Would finding a new mammalian species in the jungles of Borneo shatter your religious beliefs? Does that seem like a lame question, asked by somebody who has never bothered to try to understand what your religious beliefs actually are? Well, that’s what this whole article (and most of the comments) sounds like to me.
For me, there isn’t a theological difference between Borneo and the planet Krypton or X in some unknown galaxy.
The problem the Locavores do not address.
One Comment
The Locavore article is interesting. On the one hand, bananas and coconut oil and coffee are really good and important (and after all, “She brings her food from afar.”). On the other hand, that guy’s points are really full of holes. Tomatoes in Ontario vs. Florida? Ontario should probably be eating potatoes and beef in January, and forget the tomatoes altogether (not worry about where they’re sourced or whether running a greenhouse costs more). I’m FAR from Florida and to be honest, I have quit eating fresh tomatoes unless they’re grown in my garden. Seriously, the store-bought ones are hardly food, if you go by taste. Bar-coding is not the answer to outbreaks. It might help track the problem, but how about *reducing* the problem? Huge sites/plants processing 24 hours, there’s a constant supply of [whatever] for bacteria to feed on. Too, giant monoculture enterprises are weak; their lack of diversity lends itself to pest/disease problems, requiring a LOT of inputs (if you rotate crops, you break up the pest/disease cycle, and require less chemical fertilizers, etc). Yes, sourcing “only local” puts you at risk of hurricanes, etc, but that doesn’t stop just because you import your food. Have you seen the price of peanut butter over this past year?? Plus the big, global products are at the mercy of oil prices and political problems.
I could write more, but my local chickens need fed.