Production matters: the limits of locavorism

Ezra Klein points out that eating locally is neither feasible for a lot of people, nor is it necessarily the best way to reduce carbon emissions with your food choices. (Granted, there are other reasons for eating locally.)

Peter Singer and Jim Mason make a similar point in The Ethics of What We Eat (a book that I wish had gotten half as much attention as Michael Pollan’s book). Food produced non-intensively can still travel a long distance (by ship, e.g.) and be more environmentally friendly than local food trucked into the farmer’s market. (Singer discusses the argument here.)

Again–as Ezra points out–eating local is certainly fun and tasty, but it’s not the only way to make a difference with one’s food choices, and the monomania of the Pollan/Alice Waters axis regarding eating locally needs to be qualified.