Is Eating Local the Best Choice?

Some 30 years ago NASA came up with another BIG idea. Assemble vast solar electric arrays in space and beam the energy to earth. The environmental community did not dismiss NASA's vision out of hand. After all, the sun shines 24 hours a day in space. A solar cell on earth harnesses only about four hours equivalent of full sunshine a day. If renewable electricity could be generated more cheaply in space than on earth, what's the problem?

A number of us argued that the problem was inherent in the scale of the power plant. Whereas rooftop solar turns us into producers, builds our self-confidence and strengthens our sense of community as we trade electricity back and forth with our neighbors, space-based solar arrays aggravate our dependence. By dramatically increasing the distance between us and a product essential to our survival, we become more insecure. The scale of the technology demands a global corporation, increasing the distance between those who make the decisions and those who feel the impact of those decisions. Which, in turn, demands a global oversight body, itself remote and nontransparent to electric consumers.

NASA and most of the environmental community were impervious to arguments about scale and community. But environmentalists soon turned against the orbiting solar satellites when they concluded the microwave beams used to transmit the solar electricity to earth would wreak havoc on birds flying through its path. Ronald Reagan cut NASA's budget. The prospect of solar arrays dimmed.

My experience with distant solar came to mind when I read James F. McWilliams' recent column in the New York Times about food miles. McWilliams, a "passionate" advocate of "eat local," discussed new studies that conclude local is not always environmentally superior. One study he cites found the life cycle impact of a lamb raised in New Zealand and shipped to the United Kingdom was lower than a lamb raised and consumed in the U.K. Another more comprehensive study by University of Wales professors Ruth Fairchild and Andrea Collins found that transporting food from farm to store accounts for only 2 percent of the overall environmental impact of food systems. Food grown locally could have a considerably bigger footprint than food flown halfway around the world.

"I'm a bit worried about the food miles [debate], because it is educating the consumer in the wrong way. It is such an insignificant point," says Fairchild.

McWilliams' column comes as the U.K. Soil Association (the certification agency for U.K. organics) proposes stripping the organic label from foreign-produced certified organic goods that are flown in. Some food stores in Europe have announced they will label products that have been transported by air.

McWilliams thinks the new studies are beneficial even for localvores because they force us to adopt a more sophisticated and nuanced approach. He begins with the proposition, "[I]t is impossible for most of the world to feed itself a diverse and healthy diet through exclusively local food production -- food will always have to travel."... And ends with the conclusion, "...[W]ouldn't it make more sense to stop obsessing over food miles and work to strengthen comparative geographical advantages? And what if we did this while streamlining transportation services according to fuel-efficient standards?"

For McWilliams, globally efficient food systems trump local food systems. "We must accept the fact, in short, that distance is not the enemy of awareness."

A few days later the Times published six letters to the editor in response to McWilliams' article. All disagreed with him, on environmental grounds. But none mentioned the word "community," which, to me, is the most important reason to prefer local food. Distance kills community.