One Size Does Not Fit All - Assignment Example

One Size Does not Fit All Two essays from the text, Lunsford, Ruszkiewicz and Walters (3007) were examined for their opposing views on the value of consuming local produce. The first aims at refuting the value of consuming food produced within fifty miles of home and the second documents how the family farm was converted to organic serving customer within a fifty mile radius. The Locavore’s Dilemma is a blog by Christophe Pelletier of Vancouver, B.C., and Pelletier takes issue with the idea that we could lower our carbon footprint if everyone consumed only food sources within 100 miles of their homes. The second essay was written by Eric Mortenson of the Willamette Valley in Oregon, originally published in the Oregonian, and he is a farmer and discusses how his family saved their farm and their heritage by going organic and selling locally. The two essays examined are supporting almost completely opposite positions on farming and food consumption, but they are not really at odds, because they are talking about two different subjects: consumption and production. Both essays make logical sense and they prove their points very well. Pelletier discusses the futility of trying to get everyone to consume locally, even if it were the answer to global warming. He shows that doing this for food consumption would be difficult enough, if not impossible, and that it would simply not make a useful difference unless all consumption becomes local, and he shows that this simply cannot be done, because the local climate cannot support enough warm weather fruit and the land cannot support profitable meat ranching. He says that only 48% of local consumption is covered by local production. Of course, coffee, tea, chocolate, cotton and many more products cannot be produced locally in Vancouver. If this extends around the world, many people would be hungry, and hungry people make wars, which have the biggest carbon footprint of all human activities. Pelletier cites evidence that if everyone switched to locally produced consumption, it would knock civilization back to the stone age, with poor diets, horse and buggy transport and wood-burning stoves for heat. We could survive this if it were an absolute necessity, but he argues that it is not even very useful. Pelletier says it is a common misconception that consuming only locally produced food would actually lower its carbon footprint. Pelletier says that trains and boats have lower carbon footprints than the small trucks that deliver locally. Eric Mortensen has turned his farm into organic production and he only sells locally. This costs him money, but he feels it is worth the price to raise his family this way and to be able to stay on the farm. They survive by growing what can be sold locally and not using pesticides or huge machinery. Mrs. Mortensen runs the Farmers’ Market and also chairs the “Yamhill County Soil & Water Conservation District and in November will take a seat on the Oregon Board of Agriculture.” They grow hay fertilized by pomace – post press grape skins and seeds from local wineries and deliver this and vegetables to a fifty mile radius. They already host working visitors, they call woofers, who want a taste of farm life as interns, and they are planning to extend this to more people next year. Mortensen does not discuss what all this may do for the environment, because he is writing about how his family will be able to stay on the farm. He is not trying to save the planet, just his family’s heritage and their small part of it. So neither of these articles really solves the issue of the carbon footprint of our food. For my family I already source fresh and local whenever possible. We also try to find out where the other foods are sourced and how they are transported. We try to avoid waste of any kind and we do not purchase processed food, when we have any alternative. We are not fanatic about this, but we find that living this way is comfortable and healthy. I do not think local consumption can make enough difference to be worth going to extremes. It seems like avoiding airplane travel, doing errands all at once a few time per week or fewer and avoiding fast food , processed food and agribusiness produced food, such as port from Smithfield Farms (which are not really farms but pork factories) and turning off power vampires in the house is a good start. The rest will have to be more organized and include things like retrofitting large buildings for efficiency and doing more transport via trains, using alternative energy and cutting down on waste. Pelletier makes an excellent argument against even trying to go totally local in our consumption, The strongest part of his argument is that it would actually not accomplish the aims, even if we could and would do it. Mortensen makes a great case for diversifying family farms and presents an excellent plan to save them. This does not do anything at all to stop wasteful and environmentally damaging agribusiness, nor does it cut the carbon waste from our consumption. However, that was not his aim at all. He simply shows another way to live for small farming families who want to stay on the farm. We can compare some things from these essays, but they are not in opposition, since they are about different subjects from a totally different perspective. They do have different points of view and they also have many things in common. Is everything an argument? No. I do not think these men would argue at all. We do have a problem concerning the carbon footprint of the human race, but we need to find a better solution than becoming locavores. Buying local is good for the climate, and our health, plus it support our small farmers who have diversifies operations. For farming families going organic and staying local can help them survive, and maybe some can come back from the brink before agribusiness destroys diversified and ecologically sound farming. Works Cited Pelletire, Christophe . 2009 . The Locavore’s Dilemma . Lunsford, Andrea A, John J Ruszkiewicz and Keith Walters eds. Everythings an argument. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2007. Print. Mortensen, Eric .2007. "A Diversified Farm Prospers in Oregons Willamette Valley by Going Organic and Staying Local" Lunsford, Andrea A, John J Ruszkiewicz and Keith Walters eds. Everythings an argument. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2007. Print. Read More