University of Toronto prof says buying local won’t save environment

More bad news for 100-mile dieters: a new study says that local-only eating is impractical and does little to help the environment. The report was released by the Montreal Economic Institute and U of T professor Pierre Desrochers (whose views on locavorism were among Toronto Life’s 25 ideas that are changing the world) and states that people are too focused on the mileage produce travels from farm to store. According to Desrochers, the real problem is that people drive to grocery stores (which emits more greenhouse gases than transporting the food). He also makes the plainly obvious argument that certain places are better at growing certain produce. California’s consistent weather conditions enable the state to grow more strawberries than Ontario, which requires more energy to heat production facilities.

• Will Buying Food Locally Save the Planet? [Montreal Economic Institute]