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Hi Joan & All, Apr 4, 2007
Some aspects of this topic may fall within the scope of Naturens.
Assuming it does I wish to make a few comments.
After giving effect to brief stays in the USA for college, I have
been eating mostly local for 66 years and it involves no hardship. But
the 100 mile rule is not always within reach, e.g. when governments
(directly or indirectly) insist on giving produce or baked goods the
scenic tour to market. In such situations one can only object (as in the
inserted excerpt of a recent e-mail) and hope for better results in future.
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While paying lip service and tax dollars to energy conservation,
your government granted Maritime Pride Eggs a 1.4 million three-year
interest free loan to set up a new egg packing plant in Amherst, and put
people out of work in Port Williams, when 70% of Nova Scotian eggs are
produced in the Valley. At 8% interest, this translates to an outright
gift of $363,600. How swift; grow eggs in the Valley (for how long I
wonder), truck them to Amherst for packing and then truck them to
Halifax or back to the Valley for retail sales. And all this by
refrigerated truck I expect; more energy consumption. If your government
was serious about saving energy, not to mention wear and tear on
highways, then this kind of a Maple Leaf Boondoggle, that in addition
(so I understand) gives one company near monopoly control of egg
marketing in the region, would never get off of the ground. I can
readily forgive Mr. Fage for making unwise decisions while drunk, but
decisions of this stripe while sober are another matter.
In contrast, the Tory government of 2005 turned down a request by
Snair's Bakery for a $250,000 loan guarantee, so they could modernize
their plant, while giving $4,000,000 outright for 300 'new' fly-by-night
Register.com jobs. After all, bread might go out of style and Snair's,
having been in the business for only 62 years, perhaps did not know how
to make it anyway.
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The passage "have rich top soils, resilient and thriving farms, and
fresh, local, healthy food for Nova Scotians" sounds a lot like organic
farming rhetoric. Organic farming can work well on alluvial soils
(including dykelands) in which nutients are replenished by recurrent
flooding. And it can work for a time on upland soil systems that are
rich in nutrients due to prior application of artificial fertilizers,
especially if nutients are recycled from meadowlands via mulch or
manure. Night soil can also help close the nutrient cycle but is not
currently practicable.
While doing what one can to sustain local agriculture is desirable,
as a matter of enlightened self-interest, one should remember that most
goods have a long built-in travel path. How far goods travel clearly
matters. But how efficiently they travel may be more important, because
our current transportation systems were designed around limitless cheap
energy.
One of the greatest savings in transportation energy (about 90%
saving I would guess) will involve reconfiguration of rail freight so
the moving train never has to stop and reconfiguration of truck usage to
light short-haul delivery. All the necessary technology is available and
I am getting beyond the Naturens pale.
Yours truly, Dave Webster, Kentville
Joan Czapalay wrote:
> Hi, naturens subscribers - I have been thinking since Feb 21st a lot
> about my grocery purchases and how what I buy and what I eat impacts
> upon th e earth. Probably some of you have read the 100 Mile Diet
> series of books (first published in 2005.I just now Googled it,
> feeling guilty for buying asparagus and strawberries. Now I feel even
> worse.
> This series written by J.B. MacKinnon
> <http://thetyee.ca/Bios/J_B__MacKinnon> and Alisa Smith
> <http://thetyee.ca/Bios/Alisa_Smith> details their commitment to only
> eat food produced within a 100 mile radius of their home.
>
> Here in Nova Scotia a group called Spirit Nova Scotia has formed to do
> something to alleviate the huge environmental footprint left by
> importing exotic foods year around. The next meeting will be in the
> Antigonidsh area 17 May. Contact Ralph
> Martin at the Agriculture College for meeting details.
> The goals:
>
> 1) Appropriate regions to develop specific "beacon" projects. We
> welcome your suggestions and ideas for implementation
> (I have concerns regarding over packaging. Also for creating
> sustainable fisheries. Joan)
>
> 2) Develop a focus on Farmers Markets in NS and use farmers markets as
> leverage points to achieve our Vision:
> To have rich top soils, resilient and thriving farms, and fresh,
> local, healthy food for Nova Scotians * all with a small environmental
> footprint. We will engage individuals and organizations in community
> networks * rural and urban * to participate in bringing this about.
>
> Is this a topic for naturens? I think so. Cheers, Joan
>
>
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