JULY 9, 2009 ISSUE
everGreen Tips
A New Column Courtesy of the Boone Area Chamber of Commerce
Welcome to everGREEN Tips!
No, this is not an article about gathering materials for making wreaths. Instead, this is the introduction to a series of articles designed to help, inform, perhaps inspire and maybe entertain you with the many facets of developing a more “green” business or lifestyle.
EverGREEN Tips is sponsored and produced by the Boone Area Chamber of Commerce everGREEN Committee. EverGREEN was chartered in January of this year with a mission to promote the adoption and practice of sustainable development principles which foster economic prosperity while preserving the environment for future generations.
These articles will not be written by paid writers, but by people who are actually putting their tips into practice and can share practical advice on what works and what does not work and why. You will also find articles with facts that will surprise and possibly change the way you think about how you go about daily activities and where you buy items you use in your everyday lives.
What you will NOT find is propaganda. The articles will be factual—based on research, not on hearsay. The shared experiences will be real, realistic and applicable.
Along with these more narrative tips, stay tuned to local radio and TV to hear sound-bite tips all designed to help, inform and inspire.
Nancy Reigel, chair
Boone Area Chamber of Commerce everGREEN Committee
The Power of Local Food
By Chuck Smith, ASU Sustainable Development Program director
There are many things we can do to lower our environmental impact and help foster sustainability in our region. Most folks are familiar with many of them: buy a smaller vehicle (best when your old model is pretty worn out), weatherize and tighten your home, turn off the lights and lower the thermostat. All of these efforts are good practice and will lower your environmental footprint.
But did you ever think about the food you eat, especially in the context of environmental health and economics? When you purchase and consume locally produced organic vegetables, fruits and pastured meats, you are engaging in one of the most powerful acts of environmental and broadly based economic sustainability that is possible.
Did you know that our current agricultural and industrial food system, when you add fertilizers, pesticides, transportation, processing and packaging, uses almost as much petroleum as all our private cars? It’s true. Almost 20 percent of the nation’s petroleum and natural gas is employed to grow, transport, process and package the food we find in our supermarkets and restaurants. On average, it takes 11 fossil fuel calories to produce 1 calorie of food energy in the U.S. In other words, the average American “eats” about 500 gallons of oil per year. If you have an oil furnace, that figure may be close to what you purchase for a year’s worth of home heating.
You may have also heard that buying locally (food as well as other products) is good for the local economy. Economists explain this as the multiplier effect, or how many times currency circulates in the local economy before it leaves the area or region. When your money is spent at locally owned businesses, it remains in the area and supports other local businesses for longer than if it went directly to a corporate headquarters in some other state or country. This is particularly true with purchasing local food because the product is not just sold locally; it is also produced locally. Almost 90 percent of your dollar goes to the local economy. For comparison, if you buy something online, perhaps 1 percent stays in your local economy. Other purchases are somewhere in between.
Local, organic foods are fresher and superior in taste and carry none of the chemicals and hormones that most conventional foods do. Also, be aware that food labeled “organic” in supermarkets, while they do abide by USDA Organic standards, are grown, processed and transported on the industrial model. These foods are probably better for you and the soil. Yet, they are many hundreds or thousands of miles less fresh and do much less to keep money in your local economy or on your neighbors’ farms.
It is true that some local foods cost more than conventional supermarket fare, but the price of local food is comparable or even less than organic labeled. While you may pay a premium of sorts, it is nice to remember the multiplier effect and know your money is going to support your community while you are eating and feeding your family with nutritious, tasty food, not gulping down the one and a half gallons of oil per day mentioned above.
It can be difficult to eat locally grown food throughout the year, but more opportunities are here, and they continue to expand. Start out small. Visit your local farmers’ market and purchase some items. Buy what you like to eat, but experiment as well. Talk to the vendors. Cook more and involve the family—maybe even turn off the television and start a small garden. Plenty of books about the growing (re)localization of food movement are available. One of the better and more entertaining ones is Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. Pick it up and give it a try, then share it with others.
Think globally—eat locally!
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