Teeswater News – Online!

Buy Local for Global Health

By: Mark W. Law (February 22, 2012)

You see them everywhere in businesses these days, those “We Buy Local So You Should Too!” signs but what are the REAL ramifications of buying local vs. from a multinational? And in our worldwide webbed economy is it even possible to buy everything locally that you need to support yourself and your family?

I started off this week looking into pescetarianism – a vegetarian diet supplemented by fish and seafood. It seemed simple enough, though I suspected that the hardest part of the equation would be finding a source for fish. That, surprisingly, turned out to be the easiest, thanks to a quick reply email from the folks at Hedley’s Fish Farm in Belgrave! They are indeed still in operation (supplying 20 to 30 THOUSAND fresh trout to local markets every year!) and their prices are very reasonable (and no they are not an advertiser – I just think good ideas need to be shared!).

But with all the news these days about Monsanto, Dow Chemical, GMO’s and the rest you have to wonder whether produce that doesn’t come out of your own garden plot is even safe to put on the table. Doing a quick Google on how to properly remove pesticide residue from store-bought veggies gives me the heebie-jeebies!

But it doesn’t stop there. Even when you think you have a healthy low volume brand of food you can trust, say Kashi for example, that gives all the appearance of being truly concerned about your health and the environment, it takes about one minute on Wikipedia to find out that Kashi is a subsidiary of Kellogg’s – makers of such nutritional products as Frosted Mini-Wheats and Pop-Tarts!

So I have the source for my fish identified – CHECK!

Now I just need to find a good source for local grains and vegetables at a reasonable price. In the meantime here are some facts that I have come across this week that might make you think about where your food comes from and what it means to the global health to buy locally.

• The American EPA has determined that the U.S. produces 11.9 MILLION tons of plastic packaging every year – 90% of which ends up in the landfill after one use!
• Most vegetables are picked at least one week before arriving on store shelves and the average carrot will travel 1838 miles to reach your dinner table!
• In Iowa they have calculated that shifting 10% of food production to local use saves 310,000 gallons of gasoline every year!
• The EPA also determined that transport trucks in the U.S. spend approximately 1/3 of their time at idle. This works out to about 1.2 BILLION gallons of gas wasted sitting at truck stops.
• The sulphur oxide pollution produced by the 15 largest ships (used to bring bananas etc to our stores) equals the output of ALL the cars on the planet.

And if the above are not sobering enough here is one that really drives the point home…

An economic study has concluded that while $100 spent in a local store returns an average of $45 to the local economy, the same $100 dollars spent in a multinational / chain store will return only $13 to the local economy.

We know that buying local is good for the planet and it will give you a safer food supply for your family, but it is also important to your wallet – and those of your neighbours.

The hunt continues…

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Sources: Time.com, eLocal, Wikipedia

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Mark W. Law has been a writing and journalism fanatic since he was first tagged to write a 3 act ’shadow play’ – in Grade 2! Originally from the wee hamlet of Oyster Bay, BC, Mark has worked in many parts of the world, including almost all of the Canadian provinces, the United States, Europe and even a sand-filled radio station in North Africa. During that time he has written for military and local newspapers, served as editor for a number of online magazines as well as publishing his own popular ezine for new writers and artists – The ThinWire Journal. Mark has also penned more than 100 poems and essays and is an internationally known digital artist. And for anyone who lived in Northern BC during the 1980’s and 1990’s, Mark was the ‘morning weatherman’ on CBC Radio. Opinions expressed in ‘the View’ are his own and do not necessarily reflect Teeswater or Teeswater.Ca.

Filed Under: Lifestyle, The View