[SustainableTompkins] Food and Fall

[senecajean at aol.com]

More on Food Miles and the obstacles that come up in trying to go local.
Also global warming and Fall in New England..which also of course affects NY
Links below--either underlined titles or direct links.?(the underlined titles don't work for everyone or every list.)?

Jeanne


Do Food Miles Make a Difference to Global Warming? 


http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKN0521281920071017



By Deborah Zabarenko, Reuters, October 17, 2007. "The U.S. local food movement -- which used to be elite, expensive and mostly coastal -- has gone mainstream, with a boost from environmentalists who reckon that eating what grows nearby cuts down on global warming. But do food miles -- the distance edibles travel from farm to plate -- give an accurate gauge of environmental impact, especially where greenhouse gas emissions are concerned? 'Food-miles are a great metaphor for looking at the localness of food, the contrast between local and global food, a way people can get an idea of where their food is coming from,' said Rich Pirog, associate director of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University. 'They are not a reliable indicator of environmental impact,' Pirog said in a telephone interview. 'What one would want to do is look at your carbon footprint across a whole food supply chain.' The problem with food-miles is that they don't take into accoun
 t the mode of transport, methods of production or the way things are packaged, and all of these have their own distinct impact on emissions of carbon dioxide, a climate-warming gas."



Local Carrots and Red Tape in NYC Schools. 



http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/17/dining/17carr.html



By Kim Severson, The New York Times, October 17, 2007. "Around the country dozens of farm-to-school programs are trying to get local food back into the schools. In New York City, some of that work falls to the SchoolFood Plus organization. Under its umbrella, there have been some successes. For the past two summers, most of the stone fruit in New York city schools has been local, and some of the frozen food served in cafeterias is, too... So why not do the same thing with carrots? Although food purists might argue that simply slicing local carrots is the best way to feed children, handling fresh carrots is too labor-intensive for a district trying to feed hundreds of thousands of children a day on a tight budget."



New England's Fading Fall Colors Blamed on Climate Change




http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2007/10/21/in_new_england_fading_fall_colors_blamed_on_climate_change/


By Dave Gram, The Associated Press, October 20, 2007. "Hillsides usually riotous with reds, oranges and yellows have shown their colors only grudgingly in recent years, with many trees going straight from the dull green of late summer to the rust-brown of late fall with barely a stop at a brighter hue. Some folks believe climate change could be why. "It's nothing like it used to be,' said University of Vermont plant biologist Tom Vogelmann, a Vermont native who's among those who believes warming weather may be to blame for lackluster foliage. He says autumn has become too warm to elicit New England's richest colors."

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