Locavores – Being Green or Destroying the Earth? In the article his article, “Eat local organic food if you like, but don’t kid yourself that it’s ‘green’”, James Delingpole is writing to stir up a discussion about a growing trend, “shopping local . . . to save the planet” (2010), and to present an alternative viewpoint on the subject – that eating local foods isn’t actually as green as people might like to think it is. This article was originally published in The Spectator, a weekly British popular-level magazine, and the longest one in existence there is in the UK. Delingpole is a columnist for The Spectator, with this article being one of those published columns. His audience for this column are the subscribers of the magazine, most likely …show more content…
Delingpole references “research [done] by the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)” (2010, para. 8), and while he fails to say what study it is, I was able to locate a study done by Defra covering some of the same issues discussed and with data from the year 2010, although it was released in 2012. This study seems to indicate that he cherry picked his facts somewhat. However, it is not an even comparison as they are not the same studies. While this means it should not be used to invalidate the data Delingpole cites, it does make obvious that the issue discussed requires further looking into. While he states that “consumer shopping trips accounted for 48[%] of ‘food miles’ in Britian[,] [a]ir freight amounted to less than 1[%]” (Delingpole, 2010, para. 8), and says this in the context of “if you’re worried about carbon footprints, the real menace is your car journey to the shops” (Delingpole, 2010, para. 8), the study I looked at suggested it was more complex than that, and throws some suspicion onto those numbers, though again, they cannot be discounted without seeing data that corresponds exactly with those he used. It is important to keep in mind that there is more to a carbon footprint than just basic food miles, or even basic CO2 emissions, but looking at the numbers for the CO2 emissions reveal it to be a larger and more …show more content…
. . air transport of food accounts for 12 per cent of CO2 emissions” (2012, p. 10). How much did all that sea transport account for then? 15% of CO2 emissions were from sea food kilometers. And to add to those numbers, the 29% of all CO2 emissions in the transportation of food, created by the “heavy goods vehicle[s]” (those vehicles that transport goods, and weigh in excess of three and a half tons), and the transportation of food from source to store is equal almost half of all CO2 emissions involved with food miles – or kilometers, as this is a British study (Defra: Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, 2012, p. 10). When you add the figures for air and sea freight with that for heavy goods vehicles, it becomes doubtful that your trip to the local farmer’s market is really the biggest deal – especially if you run any other errands while out in the car. Cars accounted for under a quarter of all emissions from food transportation, with 23%, and vans accounted for another 7%, leaving shopping trips at just over a quarter of all food transportation emissions, compared to the almost half of the total CO2 emissions accounted for by the transport from source to store (Defra: Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs,
James E. Mcwilliams stated his aversion to the locavore movement in his essay “The Locavore Myth: Why Buying from Nearby Farmers Won’t Save the Planet”. The locavore movement is the concept of buying produce, meat, and other farm-grown food locally as opposed to having your vegetables or fruits shipped from across the world. This notion believes going local reduces harm to the environment by decreasing the miles food needs to travel before landing on your plate. From the title of his essay itself, the claim would seem obvious. The locavore movement does not essentially help save the environment through lessened food mileage. Don’t be easily swayed, in short. Mcwilliams presented several grounds and data for his justification on this issue.
...g statistics about the public’s health and make the future seem bleak, “the lifespan is shortening for new American children” (Pastor) and “ one in three children born after the year 2010 will develop type II diabetes” (Pastor). Pastor says that he is shocked by the impact and wants to break away from the cycle created. In his closing statements he convinces the audience to break away from the cycle away as well, by drawing on the seeds he planted with pathos, ethos, and logos. The film was well made and addressed all the issues of “organic” food and well informed the audience of what is occurring. Next time, an audience member goes to the supermarket to buy food they will probably remember what their children will look like in twenty years if they don’t take a more “organic” approach to their lives.
Moss uses more real-life examples and understands how to appeal to readers to prove his point and figures out the perfect combination of ethos, pathos, and logos in the stories to build his case, a great example of this being Jeffrey Dunn’s story. Dunn worked as an executive for Coca-Cola in 2001 whose main goal was to drive Coca-Cola into poor areas and convince “heavy drinkers” of the soda to drink more. On a business trip to Brazil, Dunn realized that “these people need a lot of things, but they don’t need a Coke” and decided to push the company in a healthier direction. This choice led to Dunn’s eventual firing, and the tale ends with Dunn marketing baby carrots as a snack food (Moss, 491-494). This story not only appeals to pathos by getting to readers’ emotions, but also to ethos and logos because Dunn is a credible source and gives an authentic experience that adds to the credible feel of the article. Pollan’s article has a very different connotation than Moss’s article, and reads as an appeal to authority right from the start. Pollan’s primary occupation is described as an author of food and eating books, not food scientist, however, Pollan’s entire article is based off of his opinion of how Americans should eat (Pollan, 420). Pollan’s rules, “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” might be a fine setup for a fad diet, but these rules don’t necessarily provide a reasonable solution for America’s obesity problem. Escape from the Western Diet is littered with logical fallacies that stunt its credibility, such as the False Dichotomy, Begging the Question, and the Hasty Generalization. In Pollan’s quote, “people eating a Western diet are prone to a complex of chronic diseases that seldom strike people eating more traditional diets” (Pollan, 421), the Hasty Generalization fallacy is apparent, as not every person who eats a Western diet is prone to chronic diseases. The quote, “the health care industry...stands to
In the book The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Michael Pollan challenges his readers to examine their food and question themselves about the things they consume. Have we ever considered where our food comes from or stopped to think about the process that goes into the food that we purchase to eat every day? Do we know whether our meat and vegetables picked out were raised in our local farms or transported from another country? Michael pollen addresses the reality of what really goes beyond the food we intake and how our lives are affected. He does not just compel us to question the food we consume, but also the food our “food” consumes.
