Go pick up your own orange; it's only
77,000 kms away
I don't know about you, but I have a running grocery
list on an antique piece of slate in the kitchen.
And until I watched An Inconvenient Truth (the Al Gore film about Global
Warming) I didn't think too much about what was on it.
The film made the point that we can reduce gas emissions by simple things
like trying to buy food that's locally produced and locally processed.
So at least now I'm looking at the produce signs for "Ontario Grown."
There's a class at Central Collegiate that's way ahead of me ... thanks
to their teacher Robin Lawrence. Robin teaches a two-credit outdoor-ed
program where students get one senior science and one phys-ed credit
during their semester.
She developed an assignment that turned into a real eye opener for herself
and her students. They decided to visit major grocery store chains and
calculate the number of kilometres that each food item had travelled
to get to that grocery store.
They chose a generic shopping list that looked something like this:
milk, eggs, butter, yogurt, cheese, vegetables, onions, garlic, carrots,
celery, fruit, oranges, apples, mango, pineapples, bread, crackers,
cereal, meat.
The students did their research by getting to all the grocery stores
by bike. And they discovered that in many, many cases, it was impossible
to find the place of origin for much of the food we eat.
Robin said the major roadblock is the difference between final packaging
and labelling in Mississauga for products that originate in China or
Japan or South America.
Visiting five grocery chains in Barrie, they used the same list and
started logging the kilometres our food travels. Robin said the travel
distance often exceed 77,000 kms. And, the surprising thing is that
many of these products could be purchased right here in Simcoe County
in a radius of less
than 100 kms.
Obviously, oranges weren't available (though one student found a micro-farmer
with oranges) but you can substitute apples for oranges, get the same
vitamins and buy locally.
They looked at out-of-season vegetables and the exotic fruits that we
expect to buy all year round. Students spoke to their parents who did
not remember ever eating exotic fruits and vegetables when they were
young ... they just weren't available.
Student’s criteria during the project involved impact on environment,
nutritional value, greenhouse gas emissions caused, the difference between
processed and unprocessed foods.
"Buying locally has started to become a big issue," says Robin.
The 100-mile diet book, launched in Vancouver last year, has joined
programs in Guelph and Waterloo where maps are available so people can
truly buy locally.
Robin's students ended up doing the same thing ... they produced a map
of products and locations throughout Simcoe County. This map is a great
addition to a project that Sandra Trainor, a local community developer,
completed last year for farmers in Simcoe County.
The Simcoe County Farm Fresh organization is promoting the 'buy local'
concept. Buying within 100 kms of home helps reduce the kilometres and
boosts our local agricultural economy. The Simcoe County Farm Fresh
campaign, complete with website, maps out locations across the county
so we can truly shop locally.
"Did you eat today? Thank a Farmer!" www.simcoecountyfarmfresh.ca
How were students marked on this project? For participation (by bicycle).
For success in finding local product alternatives. For completing the
project. For their maps. Robin says awareness of the issues increased
tremendously. We both lamented that times have changed so that people
no longer preserve their local bounty ... pickling, jams, freezing vegetables,
preparing local in-season produce for out-of-season consumption ...
two generations ago this was standard activity in kitchens.
Today, freezing vegetables is a skill most young people wouldn't know
about. Dehydrating fruit is a great way to be able to eat in-season
year round.
"Shop local" does more than save our environment. It boosts
our economy, too. A dollar spent here is a dollar that gets spent again
and again as food producers and retailers turn to spend their money
locally.
It's definitely a win-win-win.
Thanks, Robin, for a fabulous school project. Thanks, Sandra, for producing
such a useful tool.
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