I have more thoughts than these now, about why each of these are important - but they're a good basic summary of what we're thinking about when we shop. And why in some cases, cheapest isn't necessarily the most ethical or godly choice.
I really wanted to bring it back to how these are relational issues, too, which is why put the reminder of the second commandment, 'Love your neighbour as yourself,' and also included the bits about who we were trying to love by making these choices. (And also remind us implicitly that there is a first commandment as well, to love God with every part of our lives.)
I'd be curious to hear about what food priorities your family/household use, and why.
Sounds good. We are trying to do some of this, particularly the eating less meat and seafood. (it helps that sushi is a lot less available here, or i think all my good intentions about limiting the amount of seafood I eat would come to naught)
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I'm not sure if I"m missing something, but how does buying local food lead to loving Bangladeshi farmers?
I also struggle a bit with the idea of organic food. I wonder if it is feasible or desirable to make food for everyone on the globe using organic methods. I think there is something to be said for high intensity farming that requires less land for crops. But I don't really know enough about it - maybe if we were just more efficient with distributing what we already grow (and used less of it feeding livestock) we wouldn't need to do as much farming.
Hi Caro!
ReplyDeleteI think the Bangladeshi farmers bit is because at first, I wrote this primarily for me. Bangladeshi farmers symbolise poorer people in the world who are hugely affected by climate change - lots of their land is going underwater and Bangladesh seems to be very overlooked in terms of world news so we never hear about them. So the connection that I was making mentally was local food = less food miles = less fuel being used/carbon being burnt to transport food = less climate change. Apparently food transport is one of the biggest carbon contributors.
I think I've asked the same questions about organic farming vs producing more food via intensive farming methods. The place I've landed in is that intensive farming is a short term solution - it relies on oil-based fertilisers, pesticides, machinery to produce that higher yield. Using artificial fertilisers replaces soil nurture, crop rotation, manures, etc, which means that you need even more fertilisers next time round. Also pesticides seem to become less effective over time, and also there's some scary power dynamics with large companies controlling GM modified crops that are associated with the pesticides they sell.
So I'm not convinced that intensive farming is helpful to future generations, who might have even more need of healthy soils - even more than we do. I'm very happy to admit that I'm not an expert in these areas, though, this is just based on the reading and arguments I've heard so far.
Fair points. I'd missed the bit about the global warming connection between the Bangladeshi farmers, and was more worrying about their ability to sell their crops on the global market if the Western world buys local.
ReplyDeleteThis is a picture of Holland from space. http://www.flickr.com/photos/europeanspaceagency/6769841949/ The really bright area in the middle of the picture isn't a city, but greenhouses that are lit up 24 hours a day. I guess that is an incentive to track down organic foods, because the normal stuff is probably some of the most carbon intense food, and shipping it in might be more sustainable. It's a bit crazy that the Netherlands are net food exporters when it is such a tiny crowded country.
Anyway, it is good to think about this, even if I still have to do some more research about what is best to get here.
That's a startling photo... I don't know much about Holland's issues, but I guess that's part of the point - each local area is a bit different, can easily grow different foods, has different seasons, etc, so needs a locally appropriate response. How aware are people generally about organic/Fair Trade/etc kinds of foods? My impression has been that the EU is more advanced in thinking about these things - at least the UK was the last two times I've been there.
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