Learning

I've found myself pretty busy this week, but very happy to be occupied with the work I am doing.

I've still found time to have some great and thought-provoking discussions about Eating Local. (But not to do the dishes).

I'm learning more and more about the myriad issues that come into play, namely: the environmental issue of the impacts of vegetarians who "go local" starting to eat meat again and the social issue of not supporting foreign economies. These are two issues I need to work through, and I didn't address them well enough in my previous post, so here is my second (first real?) attempt.

Currently I am thinking that eating a bit of local meat isn't so bad because there will always be people who eat meat. By admitting some meat and supporting those who do it well, I would be helping to develop sustainable local meat production (I obviously need to be pretty choosing if I'm going to do this well). In a month though I won't be able to cook meat at home (new house rules) so I'll either have to find a few restaurants that serve organic local meat (also preferably SPCA approved) or add nuts, lentils and grains from California or as far away as Manitoba to my exceptions. I was recently told that eating a serving of meat can negate the environmental benefits of eating locally for a week. I'm currently waiting for the study that found this to arrive in my inbox - I want to know what they considered as the environmental benefits and losses (energy? carbon/methane emissions? erosion? impact on biodiversity?). In my opinion this would have to be a pretty extensive study.

The second issue goes a bit over my head after too much thought because we end up in the realm of global economics. I say that people should live in tune with their own environment because that is what ultimately sustains them (the "carrying capacity" chart from population biology class is what comes to mind). I also think that poorer foreign nations would benefit from selling their food and supplies locally instead of a few farmers selling it for a larger profit overseas while the remainder of their kinsmen have to rely on rice and corn and whatever else we drop from airplanes as 'aid' (the alternative is idealistic, yes; possible, maybe). This brings us to the ever so large population problem. If we are to bring populations more in line with the environments that sustain them (avoiding large scale extreme poverty) then, as far as I know, the answer comes in the form of education and health care (bringing down the need or desire to have large families). The question is, does the funding for health care and infrastructure come from profits made off of exporting goods (food or other resources) or, I'm just thinking here, a different form of foreign aid (money and help in building schools and hospitals? Perhaps coming as retribution for having pumped so many greenhouse gases into the atmosphere?) See, I'm over my head. I feel like I know more this week than I did last though, so who knows, maybe I'll have the answer for you next week. haha. Or maybe you have the answer? Again, thoughts are welcome.

PS: my local food thus far has consisted largely of squashes, potatoes/yams/sweet potatoes, mushrooms, cheese, milk and juice. I'm about to make that potato-leek soup :)