We all know that buying local food is better for the environment, and better for building social capital. Or so we thought…why is it that economic geographer Pierre Desrochers believes that food miles and the 100 mile diet are a marketing fad? He believes they distort the environmental impacts of our food systems and detract from real pursuit of sustainable food systems. Desrochers is an associate professor at the University of Toronto’s Mississauga campus. SPF contributor Stewart Fast caught up with him earlier this month by phone from Montana where he is spending his sabbatical as a visiting scholar at the Property and Environment Research Centre in Bozeman.
We also heard a previously recorded interview with Matt Dudley, the proprietor of Ottawa Organics and Natural Foods, which lets Ottawa residents order organic, fair trade and often local foods online and then delivers them to the door. Matt Street talked with Matt Dudley about how the system works and how Ottawa Organics decides when to choose local and when to choose fair trade produce. This piece originally aired on May 14, 2009.
Being a graduate of the Environmental Studies program at Carleton University (Honours BA in Environmental Studies ’97), I can not believe that this guy was put on-air at CKCU, unchallenged!
Can you get someone from Carleton’s Geography Department to refute his nonsense?
Hi Rick,
There were two parts to the show, one was a positive view of local foods with specific details and the other was Desmarais’ critique. Within that interview, the interviewer challenged several of his positions, and he responded. For me, this is part of trying to ‘get behind the news’ to look at alternative points of view. But, I appreciate your comment and we are always looking for story ideas, so I will follow your suggestion and see what we can do.
John W.