Advertisement
Proudly Canadian, obsessively Toronto. Subscribe to Toronto Life!
Food & Drink

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

By Karon Liu
Copy link
University of Toronto prof says buying local won’t save environment
Ontario strawberries: friend or foe? (Photo by Catherine Bulinski)

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]

NEVER MISS A TORONTO LIFE STORY

Sign up for Table Talk, our free newsletter with essential food and drink stories.

By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy.
You may unsubscribe at any time.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Advertisement
Advertisement

Big Stories

Dark Horse: Inside the fall of Eric Lamaze, Canada’s most famous equestrian
Deep Dives

Dark Horse: Inside the fall of Eric Lamaze, Canada’s most famous equestrian