Dangerous Ideas

Someone on a vegetarian mailing list I’m on forwarded this great article on how much fossil fuel goes into bringing food to the kitchen table. It was published in the March 26 Sunday SF Chronicle and written by Chad Heeter. One striking paragraph:

What they’ve discovered is astonishing. According to researchers at the University of Michigan’s Center for Sustainable Agriculture, an average of more than 7 calories of fossil fuel is burned up for every calorie of energy we get from our food. This means that in eating my 400-calorie breakfast, I will, in effect, have consumed 2,800 calories of fossil fuel energy. (Some researchers claim the ratio is as high as 10 to 1.)

I’ve thought about this before, but I didn’t realize the ratio was so high. I like to buy as much as possible from the nearby Alemany Farmers’ Market, but even that involves farmers driving here to bring their produce (a lot less fuel is consumed, though).

In addition to the usage of fossil fuels, having a distributed food network like this is kind of a concern in times of emergency. If there aren’t local sources of food and other necessities, then a major disruption like an earthquake can be of even more consequence than the immediate damage.

Of course, I’m not likely to grow my own food any time soon, but maybe some some day …