Analysis Of The Locavore Movement

Locavore? Try Completely Loco Thinking about joining the locavore movement in your community? That’s great! Are there many local farmers living in your area? Is the local food produced with a low carbon footprint? These are the kinds of questions that a community considering a major lifestyle change should be asking themselves. They may be surprised when the answers they receive don’t match up with what they were promised. The locavore movement promotes sustainability while simultaneously neglecting the multiple factors that contribute to the detriment of our planet. In addition, their idealistic vision doesn’t define what ‘local’ actually means, leaving the term to be loosely interpreted and ignored. On the flip side, a community may find …show more content…
This belief could not be further from the truth. ‘Food miles’ actually play a fraction of role regarding sustainability. “Take a close look at water usage, fertilizer types, processing methods and packaging techniques and you discover that factors other than shipping far outweigh the energy it takes to transport food.” (Source C). A community that is dedicating themselves to a movement that champions sustainability, should concern themselves with every possible component of a carbon footprint in an effort to shrink said footprint. The fact of the matter is, the locavore movement does not account for the fact that the production of foods, such as red meat and dairy products, is the main culprit regarding greenhouse gas emissions, not transportation (Source D). It falls to the community to make the choice between food from down the road that isn’t produced with sustainability in mind or food from another country that is. While this moral issue doesn’t necessarily help or hurt a community, it does impact its very soul. When choosing to become a locavore, a person has committed themselves to not just supporting local producers, but also to helping the planet. If this community truly is committed to becoming locavores, they must evaluate the carbon footprint of their locally grown food to stay true to the movement’s ideals. And if it comes down …show more content…
Limits on what should be considered local need to be decided, research of farmers markets or other producers must be completed thoroughly, the carbon footprint of those they’ll receive food from needs to be evaluated and the true benefits of such a lifestyle need to be weighed against the extra effort. Then, and only then, should a community go through such a drastic change. With careful researching and a solid plan, a community may flourish after assuming a locavore lifestyle. However, there is considerable evidence that undermines the locavore movement as a whole and leaves it pointless at best. The broad idealism of the locavore movement resembles the Progressive Movement of the late nineteenth century. Both movements sound great in theory, yet they fall flat when it comes time to put them into practice. Why go locavore, when you could go