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Locavore advantages and disadvantages
Locavore advantages and disadvantages
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How many local markets do you know of in your community? Where is the first place you think of when someone says grocery shopping? The implications of the locavore movement have negligible effects on the environment,minimum economic benefits,and does nothing truly impactful nutrition-wise. For instance,the locavore movement is believed to “..generate twice as much income for the local economy”(Source A). If more money is focused on local economies,there is essentially no balance on general economy. One should understand “..80 percent of us[Americans] live in large,densely populated urban areas,..typically hundreds of miles..from major centers of food production..”(Source F). This implies that getting access to local food will be difficult
McWilliams claims that buying locally grown food is not actually better for the planet and states his claim in the title of the essay; “The Locavore Myth: Why Buying from Nearby Farmers Won’t Save the Planet”. Although McWilliams presents the opposing viewpoint first, he should also state his main claim in the first paragraph so the reader will understand what the author’s position is, even if the reader did not read the title. Jumping directly into his grounds for the claim without stating the claim may leave the reader confused.
James E. Mcwilliams stated his aversion to the locavore movement in his essay “The Locavore Myth: Why Buying from Nearby Farmers Won’t Save the Planet”. The locavore movement is the concept of buying produce, meat, and other farm-grown food locally as opposed to having your vegetables or fruits shipped from across the world. This notion believes going local reduces harm to the environment by decreasing the miles food needs to travel before landing on your plate. From the title of his essay itself, the claim would seem obvious. The locavore movement does not essentially help save the environment through lessened food mileage. Don’t be easily swayed, in short. Mcwilliams presented several grounds and data for his justification on this issue.
While shopping at a local Trader Joe’s, Freedman spots a bag of peas, which have been breaded, deep-fried and then sprinkled with salt. Upon seeing this snack, he is in shock to know that this same store, which is known for their wholesome food, would sell such a thing. With a tone of exasperation, he admits that, “I can’t recall ever seeing anything at any fast-food restaurant that represents as big an obesogenic crime against the vegetable kingdom.” It was such an unexpected situation for him to come across this small snack that represented the opposite of what the wholesome-food movement is for. To settle his own confusion, he clarifies that, “…many of the foods served up and even glorified by the wholesome-food movement are themselves chock full of fat and problem carbs.” This further proves that just because a certain food is promoted by a health fad, it does not validate that it is genuinely better than fast-food itself. A simple cheeseburger and fries from any fast-food restaurant would more than likely contain less calories than a fancy salad from the next hole-in-the-wall cafe. Not only that, but the burger and fries will be tastier and much cheaper
It not only tastes better, but are closer to a maximum of nutrition than store-bought produce (Source D)
Obesity is very common in America, around 66% of American adults are overweight and nearly 33% are obese, which leads to heart disease, cancer, stroke and many other illness. Furthermore, the consume of fast food is in my opinion one of the worst decisions we can make, the food may be cheaper but it leads directly to overweight problems, and it not only damages our bodies but they undermine local business, farmers, and in the process they support they massive slaughter of animals. Ms. Lappe states “…modern livestock production has steered away toward the industrial-style production to highly destructive overgrazing “(858).By consuming food from fast food industries we support the destruction of lands, and the poor conditions in which the animals we consume are suffering. Moreover, changing from consuming fast food to healthier food is in my opinion a transition every individual should make since we cannot keep supporting the companies that literally destroy our world and our body with our
It is heart breaking to see an obese American on the street,because one instinctively knows that the obese American is not making the best food choices. We are constantly establishing new and innovative ways for improving society in terms of technological advances and transportation, although as stated from Budiansky we are also to be blamed for transportation and environmental consequences. “A single ten-mile round trip by car to the grocery store or the farmer’s market will easily eat up about 14,000 calories of fossil fuel energy.”(8) Growing food locally and consuming food locally will save a trip to the grocery store. Innovative technologies don’t always have to be the case. Agriculture only makes up 2 percent of our nation’s energy usage,which is used for running farm machinery and manufacturing fertilizer. Using these effectively will allow us to avoid processed foods and reduce the obesity rate. Individuals with food allergies are able to ask farmers about how the food was grown or ask chefs at a restaurant what ingredients were used in a specific dish. As most of us we desire social interaction. Going to a local food market, allows us to meet different individuals that may offer favorable advice for selecting food items. Our lifestyles all come down to ourselves,which means choosing foods that are advantageous toward our health. If we are aware of where the food comes from, it is easier to make those choices that will benefit
Michael Pollan and David Freedman are two reputable authors who have written about different types of food and why they are healthy or why they are damaging to our health. Michael Pollan wrote “Escape from the Western Diet” and David Freedman wrote “How Junk Food Can End Obesity”. Imagine Pollan’s idea of a perfect world. Everything is organic. McDonald’s is serving spinach smoothies and Walmart is supplying consumers with raw milk. The vast majority of food in this world consists of plants grown locally, because almost everyone is a farmer in order to keep up with supply and demand. How much does all this cost? What happened to all the food that is loved just because it tastes good?
