Want to do something for the planet? Stop eating local.
It’s not just a bad year to eat local. California is suffering a severe drought. Using water to grow food we could grow elsewhere is putting excessive strain on Southern California.
Even in good years with plenty of water falling in California, eating local in Southern California probably does more environmental harm than good.
There are parts of the world where eating local can reduce your carbon footprint. Southern Californian isn’t one of them.
Californians have a long history of leading on environmental issues, from cleaning up air pollution to starting America’s first carbon trading program. We’ve also been in the vanguard of the local food movement which has many motivations – among the strongest is a belief that eating local will have benefits for the planet we live on.
The above excerpt was originally published in Orange County Register.
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