tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3881762807913180318.post5452095325014975369..comments2024-01-23T16:53:02.428+00:00Comments on Mark Thompson: How local is local?Mark Thompsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00744387583593537268noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3881762807913180318.post-44728916229579615932009-08-02T19:10:07.979+01:002009-08-02T19:10:07.979+01:00Surely Sainsbury's would say that in calling t...Surely Sainsbury's would say that in calling their smaller shops "Local" they're not intentionally making any claims about the origin of the products but rather their hope to serve their respective localities?ceedeehttp://ceedee.co.uknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3881762807913180318.post-65340309978392776242009-07-30T20:32:46.119+01:002009-07-30T20:32:46.119+01:00I agree that they are different things Costigan bu...I agree that they are different things Costigan but what I am arguing is that generally local is better where possible. Perhaps I should have been more specific though in that I am really talking about locally sourced seasonal veg.<br /><br />You are absolutely correct that air miles is too simplistic a way of looking at it which is why I specifically referred to the "embodied energy". Just because something is local does not necessarily mean the embodied energy is less (although it often is). The problem comes when veg is grown out of season in artificial environments (such as tomatoes in artificially heated greenhouses) where the energy it takes to grow them in this country is more than it would take to ship them in. This is not the right way. But seasonal local produce does not have this problem and will pretty much always have less embodied energy than shipped stuff.<br /><br />If you stick to this principle then there is still plenty that we would need to import such as the aforementioned bananas to help other economies.<br /><br />There is always a tension between local sourcing and helping poorer economies. There are no easy answers but importing loads of produce that that can easily be grown here seems wrong headed to me.Mark Thompsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00744387583593537268noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3881762807913180318.post-22278602271545448812009-07-30T20:18:54.982+01:002009-07-30T20:18:54.982+01:00Local may be good, but surely buying produce from ...Local may be good, but surely buying produce from Africa and South America is also good if it pushed money into those economies.<br /><br />The Air Miles issue is confused too: I'm sure I saw some research that the different farming methods mean your local produce might have a bigger environmental impact that the same produced in Africa, even when transport is factored in.<br /><br />Shopping local to keep our town and village centres in business is one thing. Expecting everything they sell to be locally sourced is quite different.Costigan Quisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06258059903562611509noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3881762807913180318.post-62199843174490975722009-07-30T18:09:10.573+01:002009-07-30T18:09:10.573+01:00My local farm shop sells local produce. But last t...My local farm shop sells local produce. But last time I went there it had bananas on sale!Brian Enoreply@blogger.com