Buy local
PLEDGE: Buy local
Assuming all else is equal - the thing that's produced closest to the place you buy it requires the least amount of transportation to market, therefore incurs the least amount of 'carbon miles', and is therefore better for the climate so buy local!
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What stores can I buy local
What stores can I buy local produce at? Does Raeward Fresh do local stuff? What about the Mad Butcher?
Buy Local
Yeah great idea, I love it. But how can we as consumers be sure we are buying local produce? Food would need to be labeled accordingly. At the moment we know whether we are buying food from overseas or NZ but not where in NZ.
You could start by going to
You could start by going to your local farmers market :)
buy local
this can be pretty tricky - i am lucky to live within walking distance of local shops - and thought to ask the butcher shop about his meat sources - turns out he sources everything from within 100 km of our local city - so it can pay to ask your nearest local butcher (if you have one) - i have heard that some of the mad butcher meat comes from Russia (although not sure if that is accurate!) I would think it is more likely that non-franchise/bulk food shops would stock more local produce?...
Shopping frustration
Yes this is SUCH a biggie. I make a really big effort to check where products are made and shop accordingly, but I need to increase that effort still (including the don't buy it at all' option.) Its a broad issue isn't it- not just ecological impact of production and transportation and so on but the ETHICAL implications -who's made it, how fairly they were paid and treated; the list goes on. I don't understand economics at all (Well, I do per se but you know what I mean!)
Buy local
When you can, get down to your local markets for fresh fruit and veg... Takapuna markets, Otara markets etc... they are great for xmas presents too!
It can be enlightening to read labels
I thought I was being fairly good with my shopping. I won't buy fruits and veg that are labelled as imported. I'm trying to buy in season only and shop at markets rather then the chain stores. But I recently bought a packet of frozen hash browns as a treat and was quite surprised to find that they are imported from Canada. I guess I just assumed that being potato they would have been grown and made in NZ.
New word
The Americans have a word for those who choose to eat from local sources: locavore
Noel
Just don't tell Tesco!
NZ is currently doing it's best to show UK consumers that the tiny amount of fuel used to ship food to the other side of the world (container ships are incredibly efficient on a kg/km basis) is easily offset by the difference in fuel efficiency between European and NZ farming practices.
By far the greatest amount of carbon mileage is caused by the 1.5 tonne shopping cart that moves them from the shop to the kitchen. So you may find that the extra trip to a local farmers market emits more CO2 than buying international vegetables because you and the farmer are using small-scale and inefficient transport.
It may not appear obvious, but the best way to reduce carbon miles is to get the supermarket to deliver your groceries to you. A van that does multiple drop-offs in a small area is way more efficient than a customer driving by themselves in a car.