James5

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Ezra Klein bashes the whole ‘eat local’ movement in a recent post. It turns out that transport costs from overseas account for only about 4% of the total GHG emissions of food. So eating local is only a marginal improvement, especially compared to say reducing red meat consumption. I think often local food does taste better though, no need to grow it for transportation or pack it with preservatives. Also, this really depends on what food it is and how it is transported. Mangoes shipped from Mexico are probably better than air freighted snap peas from Zambia.

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Simon Maxwell has five steps to tackling the food crisis a good read. Point 1? There’s enough to go round: The Food and Agriculture Organisation estimates a cereal harvest of more than 2 billion tons during the coming year. That is certainly enough to feed the world.

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Krugman says cheap food is a thing of the past. Thanks to increasing economic development (people getting richer, eating meat), bad weather (climate change also) and oil prices. eek.

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Gourmet has a must read article on the truth behind Kobe Beef. I was under the impression this was some of the best (ie. most well treated) animal meat you could buy, obviously I was mistaken.

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Brilliant post on IELP on how sometimes importing food may be better for the environment. Though maybe the point is if you live in certain places you shouldn’t be eating certain foods?

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