Ethical Eating?

Hey - we talk about produce here! Anything is game in my book, including possible controversy.

I was sucked in to this article in the Guardian (UK) about the difficulty of determining true carbon footprints for the things we eat.

In my household, one of us is a Democrat, the other is Republican. Since we agree on very little, the whole global warming/carbon footprint/go green thing is a running joke that comes up each time the weather does something new and unpredictable. It has to be, since if we can't laugh about it, well..... let's just say we have to laugh about it.

That's my preface to explaining that my intention is NOT to say one side is more correct than the other. I'm no carbon footprint expert. Ultimately your opinion is determined by what's important to you.

The article points out that it's impossible to calculate any food's carbon footprint simply based on local vs. imported, since the actual calculation must take in to account several other factors. Storage and preparation take energy. No matter your opinion, it's an interesting read.

To be fair, here's an interesting article on the other side.

Call me blissfully ignorant, but my personal choice is to buy what feels right to me, my budget and my taste. Luckily, that involves tons of locally grown produce from the Yakima Fruit Market. But sometimes the produce I buy there is imported, like grapes and bananas. My family enjoys these things, they are nutritious, and they don't use excessive packaging.

I think local is great, but as the article shows, it's not a black and white choice. (Though would I ever pass up local strawberries for anything else? Ha!)


Buying local feels good since it supports our local economy. Supporting a family-owned local business like the Yakima Fruit Market is important for the community. The fruit market in turn supports many local farmers. If you are blessed to live close enough to shop there, please do so with a good conscience. No matter what's in your cart.