Allison Linn, Senior Writer for MSNBC.com, interviewed Dr. Harrington about 'green consumerism' on May 27th. The author notes that green consumerism is no longer "just for the Birkenstock crowd." In fact, for some it has become almost an obsession. This article is part of a three week series of pieces published by MSNBC.com on how the green movement is beginning to transform the lives of millions of consumers and what people can do to start adopting more environmentally friendly lifestyles.
Sharon Begly, Senior Editor and science writer for Newsweek, recently interviewed Jonathan Harrington about the issue of 'food miles.’ The article, entitled "Sounds Good But...We can't afford to make any more mistakes in how to 'save the planet," addresses a number of prevailing misconceptions about how we can reduce our carbon footprint. For instance, many people believe that products produced close to home are invariably more climate friendly than those transported from far away. Unfortunately, this may not be the case. More often than not, emissions resulting from the transportation of products from the orchard, farm or factory floor to our local market only constitute a small percent of the total climate impact of our consumption. Let’s look at an example. UK based, The Carbon Trust, recently completed a ‘lifecycle analysis’ for potato chips made by Walkers, the UK’s largest snack food producer. In addition to transportation, raw material processing, manufacturing, marketing, storage, consumer use and disposal and recycling all contribute to the greenhouse gases that are warming our world. The study examined everything from potato production to cooking and distribution methods. The researchers found that farmer land use and production practices, energy used for frying, packaging and waste disposal contribute most to the carbon footprint of the product, while transportation accounted for only around 10% of total emissions. Dr. Harrington does not say that consumers should not buy local. Supporting local producers, especially organic farmers, strengthens the local economy, government and community. But we should try not to overinflate the significance of ‘food miles’ in our consumer behavior. And remember, the only sure fire way for us to reduce our carbon footprint is to just consume less.
Bill McKibben, author of Deep Economy and The End of Nature has endorsed The Climate Diet, noting that "Here's a diet that will leave us not grouchy and wanting, but happier, a little richer, and on a sweeter planet!
J. Matthew Sleeth, M.D., author of Serve God, Save the Planet: A Christian Call to Action referring to Jonathan Harrington's book notes that "In order to lose weight, you need to eat less and exercise more. In order to save our planet, we need to consume less and conserve more. The Climate Diet is a sensible, inspiring prescription for cutting back on our materialistic lifestyles and restoring planetary health."
Michael MacCracken, Chief Scientist for Climate Change Programs, The Climate Institute, Washinton D.C. states that "Understanding that global warming is real and must be dealt with is a critical first step, but this does not fix the problem. The Climate Diet is filled with practical advice on what to do next--how to reduce the climate change our children will have to endure, and how, in many cases, to save money while doing so."
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