NRDC: Food Miles: How Far Your Food Travels Has Serious Consequences for Your Health and the Climate (Pdf)

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Food miles: How far your food travels has serious consequences for your health and the climate

How Far Does Food Travel? Importing Pollution Food miles are the distance food travels from Not only are the distances that food travels from where it is grown to where it is ultimately farm to market important, but the modes of purchased or consumed. Food miles—and transport also have a large effect on how much the resulting pollution—increase substantially pollution is generated. For example, importing Health Facts Health when we consider produce and goods imported food by airplane results in far greater emissions of from halfway around the world. In developed greenhouse gases than imports by ship. nations like ours, food is traveling farther to Although there are some exceptions, in reach consumers and international food trade most cases, locally produced food proves the is increasing more rapidly than increases in best choice for minimizing global warming and population or food production. Between 1968 other pollutants. In fact, another study showed and 1998, world food production increased by that when you combined all locally grown food, 84 percent and the population by 91 percent, it still produced less carbon dioxide emissions in but food trade increased 184 percent. Today, the transport than any one imported product. The typical American prepared meal contains, on effects all this pollution can have on our health average, ingredients from at least five countries may be reflected in high rates of asthma and outside the United States. other respiratory symptoms, as well as increased school absence days for children.

Imports by airplane have a substantial impact on global warming pollution. In 2005, the import of fruits, nuts, and vegetables into California by airplane released more than 70,000 tons of CO2, which is equivalent to more than 12,000 cars on the road.

Commodity Information Trade and Transport Information

Asthma Smog Diesel and other Tons Greenhouse Forming Soot respiratory School Country Transport Imported Number of Gases Pollutants Particles symptoms Absences Commodity of Origin Method 2005 “Food Miles” (tons/yr) (tons/yr) (tons/yr) (cases/yr) (days/yr) Table Grapes Chile Ship 129,721 5,909 7,343 298 15 47 (18-75) 833 (348-1363) Navel Oranges Australia Ship 33,095 8,655 2,628 76 4 12 (5-19) 212 (89-347) Wine France Ship 47,464 10,361 5,084 109 5 17 (7-27) 304 (127-498) Garlic China Ship 24,610 7,333 2,185 57 3 9 (3-14) 158 (66-258) Rice Thailand Ship 207,374 8,229 15,394 477 23 75 (29-120) 1330 (556-2176) Fresh Tomatoes Mexico Truck 90,096 1,193 7,649 8 0.2 * * Fresh Tomatoes Netherlands Airplane 830 5,727 6,482 0.2 0.005 * *

Total Agricultural Multiple Ship, Truck, 3,738,891 NA 246,596 6,146 300 951 (368-1,518) 16,871 Products & Airplane (7,055-27,608) The Real Price of Imported Food: at cargo facilities from trucks, trains, heavy Foods The Case of California equipment and ships, contributes most to public Frequently Main In California, where agricultural commodities are health risks from air pollution. In fact, the one of the top exports, it is ironic that so much California Air Resources Board estimates that in Imported by Country food is being imported from other states as well 2005 alone, 2,400 premature deaths and 2,800 Air of Origin as overseas. Some of these imports are because hospital admissions for asthma and other diseases Asparagus Peru people expect to have foods available year-round were attributable to direct and indirect exposure instead of seasonally. In other cases, imports are to diesel pollution from freight transport Bell Peppers Netherlands competing directly with locally grown produce. activities within the state. Blackberries Chile In 2005 alone, approximately 3 million tons of To get a real picture of what food miles Blueberries Chile, New fruits, vegetables, cereals, nuts, and wine were means to California air quality and the health of imported from overseas into California by ship, its citizens, NRDC analyzed the transportation- Zealand, airplane, and truck. Thousands of Californians related impacts of importing agricultural Argentina are adversely affected by shipping goods, products into the state’s ports, including the large Cherries Chile including food. And many neighborhoods near ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach, Oakland, and transport facilities—ranging from port terminals Otay Mesa on the Mexican border. Raspberries Chile in Wilmington to rail yards in Commerce to What we found is eye-opening: distribution centers in Riverside and truck n Almost 250,000 tons of global warming gases routes through West Oakland—are low-income released were attributable to imports of food communities of color. products—the equivalent amount of pollution Higher pollution levels in some of these produced by more than 40,000 vehicles on the areas are well documented, and asthma rates road or nearly two power plants. and other health problems are also higher. n More than 6,000 tons of smog-forming Numerous air monitoring and modeling studies nitrogen oxides were released into the air— in areas affected by transport facilities have the equivalent of almost 1.5 million vehicles shown dramatically higher levels of diesel soot or 263 power plants! than in other urban areas. More recent studies have shown unacceptably high health risk levels n 300 tons of sooty particulate matter were near major rail yards and port terminals. Diesel released into the air—the equivalent of more pollution, which tends to be highly concentrated than 1.2 million cars or 53 power plants.

