"James E. McWilliams" news and stories

On Monday, the New York Times printed an opinion piece entitled, "Food That Travels Well" by James E. McWilliams. In it McWilliams states that while he is a passionate member of the "eat local" cohort, to be absolutely responsible about the carbon footprint of your food, you have to take more into account that just the place where that food was grown or raised.

He offers the convincing example of research done at Lincoln University in New Zealand (done in response to Europe's push to label their food with the number of miles it traveled from field to shelf) that found that lamb raised in New Zealand and shipped 11,000 miles to England emitted three-quarters less carbon dioxide emissions per ton than the lamb raised in England.

Until the FDA starts requiring food producers to print the amount of carbon dioxide emissions along with the fat grams on that package of chicken breasts, this isn't information to which we will have easy access. Neither do I think it means that people should stop buying their food locally when it is available and affordable. But it adds another layer of consideration to the already complex situation that we all face when we open the fridge every morning.

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