Thread by @EconofHappiness

This article has been making the rounds: ourworldindata.org/food-choice-vs….

And we’ve noticed it being used to shut down discussion about the societal and environmental benefits of eating #localfood - so we did some digging below the controversial headline.
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The article cites (among other things) a study comparing growing lettuce in the UK during winter to importing it from Spain (where it’s still in season). Growing out-of-season food is often energy-intensive and this naturally makes a local diet look bad. But…
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A local diet isn’t just about eating what you can BUY locally; it’s about eating what can naturally GROW locally. If one were to compare local in-season food vs imported food of the same type, the results would look very different.
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Taking it a step further, the assumption that out-of-season food must always be more energy-intensive is questionable. Passive #solar- and compost-heated greenhouses exist around the world, e.g. facebook.com/groups/9045158…. We can extend the growing season w/out #fossilfuel.
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Furthermore, there are low- to no-energy methods of food preservation and storage (dehydrating, root cellaring, pickling etc.) that can also let people eat local food that’s out of season without incurring a high GHG cost. [5/11]

But looking beyond #GHGemissions, local food benefits the biosphere in many other ways. Shifts toward local food systems lead to more #biodiversity (see e.g. link.springer.com/article/10.100…), which in turn improves land's productivity and yield (see e.g. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…)
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Fossil fuel-dependent industrial monocrops destroy biodiversity, #ecosystems, and #soil health. Local production of diversified crops protects ecosystems while bringing communities together at the same time.
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And the icing on the cake is that #regenerative methods of #farming (again, for distribution to local markets) actually produce MORE food per acre than industrial agriculture can produce: localfutures.org/farming-small-….
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In other words, #localfood systems can erase the supposed 'yield gap' between conventional & #organic food, while creating resilient ecosystems and (as long as seasonality is considered) reducing GHG emissions. It's truly a solution-multiplier. localfutures.org/unlike-a-globa…
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The ecological benefits of local food do not rest solely on GHG emissions. It’s time to move on from judging ecological impact based on a single metric. Especially when analysing something as alive, dynamic, and multifaceted as food systems.
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It’s also time to keep working towards global policies that promote equitable and regenerative food systems that make nutritious and sustainable food available to everyone. We’ve got many examples of what this looks like over at localfutures.org.
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