Local or Organic? What’s the better choice?

@CreativeCommons

Over the past year Not Quite Hippie has grown to a point where people I meet consider me something of an influence (or, blegh, an authority?) on food, gardening, and other related green-junk. That’s all fine, I guess I can handle it. My initial goal was to present something that would just get people talking about living a more sustainable lifestyle with the idea that they would start to live one.

The one question everyone wants to know the answer to?

“Is it better to eat food that is local? Or food that is organic?” 

Fair question. I’m kind of sad that it even has to be a question and that all to often the two definitions are exclusive of one another. Yes, there are local food growers who are also organic, but they seem to be few and far between and they are almost never in your grocery store.

So do you buy food that is better for the earth (local) or food that is better for you (organic)?

I’d say, when push comes to shove, go for organic. Yes, even if it comes from Chile or China.

Studies have shown that only about 11% of the carbon produced from food production is associated with transportation. The rest of that, especially in conventional agriculture, goes into everything from the farm machinery to the nitrogen based pesticides and fertilizers.

However, a New York Times story that ran last week showed how the demand for farms that produce organically is straining the water supply of several Mexican provinces. Organic is no longer sustainable and a whole new set of  problems occurs.

Food should be sustainable. I’m not sure how much clearer that needs to be. Creating a sustainable food system comes from a combination of food being produced locally, organically, and food that is consumed responsibly and disposed of with great care.

In a perfect world, this means we only eat what we can grow within our own climate. No more bananas for Colorado! Or coffee. 

And already the perfect world starts to fall apart.

There will always be a demand for food. But the business acumen that has been applied to agriculture is not: “We need to grow enough” but instead “We need to grow more.” This “more growth” idea has been fueled forever by irresponsible subsidies and farmer debt.

The need to increase doesn’t seem to come from the demand, as something to the tune of 30% of all food in America is wasted and around 12% of all our garbage is food-related waste. This food, which is rarely recovered properly,is wasted energy as the energy burned to create and transport those calories are essentially lost in the waste stream.

Rather quickly, the idea of sustainable food falls apart.

What is one to do?

Obviously, you can grow some of your own food. And compost what is leftover. Just poke around this blog, I’m sure you’ll find a dozen bits to help. Or straight up contact me on how you can get started.

Every few years they pass a Farm Bill in Washington D.C. It’s usually allocates agriculture funding for the next few years. Inform yourself about it and encourage your representatives to do something about moving towards a sustainable

At the very least, eat smarter. Think about where you’re food is coming from, what had to happen for it to get to you, and what’s going to happen with the leftovers. Take the time to do the research on what you’re eating – it is, after all, going inside of you.

A quick guide to eating within season