07-24-2009, 09:13 AM
Quote:When I used to work for the RR, there was a few runs from California to NY we called the salad bowl express. I guess BNSF still does this with refer trailers on flat cars. It is all produce that has to get from CA to New England asap. It was a very low carbon way to move the food, and would be cheaper than similar items grown in a hot house locally (and would have a smaller carbon footprint as well). So, no. Local is not always better. In a capitalist market we strive for cheapest price with highest quality, and fulfilling the other things the customer seeks. Another point related to "shipping" things like coffee, cocoa, banana's etc. Ships are huge and hold an awful lot of cargo, so I would imagine that shipping exotic products remains a consistent price throughout the year (unless demand changes). The fuel efficiency of ships is such that the carbon footprint is less than 1/50th that of the equivalent trucking capacity. There is this whole economy of scale issue, that actually reduces "greenness" if done locally whether we are talking about a train, a ship, solar power on every home (as opposed to a few large generating plants), or a 1200 acre field of broccoli in the Salinas valley.
Of course there is an economy of scale, I am not disputing that. But you should make these calculationson a per product basis (and also consider other aspects).
A ship can use 1/50th of the carbon footprint a truck does, but if a truck needs to travel 200 miles and a ship 10.000 miles things start changing. And to be fair, the produce doesn't grow in the harbour, it grows inland, and depending on how far inland this can have a huge influence.
Futher there are many cases in which there is an easy visible difference. If you live in California, the C-footprint of a californian wine is smaller than that of an french wine. And even better is buying a plastic bottle of ethanol and using tapwater to make wodka.:D
The whole point of the case is that people should use there brain to try and figure out what is best and they need help from organizations that have the correct data.
Mind you, the biggest difference you can make is going to the shop by bike instead of by a 3 liter engine car.