This is an edited version of a power point presentation I did for a group when I was taking some speaking lessons…..
What do they mean to you…? 
On average, the food we purchase at the supermarket has travelled 4500 km to 
reach our plates.
Food now goes from a farm, to a processor, to a distributor, to a grocer, and finally to a consumer
…these food miles contribute 51,709 tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually…
(phew…. smelly!!)
In the UK, the figures are staggering…
1 billion kilometres are logged in just to move the food around the UK…
this doesn’t include getting the food to the UK from other countries…
Switching to locally grown foods removes the equivalent greenhouse
gases of 16,191 cars annually
A big culprit is beef… almost 5800 km to get a steak to your plate
(so buy your beef locally)
You think your pear
is any better…? 6000 km to get it to your kitchen
What can you do?
-buy from a local green grocer
-buy from your local greenhouse producer
-ask your supermarket to bring in local products
-frequent your local farmers markets
Don’t these olives look appetizing?
Unfortunately they have come a long way to get to tease your palate…
Try experimenting with the 100 mile diet, choosing foods that can be grown 100 miles or less from your house….
You will be surprised at what you will find out…
Once you start looking, you will find that the local market is overflowing with supply…
During the harvest months, purchase more than you need and try preserving some…
Most fruits and vegetables can be frozen or canned with great results!
One step at a time is all that is required
going overboard is only a ‘recipe’ for disaster
Start with reading a few labels…
• Look for ‘imported from’ or ‘imported for’ …this means it came from another country
• With produce, the signage should list where it comes from
• Ingredients… A shorter list is a better list…
conniejcampbell
July 12, 2011 at 12:30 pm
Check out the Apple Barn in Abbotsford for local products. http://www.applebarn.ca/
Loren Taves grows a multitude of local produce. Send a note to him to find out where you can purchase it.
Betty Anne Tarini
July 12, 2011 at 1:13 pm
It makes so much sense. We can make our earth greener and our bodies healthier at the same time. And with the price of fuel so high, it makes our wallets healthier too!
Rose Neufeld
July 12, 2011 at 7:04 pm
Home preserving is becoming a lost art. Not many people know how to make and preserve jam these days, never mind making something like canned salmon. A few years ago I was looking for a food dehydrator and I called Zellers, the young lady who answered the phone thought I was prank calling her! “An appliance that dries out food….uh-huh, sure lady, sure.” If the predictions of “Why Your World is About to Get A Whole Lot Smaller” come to past, people will have to, necessarily, revisit the days of the home garden and how to bring that garden in for the winter. It will be a good thing.