Food Miles Debunked

For those of you who operate under the delusion about what “eating local” really means, Fast Company has a little primer on what “food miles” actually are:

Could we produce locally grown chocolate in Vermont? Yes, but the carbon footprint of raising a cacao orchard in a heated greenhouse would dwarf the emissions from shipping cocoa from the tropics. An extreme example, but even for more mundane foods, focusing your local eating on local specialties and being willing to import non-specialties can reduce your impact.

Vertical farming, if it ever can be done properly and efficiently, would dramatically alter this equation. Hippies should be focusing on promoting advancements in farming tech, not retrograde motion.