From: Worldwatch Institute <mailer@...>

Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2009 07:07:58 -0700

Subject: Our "Foodprint": Not Just the Miles

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Our "Foodprint": It's Not Just the Miles

In the latest issue of World Watch magazine, Sarah DeWeerdt explains that our environmental "foodprint" is determined not just by how far food travels, but also by what we eat and how it was produced. Final delivery from producer and processor to the point of retail sale accounts for only 4 percent of the U.S. food system's greenhouse gas emissions. Overall transportation, which includes so-called "upstream miles" and emissions associated with the transport of fertilizer, pesticides, and animal feed, accounts for about 11 percent of emissions, according to "Is Local Food Better?" "Agricultural production accounts for the bulk" of the emissions, writes DeWeerdt.

This is the first installment of a two-part series on the potential impacts of greater food localization. Look for part two of this series in the July/August issue of World Watch, which will examine the economic implications of local food.

Read: "Is Local Food Better?" May/June issue of World Watch
Purchase: Eat Here: Reclaiming Homegrown Pleasures in a Global Supermarket

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