on emotion and justify with logic, so appealing to emotion when attempting to spread your message is never a bad idea. But, let’s look at the logical problems with the distance our food travels.
The most obvious problem with our current food system is its dependance on cheap oil. It has been estimated that growing our food requires approximately 100 billion gallons of oil per year, which is equivalent to roughly 166,667 olympic sized swimming pools. Since oil is a non-renewable and limited resource, we are setting ourselves up for disaster once that limited resource begins to disappear. Those affected the most will be the poor of the world who will not be able to keep up with rising prices. We saw the drastic affect rising oil prices has on our world’s food supply and population when food riots broke out in 2007.
An article titled “Environmental Cost of Shipping Groceries Around the World” published by the New York Times on April 26, 2008 underscored the issue. “Cod caught off Norway is shipped to China to be turned into filets, then shipped back to Norway for sale. Argentine lemons fill supermarket shelves on the Citrus Coast of Spain, as local lemons rot on the ground. Half of Europe’s peas are grown and packaged in Kenya.”
Jim Rohn once said, “Success is a refined study of the obvious.” It seems obvious to me that catching fish in Norway, shipping it to China, and then flying it back to Norway makes absolutely no sense; economically or environmentally.
Additionally, since food travels so far today, it has to be treated with chemicals so it can stay looking fresh longer. This diminishes its nutritional value and puts all kinds of dangerous toxins into our food supply.
So, again, buy local. You’re going to have to eventually, so you might as well start now 
Posted in Public Policy, The Life | 1 Comment »
July 27th, 2009 at 10:10 pm
Here’s a great LOCAL (to MI anyway…) resource I’ve found: http://www.doortodoororganics.com/