Food miles refers to the distance food needs to travel before it reaches the consumer. It is a major indicator for the environmental impact of the food (this is called the carbon footrpint). Another major indicator for the carbon footprint is what vehicle has been used (ship, airplane, truck, ...) to transport to food, and what fuel/drivetrain was installed in this vehicle.
Growing crops locally
In cold climates, not all crops that are popularly requested by the population may actually be grown there. Possible solutions to still be able to grow it (ie using greenhouses) may then again actually require more energy due to the heating involved.[1]
Criticism
See Food_distribution#Local_versus_global_food_production
One other potantial disadvantage is a loss of income to poor farmers. See Food miles and the poor by Owen Barder.
Suggested projects
- Compare the environmental impact of locally grown and imported food; look at the impact of eating different types of food as a part of the total diet.[expansion needed]
- Compare with the transport method that customers use to go to the shop and back home. If they are using car when they buy groceries it can be a much larger portion of environmental impact than the actual miles of transport of the groceries up to the shelves in the shop.[expansion needed]
- Research and compare existing heated green houses and what other use they do with the extra heat energy. One example is in Sweden where a ethanol factory sends their heat to a tomato grower, and then their extra heat goes to a residential home. Research on other potential practical uses to combine different uses of same heat energy in a small local grid.[2][expansion needed]