Is there crude oil in that carrot…does it taste good?
Aug. 12th, 2007 by AlWhen evaluating our personal petrochemical footprint on the planet, few of us consider the bag of carrots sitting in the fridge, but maybe we should.
The debate on environmental harm reduction tends to focus on our personal transportation contributions to global warming causing emission, but in America, 17% of the annual national energy consumption is burned while growing and transporting the food we eat. That translates into billions of gallons of oil consumed each year to bring those carrots and hamburgers to my table!
The problem starts with fertilizer, and 1 kilogram of nitrogen equivalent fertilizer–very commonly used–requires an equal kilogram of crude oil to produce. The quantity of this fertilizer used by farmers each year is astronomical, and partially explains the huge energy debt of our modern food production methods. Oil continues to be burned during the mechanical care and harvesting, packaging, shipping, repackaging and re shipping, until we eventually find the product at the supermarket, and burn ever more oil while motoring home to prepare dinner.
So what’s a conscientious cook to do?
The answer, at least in part, is to buy locally produced products, and eat with the seasons. By supporting your local farmers, you greatly minimize the distances food must travel, and also likely minimize the processing steps along the way. Eating locally tastes better anyways, and a tomato grown a few miles from home at least ripened on the vine, and not over a 5000 mile journey across the continent.
The second thing that can be done is to eat organically. Organic farming methods minimize the use of oil intensive fertilizers and other agro chemicals, and as such reduce the overall petrochemical burden of the production. These products are also generally tastier and better for you as well.
The third thing to do is not to eat organically. That’s right, eating an organic tomato grown 5000 miles away is not preferable to eating a commercially grown and oil fertilized product grown close to home. The largest single factor in the relative oil consumption implicit in any food is the distance it needs to be transported, regardless of the method that was used in its production.
The hidden oil in the food we consume is substantial, and the agro food industry is enormously dependent on cheap oil for the production and transport of the foods we eat.
Oil isn’t that tasty anyway
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