The Carbon Footprint of a Localvore

That chair that you bought was made in China. Or was it? Maybe the trees were cut down in U.S., and the logs shipped to China to be chemically processed, turned into boards, and built by people who make barely enough money to live on then be shipped back to U.S. to be transported all about the country to different stores for sale. Finally, you drive to your car, pick up the chair, and drive home with it. Let's see what is the carbon footprint in that chair? Gas or some type of oil product has been used to cut down the tree with that chainsaw, transport to the dock, ship to China, transport to the shop, process and treat (chemically), transport back to the ship, ship back to U.S., transport to the shop, and finally the gas you used to pick up the chair and take it home! Wow!

Are people talking about the carbon footprints on consumer goods? If they are, the volume is louder when the talk is about the carbon footprint of the food we eat. The term localvore is so trendy that it may be the hottest new word added to the dictionary next year. So, do you choose local or imported, organic or conventionally farmed produce? Do you choose that for your health or the health of the planet? Choosing local organic over imported inorganic may be simple, but would you choose local inorganic over imported organic to save on air miles' or food miles'?

I have been following a blog of a UK family living as expats in Kenya. They posted an entry on why banning Kenyan produce [in the U.K.] to limit air miles' hurts Kenyans. I was intrigued. I never thought about that before. After all it is us rich countries who are rich because food comes so easy to us. Some of the food imported to US comes to us at their expense the importers hand over more to us to get the dollars (or pounds) and may not have enough food to feed their own families, though they have plenty of foreign currency to show for it.

On top of that, I learned in another article that as more U.K. residents have jumped on the organic bandwagon, Kenyan farmers have kept up with this trend by switching to organic farming methods. They have abandoned the chemicals and modern methods for the organic farming methods, raking in more money as organics cost more.

Ok, so as the food and flowers (roses are a big export) travel by plane from Kenya to U.K. Plenty of food miles are being racked up. So now U.K. residents want to ban it? Maybe. The debate is ongoing. But step back and

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