via New York Times and Chris Blattman:
The local food movement now threatens to devolve into another one of those self-indulgent — and self-defeating — do-gooder dogmas. Arbitrary rules, without any real scientific basis, are repeated as gospel by “locavores,” celebrity chefs and mainstream environmental organizations.
…The real energy hog, it turns out, is not industrial agriculture at all, but you and me. Home preparation and storage account for 32 percent of all energy use in our food system, the largest component by far.
Just a good reminder for the cool foodsters.
Now – locavores don’t try and eat local for purely environmental reasons. They are also interested in decentralized agriculture, “food security“, and supporting their local economy. They also may be environmentally righteous when science isn’t always on their side.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for all of these things, but unfounded bourgeois dogma without a good foundation in “full cost accounting” gets dangerous.
