Which is the most enviromentally friendly?

[lamplighter]

If it is better to buy seasonally grown fruit and veg from the UK or buy those beans/strawberries etc etc and support a farmer in the Third World but which are flown thousands of miles?

[Blameitonthebogey - hope you are happy now?]

Sort of but I reckon you've asked the wrong question . Cos clearly the former is more environmentally friendly but you want to know which is more ethical? Supporting farmers in developing countries at the expense of the environment or reducing CO2 footprint at the expense of the third world farmers' livelihood?

Still don't know the answer though. Someone knowledgeable will be along soon...

Nice one Bogey - a double bluff!

Come on - someone must know/ have a view? I promised lamplighter that MNetters were all knowledgeable and would have the answer....

I heard an interview with Mike Berners--Lee, the author of this book and it seems the answer is complicated and not always logical - it seems to depend on a lot of factors, generally things grown in sunny places and transported by boat are best. Sorry, not much help but I've not (yet) read the book so I don't know the details.

Okay Bogey - you promised me at least five replies but thank MuminBeds for trying.

Nice and quiet on this thread. Dum de dum de dum. Stares out of window. Checks fingernails.

Just popping out to the ice floe to bludgeon some doe eyed seal pups to death. Bastards they are. Sooooo cute and sweet but when they grow up what do they do? Eat all our bloody fish.

Better off as gloves I think.

Well that is that problem dealt with.
[wipes blood from hands and admires mittens]

Just going to slaughter some salad leaves for supper now.

Maybe if you post on another thread you might get more answers.

I have no idea wrt your question.

Do you mean more ethical?

I think (no science or owt) that local is better. Less co2 to transport, fresher food as not frozen or treated to last the trip, and more nutricious (fresher again).

I have had this dilema many times.

Grow your own - problem solved

and did you mean to put this in site stuff?

I can talk environment and ethics but I'm confused by simple things

It depends on the meaning of life. We need to establish that first.

Some might say that the farmer doesn't matter and that the environment is more important than the people inhabiting it, but it's a bit chicken and egg.

Ok, you have posted in the wrong place, so won't get many replies. You should have put it in Ethical Living.

As far as environm,ent is concerned (what you asked about in title) then buying local is obviously better.

But morally, or ethically, that is a tougher question. Local British and English farmers need to sell their products and make a livelihood as much as African and other third world farmers do.

And if Third world Farmers weren't enticed into growing crops to be shipped to the western world via tesco maybe they would grow local food for the local population instead? So ethically if there where no demand for their products to be eported they could concentrate on geowing and selling to local people?

wot omdb said like

Bronze/Potpourri

I am always confused by MN and we do grow our own. I shall try posting on Ethical Living.

Thanks for the help

And you have to think, who ius growing the strawberries and beans etc that get imported to us? Is it a little local farmer or has all the land been bought up stolen by corrupt big wig businessman/government officials/western multinational companies and been turned over into mass mechanised farming and growing of crops with very little human input (so little work provided to the local workforse who have lost their land) and has land that could be used to grow local food for local people been turned over into mass producing strawberries destined for Waitrose instead?

In that scenario it is not really ethical or fair on the local third world farmers is it?

And we also have to cosider the environmental destruction that often results from mass production of crops and intensive farming methods. Land has to be cleared, then the crops rob nutrients from the soil year after year without the land beinf left fallow, artificaiial fertilizers need to be added to the nutrient deprived soil, these leach into the water table, can harm farmers who are not trained to properly use them etc., deforestation can occur, water is needed to irrigate crops and therefore diverted from local needs etc etc etc

It can result in environmental catastrophe, before we even consider CO2 emissions from transporting the stuff.