>>Arguing for foods produced in distant markets is pushing manure uphill these days.

If that were true, we wouldn’t have an economy left.

Thankfully, it isn’t.

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John-ston’s point about trading food across the globe and being carbon-neutral is a good one.

Fair Trade is a case in point – I want to be able to buy Fair Trade coffee, bananas and chocolate for all sorts of reasons besides liking these commodities: helps the growers earn an income etc.

I’d rather see us support the carbon-neutral approach to international food trading than to try and stop it, which isn’t going to be possible any way. People love trading.

There is a wine-grower in the Nelson area who has made it a point of difference that his wine is a) organically-produced, b) carbon-neutrally produced, c) carbon-neutrally shipped to England.

Good on him.

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Greenfly, if we had to produce every little thing in New Zealand, we would return to the 1980s era nightmare where everything cost a fortune. New Zealand can only achieve economies of scale in a few items, so why not concentrate on them.

Find yourself an economics textbook and look at comparative advantage.

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unless, john-ston, the same food can be grown here at home in a manner that is beneficial to the environment and has a knowable production history (isn’t drenched in some unidentified chemical) and provides occupation for people from the local community, is cheaper because of reduced costs of production (including transport costs), provides a buffer in case of major shifts in availabitily and so on and so on. Arguing for foods produced in distant markets is pushing manure uphill these days. Don’t even start on seasonality/ community building and the snuffing out of initiative due to buying offshore.

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“I don’t think Rome had an emissions problem”

That is my point. Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water; there is nothing wrong with long distance food consumption as long as the method of transportation is efficient.

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I noticed that the council is already growing silver beet just outside parliament the other day – the garden bed by Courtney Place was looking quite edible. Christchurch also has that tendency (or used to, haven’t been there for a while). Not sure that I want to eat anything grown in that motor traffic density, especially not in an ash tray, but as a proof of concept it’s fine.

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Surely you can see that food eaten closer to where it is produced would on average be responsible for fewer emissions? Eg. we sending crackers and butter to Oz and they sending the same here can’t help the situation.

I don’t think Rome had an emissions problem.

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Can someone explain to me why long distance importing of food is so bad? While the way it is done may be problematic, the idea is not. Ancient Rome used to import grain from Egypt; in the 16th & 17th Centuries, European nations used to import spices & tea from Asia, and coffee & sugar from the Americas; in the 19th Century, Britain imported meat from New Zealand, and it was shipped there with a sailing ship (very carbon neutral, I would say).

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If I rightly recall, that 1500 miles figure is from the 60s or 70s…would be a lot more now, IMHO.

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Whatever vegetables are grown on the Beehive lawn would need to go well with tripe

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Better still, lets just get rid of parliament.. and politicians influence on our lives.. then you can do whatever the heck you like on its lawn.

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As long as they leave the pohutkawas there, I’d love to see a mixed fruit trees and salad garden out the front. Nice fresh fruit for those sunny lunchtimes for civil servants…

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