Locavore: But why?! Sustainibility

Why would someone wish to become a locavore?

There are lots of reasons people are choosing to eat more locally, the food tastes better, you know where it's been, etc. I (Bethany talking) chose to explore this option due to my growing disenchantment of our broken American food system. Yes. Broken. Broken as in it doesn't work. It all comes back to a single word-- sustainability. Now this word is loaded with lots of political leftist baggage, but lets take away the baggage and see what it really means.

Sustainable-

1. Able to be maintained at a certain rate or level.
2. (esp. of development, exploitation, or agriculture) Conserving an ecological balance by avoiding depletion of natural resources.

Our current system is not sustainable- meaning it is not possible that is can be maintained with our current resources.  We cannot continue at our current rate of agriculture and expect to be able to continue to eat the way we do. And this is not an issue of "in 200 years we are in trouble". Currently, with our farming practices, we are able to feed a maximum of 9 billion people and that number is decreasing as we deplete our land and water. The UN and World Bank estimate that we will hit 9 billion people in less than 40 years. 

I plan to be alive then, as will my children, so this effects me. Therefore I have some choices to make. I can choose to change and teach my children, or I can ignore the problem and other people will die because I choose not to give up my patterns of consumption. (If you want to learn more about how much you consume check out the quiz on this website, you'll learn a lot)




So, back to the main point-- why is local more sustainable? Simple.

Option A
A strawberry is grown in California, sprayed with petroleum based pesticides (yum.... foreign oil...), picked  before ripeness so it can survive shipping by illegal aliens for less than minimum wage and is shipped to Oregon, a distance of about 775 miles. In Oregon the strawberries are rinsed in chlorine (yum again!) packaged in plastic and cardboard put on a truck and shipped to Rexburg, another 775 miles. I go to the grocery store and buy a package of strawberries.

Option B
Mary walks out her door in Rigby to her strawberry patch and picks her ripe strawberries. She brings them to the Rexburg Farmers Market. I buy the them and take them home.

Option B wins.