Take a journey with me. Close your eyes and imagine your last airplane trip. You wake up at 5am to catch an early flight across the country, you arrive at your destination nine hours later feeling groggy and disoriented… Now imagine how a kiwi might feel after taking a long trip from New Zealand to your local grocery store. No matter where you live, that is at least 7,000 miles (11.3 km) of air travel! Not to mention that air travel is the most environment-damaging form of transportation through the HUGE amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) it releases. (Carbon dioxide: a greenhouse gas that absorbs and emits radiation, contributing to global warming).
Let’s compare travel methods. Shipping food by boat will emit 21 g of CO2 per metric ton of food per kilometer of distance traveled. If you refrigerate that boat, the number goes up to 27 g CO2/ton/km. A train expels 81 g, a truck belches 102 g, and a cold (fridge) truck jumps up to 131 g CO2/ton/km. Air travel, however, wins the booby prize with a carbon footprint of 570 g CO2/ton/km!
Taking a look at the ton of kiwi flying in from New Zealand again, I made some calculations (570 * 1 ton * 11.3km) and was shocked to learn that my innocent kiwi put 6441 g of CO2 into the atmosphere! Bleh!
Fact: It's not just tropical fruit. Most produce sold in the US travels nearly 1500 miles before it reaches the grocery store!
Choosing locally-grown food helps the environment by using less global-warming fossil fuel. In addition, you also reap the benefits of fresher (read: more flavorful and nutrient-rich) produce… but that is a topic for another day.
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