The taste of the processed chicken from my elementary school cafeteria remains imbedded in my memory. I can still taste the chunks of chicken that could not be broken up by my teeth, and the tired, lazy feeling I had walking back to my next class. This is the exact situation organic farmer and producers are trying to avoid by making healthy products. The documentary, In Organic We Trust, attempts to persuade the viewers that organic products create a healthy lifestyle, and improve living conditions for people all over the world. Kip Pastor’s use of ethos and logos in his documentary are strong and provide supporting evidence, however, Pastor is lacking an abundant amount of pathos. Pastor incorporates logos into his documentary by allowing the audience to experience a multitude of facts and supporting evidence. Ethos is used in the film through Pastor’s interviews with professionals, and pathos is shown by the touching stories of individuals.
In the beginning, of this film, Pastor immediately starts the documentary off by demonstrating his ethos by introducing himself. Pastor then headed out to the New York City streets and asked random citizens if organic foods are better than normal industrialized foods. The majority of the citizens replied, “Yes, organic foods are better than normal industrialized foods”. However, when asked why organic foods are better than normal industrialized foods, almost all of the cit...
Wendell Berry, an environmental activist, cultural critic and a farmer tells consumers to eat “responsibly”. That consumers should realize that eating is an agricultural act. An act that gives us freedom. Meaning that every time we make choices about what we eat and who we purchase from, we are deciding what direction our food system moves. Berry states that to make a change we need to make individual choices to live free. “We cannot be free if our food its sources are controlled by someone else” (2). Berry argues that the average consumer buys available food without any question. That we depend on commercial suppliers, we are influence by advertisements we see on TV and that interfere with our food choices. We buy what other people wants us to buy. We have been controlled by the food industry, and regard eating as just something required for our survival. Berry want consumers to realize we should get an enjoyment from eating and that can only
Michael Pollan and David Freedman are two reputable authors who have written about different types of food and why they are healthy or why they are damaging to our health. Michael Pollan wrote “Escape from the Western Diet” and David Freedman wrote “How Junk Food Can End Obesity”. Imagine Pollan’s idea of a perfect world. Everything is organic. McDonald’s is serving spinach smoothies and Walmart is supplying consumers with raw milk. The vast majority of food in this world consists of plants grown locally, because almost everyone is a farmer in order to keep up with supply and demand. How much does all this cost? What happened to all the food that is loved just because it tastes good?
In Wendell Berry’s “The Pleasures of Eating,” this farmer tells eaters how their separation from food production has turned them into “passive consumers” who know nothing about the food they eat, or their part in the agricultural process (3). They are blindsided by a food industry that does not help them understand. Berry argues that the average consumer buys available food without any questions. He states consumers that think they are distanced from agriculture because they can easily buy food, making them ignorant of cruel conditions it went through to get on the shelf. Humans have become controlled by the food industry, and regard eating as just something required for their survival. Berry wants this to change as people realize they should get an enjoyment from eating that can only come from becoming responsible for their food choices and learning more about what they eat. While describing the average consumer’s ignorance and the food industry’s deceit, he effectively uses appeals to emotion, logic, and values to persuade people to take charge, and change how they think about eating.
“Attention Whole Foods Shoppers” is an essay written by Robert Paarlberg for the May/June 2010 edition of Foreign Policy magazine. Foreign Policy was originally founded in 1970 with the intention of providing views on American foreign policy during the Vietnam war and does more or less of the same today. Paarlberg’s purpose in this essay is to convince an educated western audience that the Green Revolution was not a failure and improved life everywhere it took place, organic food having advantages over non-organic food is a myth, and the solution to food disparity is investing into agriculture modernization. With logos as the main mode of appeal, Paarlberg’s organization effectively sets up his points throughout the essay with consistently
Even though there is a variety of nutritious food all over the world, while the food you have during the winter is less vitamin deficient the food comes at a great ecological cost. With every action comes a consequence; hence, humans do not take the time to acknowledge what they eat and how it affects our environment. Transporting a variety of foods from all over the world hurts our plant due to the carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere, which causes more pollution (Source D). This transportation issue can be resolved by simply purchasing locally grown food because the carbon dioxide being released to the atmosphere causes drastic climate change. McWilliams asserts, “But New Zealand lamb is raised on pastures with a small carbon footprint, whereas most English lamb is produced under intensive factory-like conditions with a big carbon footprint.”(Source C). Not only is carbon a consequence of transportation but also of the factory conditions; hence, the amount of carbon released i...
"Organic Food." Issues & Controversies On File: n. pag. Issues & Controversies. Facts On File News Services, 8 June 2007. Web. 18 May 2011. .
...portation. However, when considering food miles, bear in mind, transportation of goods only account for 4% of emissions. The main share of emissions tallied as ‘food miles’ actually stems from the production process (CHOICE 2008). Therefore, reducing purchases of fast food for an increase in local, seasonal slow food purchases eases personal and environmental cost.
It's Easy Being Green: Organic vs. Conventional Foods-The Gloves Come Off. (n.d.). name. Retrieved May 18, 2014, from http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/09/organic_green.html
Kip Andersen is on an extensive mission to prove why agriculture is not discussed nor challenged by environmental groups such as 350.org, GreenPeace, RAN, the list goes on. One day, he reads an article where the UN claims that cows and other livestock emits almost 86 times more greenhouse gases than transportation does. That is literally the amount of emissions all cars, trains, and airplanes give out combined. Worse thing is, methane is more toxic to the air than carbon dioxide, a chemical that comes from cow’s flatulence.