Editor:
Although we have limited transportation options in this part of Canada, there are things each of us can do to lessen our own use of fossil fuels. Obviously, we can use smaller, more efficient personal vehicles, and reduce our use of them.
Also, we can choose to trim our personal “carbon footprint” by eating organically produced foods. Of course, transportation and refrigeration costs are less for foods grown nearer to home: apples from the Okanagan rather than from New Zealand. But of greater impact, the commercial food industry relies on fossil-fuel based nitrogen fertilizer and petro-chemicals to produce our food. Comparisons of crop and livestock sectors show that organic farming uses about 26 per cent less energy per tonne of output on average. Greatest savings are in the beef and milk sectors: grass-fed beef may require less than 59% of the energy required to produce feed-lot beef.
Factory-farmed beef production relies on soy, corn, and other grains which require huge amounts of petroleum-based fertilizer and pesticides. From calf to plate in the USA, this equates to driving about 320 miles/515 Km in the average car, per hamburger.
Sources: The Comparative Energy Efficiency of Organic Farming http://orgprints.org/12034/ Meat Eater’s Guide to Climate Change and Health http://www.ewg.org/meateatersguide/
John Phair