Locavore In Training

In a nice syncing between the office job and my outside the office life, I was reading a Brand Week article discussing the challenges of things that people think are green but are really not. They specifically mention CFL light bulbs. There's this pesky problem when they break or are not disposed of properly... mercury released into the environment. It's not a tough path to figure out how that hurts us... In the air, back down in raindrops, into the ground and ground water... Or, just leeching straight into the ground from landfills. Either way it ends up in our water, our plants, the fish... our bellies. Good times.

Anywho, they also mention local food. As a "green" fallacy. Uh, oh.

Jeffrey Hollender, co-founder and chairman of Seventh Generation, points out, "Consumers have come to believe that local is always better, but increasing research shows that, in many cases, [it's not better] because of the energy inefficiencies involved in transporting local food. There's no question that there are a lot of things that consumers believe to be so and are not so."

So, um... what's a girl to do?

This girl? Mostly, I'm going to ignore the statement. I will still choose to buy locally whenever possible. It allows me to have a better understanding of where my food comes from, in some cases I SEE where is comes from and how it is produced. It forces me to be more concerned about how it is produced. After all, that's my backyard they could be hurting.

I vote with my actions, and my money, for sustainable farming methods. For humane treatment of food production animals. And I support my local economy in the process.

By the way, that article also addresses the marketing problem Stoneyfield Yogurt is attempting to solve. That problem? The known fact is factories product CO2... CO2 hurts the environment. But, cows  produce high levels of methane (via cow farts!) which is more harmful than CO2. They are working on different kinds of feed to reduce their... output. Go put that in your slick marketing campaign.