The Local Trap was about the systems of local food, and how people generally assume local food is the best option. They explain how just because something is local doesn't mean it's more fair or sustainable than other sources. It points out how local systems can still promote inequality and problems depending on who is in control of it. This made me think that it's not really about where something is coming from but more how the systems are in the place it's produced. The goal of local food is to promote fairness, sustainability, and contributing to a local economy, but when things like scaling or focusing too much on local production become more important than these qualities it takes away all of what it's supposed to be.
The reading on Food Miles and Local Eating talks about how the transportation of food actually works. You always hear that food travels from all over the world to get to your plate. This article does a good job at explaining that these statistics are not entirely true, and have been overused from a small amount of studies. Food miles aren't a good measure for things like environmental impact for example because of the difference in emissions during transportation and production, with production being way more harmful than the transportation process. Focusing solely on distance ignores things like how the food is grown or processed also which is important considering you would be eating it! I think that the CSA interviews were an interesting add on for this article. It did a good job at showing the importance of a connected community and that people will value that just as much as efficiency. This article shows that food systems are more than just food miles and that focusing only on distance food travels oversimplifies and ignores a lot of other issues.
The Piracy reading was interesting, and focused on neem trees and the impact globalization can have on resources. Neem oil has been used in India for a large amount of medicinal products, and in farming. After the discovery of the significance larger companies came in and began to patent products produced from it. This article talks about the use of it in pesticides and how it was patented even though there was already knowledge of it for that use. Things like GATT made this easier for companies to claim ownership on the uses of these kinds of resources. The Indian farmers protested these changes, as they had to pay premiums to use products that have been in their culture for years. I think this is an example of how greed can totally take over global systems. The sharing of ideas in this case was extremely harmful once it got into the hands of greedy corporations looking for a profit.
2 comments:
I think these articles together really focusing on the fact that its important to do your research in order to ensure that the way your buying and eating is done ethically in a way that will benefit who you're trying too. Just eating locally or reducing your food miles doesn't ensure its sustainability or economic impact just as using natural remedies doesn't mean that they weren't stolen from locals for a profit. You have to look at many aspects of what your eating and from where to make sure it really is beneficial and ethical in the way you think.
Like what Felix pointed out, I also think that the articles are trying to get the reader to understand the importance of doing in-depth research about a topic. In this case, food products. I think that more often than not, a customer will buy things that only look good on the surface, without having any more knowledge than what it written on the label. "Locally sourced" may not always mean that it's 'better' than an imported good. There are countless things to look into when studying something like that, and the articles really emphasize that we have to do so.
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