Food miles

Does local equal better? Not always...

• British tomato growers emit 2.4 metric tons of carbon dioxide for each ton of tomatoes grown compared to 0.6 tons of carbon dioxide for each ton of Spanish tomatoes
• cold storage of British apples produced more carbon dioxide than shipping New Zealand apples by sea to London. 
• U.K. dairy farmers use twice as much energy to produce a metric ton of milk solids than do New Zealand farmers. 
• Kenyan cut rose growers emit 6 metric tons of carbon dioxide per 12,000 roses compared to the 35 tons of carbon dioxide emitted by their Dutch competitors.

From:  The Food Miles Mistake

My view: a carbon tax or cap and trade would sort this out; the assumption that local is better is probably counter-productive.

PS: Amory Lovins is working with Wal-Mart to double the mpg of big trucks like the one pictured above.