Trade and Transport Information Cost of Importing Food

Total Agricultural Multiple Ship, Truck, 3,738,891 NA 246,596 6,146 300 951 (368-1,518) 16,871 Products & Airplane (7,055-27,608)

* We were unable to calculate health impacts of commodities shipped via truck or air cargo. Food miles: How far your food travels has serious consequences for your health and the climate

n Approximately 950 cases of asthma, 16,870 transport by cleaning up dirty diesel ships, trucks, missed schools days, 43 hospital admissions, and and equipment; encouraging energy efficiency; 37 premature deaths could be attributed to the collecting fees on shipping containers to help worsened air quality from food imports, according reduce the health and environmental impacts of to freight transport–related projections by the shipping; and promoting local agriculture. Read Health Facts Health California Air Resources Board. on for tips on how you can keep yourself—and NRDC’s study also focused on six products your Earth—healthier. that are among the top foods and beverage n Support your local farmers’ market. To Sharing the imports into the state (table grapes, navel find out where one is located near you, visit Local Bounty oranges, wine, garlic, rice, and fresh tomatoes). www.localharvest.org or http://guide.buylocalca. Community Each of these six products is also produced in org. If you don’t live near a farmers’ market, ask your city to set one up for your neighborhood. Supported and exported from California. We traced each product from the principal country in which n Choose local produce when it’s in season Agriculture it was grown or produced, tracked how it was at your usual shopping places. Look on the shipped, measured how many miles it traveled, labels to see how far your food traveled and Community Supported and totaled up the global warming pollution ask your favorite grocery stores, restaurants— Agriculture (CSA) is a way produced as a result. We also analyzed the air even the cafeteria in your office—to carry for people to link directly with quality and health effects these six major imports more local foods. a local farm and to receive could be having on California’s residents. n Avoid buying produce that has been flown a weekly basket of produce. When we examined these six major imports, in from abroad, such as European hothouse By making a financial we discovered that harmful air pollution in tomatoes, because the global warming pollution commitment to a farm, California produced from transporting these six produced by this type of transport is substantially people become “members” foods into California was up to 45 times more higher than others. Cherries, blueberries, (or “shareholders,” or than local or regional transport of California “subscribers”) of the CSA. In blackberries, raspberries, tomatoes, bell peppers, grown foods—and global warming pollution return for their investment, and asparagus are the main fruits and vegetables went up to 500 times that of locally grown CSA members receive a most frequently shipped by air. bag of fresh, locally grown, foods when the food was imported by airplane! n typically organic produce, Much of the pollution is borne by people living Encourage businesses and government bodies flowers, fruits, eggs, milk, near the ports of San Diego, Long Beach, Los to adopt procurement policies favoring locally or any sort of different farm Angeles, and Oakland, where the air pollution is grown, organic, and sustainably harvested foods products once a week during concentrated because of the seaports. that are minimally processed. the growing season. As n Get more information and take action at: crops rotate throughout the What You Can Do to Help Keep Our www.nrdc.org/foodmiles. season, weekly shares vary Air Clean—and Yourself Healthy As foreign trade increases dramatically (and by size and types of produce, By choosing local produce, you can reduce fuel reflecting local growing the global warming pollution and harmful consumption and global warming pollution seasons and conditions. The health effects that go along with it do as well), associated with transporting food, help lift your number of CSAs in the United you can make a real difference by taking local agricultural communities, strengthen the States was estimated at 50 simple steps in how you shop for your food. local economy, and protect the environment— in 1990, and has since grown The more information you know about this all by eating fresher, tastier fruits and vegetables. to more than 1,000, so join a issue, the better choices you can make for your CSA in your area today. At the policy level, NRDC’s goal is to reduce health—and the Earth. the health and environmental costs of food