but what’s even better is to consume only locally-sourced and renewable materials
Actually, it depends. We did an analysis in one of my university environmental science classes about if you’re living in Montreal in the winter, if you should buy produce from the subtropics (California in our analysis) or local produce. Well, local produce in Quebec is grown in greenhouses in the winter. And as it turns out, the carbon footprint to heat those things far outweighs everything else combined: including transportation. Like, you can get many times more produce shipped straight from California for the same amount of carbon emissions of a single stalk of local broccoli. The difference was so far beyond any margin of error that there was no way we could justify getting local produce no matter how much we tried (I’m pretty sure most people in our class went into it assuming local would win hands down).
The takeaway is: if it’s really cold, food production isn’t efficient and you might just be better off getting non-local food from somewhere warm.
We had a video a while ago on /c/solarpunk of someone growing citrus fruits in the middle of winter in the northern US in such an greenhouse heated with low-grade ground heat.
So it is definitly possible, but probably doesn’t scale very well.
The real issue is that you can’t expect to eat fresh produce in the middle of winter if you live in Canada. Food preservation for consumption in Winter is a well developed and scaleable technology.
Actually, it depends. We did an analysis in one of my university environmental science classes about if you’re living in Montreal in the winter, if you should buy produce from the subtropics (California in our analysis) or local produce. Well, local produce in Quebec is grown in greenhouses in the winter. And as it turns out, the carbon footprint to heat those things far outweighs everything else combined: including transportation. Like, you can get many times more produce shipped straight from California for the same amount of carbon emissions of a single stalk of local broccoli. The difference was so far beyond any margin of error that there was no way we could justify getting local produce no matter how much we tried (I’m pretty sure most people in our class went into it assuming local would win hands down).
The takeaway is: if it’s really cold, food production isn’t efficient and you might just be better off getting non-local food from somewhere warm.
@poVoq@lemmy.ml
Removed by mod
We had a video a while ago on /c/solarpunk of someone growing citrus fruits in the middle of winter in the northern US in such an greenhouse heated with low-grade ground heat.
So it is definitly possible, but probably doesn’t scale very well.
The real issue is that you can’t expect to eat fresh produce in the middle of winter if you live in Canada. Food preservation for consumption in Winter is a well developed and scaleable technology.
Edit: https://lemmy.ml/post/56369 and specifically this video.