The Food Miles Debate
Balancing the needs of poor farmers’ with the need to stop climate change.
What’s the problem?
It’s pretty daft to send bottled water halfway around the world to sell it – and this is the type of behaviour criticised by Professor Tim Lang, who invented the memorable idea of food miles. He encouraged us to think about how far the food we buy has travelled, and to buy locally produced goods for the sake of the environment.
But what if you’re one of the 1.5 million African farmers and labourers who grow flowers and vegetables for export to the UK?
Think differently
We definitely need to make big changes – globally and as consumers – to combat climate change. But are food miles really that important? And is it worth undermining development to protect the environment in this way?
African farmers are among the least responsible for climate change. Why should they pay the price of our waking up to the imminent disaster caused by our industrialisation and lifestyles? And while more airfreight would of course have an impact on carbon emissions, let’s keep it in perspective. If everyone in the UK switched one 100W light bulb to an energy saving equivalent it would, over a year, reduce CO2 emissions by five times more than the CO2 saved by not buying fruit and vegetables from sub-Saharan Africa.
What needs to happen?
As From Poverty to Power argues, we should (literally) put our own house in order before boycotting African produce in the name of climate change.
As we work on climate change issues, we need to keep bearing in mind that the needs of both planet and people need to be considered. Climate action needed in developing countries should be financed by countries that both caused the majority of the problem and can afford to pay for the solutions.
More analysis and debate on this topic on FP2P.org.
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