My Research Paper

            My research paper was on the 30-Mile Meal here in Athens and also on whether or not local food is actually better for the environment.  I found a lot of research on both sides of the issue, some saying local food is better and others that disagreed with that notion.  It was fascinating that so many people could look at this one issue and have so many varying opinions on the matter.  While some people spoke about food miles, the distance food travels to get to your plate, other talked about greenhouses and how much energy it took to produce fruit and vegetables that wouldn’t grow in that location otherwise.  I found out that shipping food by railway is ten times less harmful than shipping the food on the back of a tractor trailer.  I also found out that in some cases it is actually more environmentally friendly to have food shipped in instead of trying to grow it where you live.  The example given in one of the articles I read talked about having tomatoes shipped from Spain instead of trying to grow them in greenhouses in Sweden.  The author concluded that if the Spanish tomatoes were grown in fields in the sun and those farmers didn’t have to add an expensive system to water the plants that even after they are shipped all the way to Sweden they still required less fossil fuel to get there then it would have taken to grow them in a greenhouse in Sweden.  After reading all of the articles that I found I decided that it would be best to eat local food, but only when that food is not grown in a greenhouse.  Also, if you can cut down on meat, especially beef, it would help as well since animals produce methane that is also harmful. In order to make you diet more environmentally friendly the key is to try to eat only local food that is currently in season and not grown in a greenhouse.