This is because of smaller weekly food budgets, in addition to poorly stocked stores. Those with lower incomes are more likely to spend money on inexpensive fats and sugars versus fresh fruits and vegetables that are more costly on a per-calorie basis. Healthy foods like whole grain products are more expensive than high-calorie junk foods. Economic forces have driven grocery stores out of many cities in the past few years, leaving only a few, and in some cases none. Many of these people living in these rural urban areas do not own cars and because the grocery stores that are still around are so far away, a person’s shopping trip may require them to take several buses or trains....
Nutritionism and Today’s Diet Nutritionism is the ideology that the nutritional value of a food is the sum of all its individual nutrients, vitamins, and other components. In the book, “In Defense of Food” by Michael Pollan, he critiques scientists and government recommendations about their nutritional advice. Pollan presents a strong case pointing out the many flaws and problems that have risen over the years of following scientific studies and government related warnings on the proper amount of nutrients needed for a healthy diet. Pollan’s main point is introducing science into our food system has had more of a negative impact than a positive one, we should go back to eating more of a traditional diet. I believe food science has given us
Brook speaks about a woman named Kelly Bower and her suggestions for solving this problem in low-income neighborhoods. One of Bower’s suggestions is having local policymakers find ways to convince supermarkets and grocery stores to locate in “food desert” areas. According to Sanger-Katz’s article, policymakers have relocated the supermarkets to improve the health of poor neighborhoods but people are still choosing the same foods. People still choose the same unhealthy food because they prefer to eat that kind of food. Obesity is becoming a big problem in America and Finley says that “drive-thrus are killing more people than the drive-bys” because there are more fast food restaurants than there are grocery stores. In the article “Giving the Poor Easy Access,” Sanger-Katz talks about a man named Brian Elbel, who did a study with grocery stores, and he states “improving access, alone, will not solve the problem” of food
A key issue of the locavore movement is the economic effect it has on a community. A positive result of the movement is the growth of local farms. As Pallavi Gogoi said in his business magazine article, “The local food movement has already accomplished something… a revival of small farms” (Source E).
A major issue that is occurring in America is a phenomena known as “food deserts”, most are located in urban areas and it's difficult to buy affordable or good-quality fresh food. Whereas in the past, food deserts were thought to be solved with just placing a grocery store in the area, but with times it has become an issue that people are not picking the best nutritional option. This issue is not only making grocery store in food deserts are practically useless and not really eliminating the issue of food deserts because even when they are given a better nutritional option, and people are not taking it. In my perspective, it takes more than a grocery store to eliminate ‘food deserts’. It's more about demonstrating the good of picking the nutritional option and how it can help them and their families. For example, “Those who live in these areas are often subject to poor diets as a result and are at a greater risk of becoming obese or developing chronic diseases.”(Corapi, 2014).
Because the farmers try to supply the best food to attract more customers, they may add extra, artificial liquids or fertilizers into the crops to grow hundreds of crops to provide for the growing numbers of locavores. This act hurts the environment and locavores, who think they are obtaining the finest foods. The locavore movement does not allow the majority of Americans to participate with the movement because “80 percent of us live in large, densely populated urban areas, usually on the coast, and typically hundreds of miles, often thousands of miles, from the major centers of food productions” (Source F). The unavailability of local farms impacts Americans to buy food at supermarkets because, unlike a local farm, supermarkets are available to most Americans. People do not know whether local could mean supermarkets because supermarkets are local.
Most Americans do not care enough to take a look at the nutritional values of the food that he or she is consuming. That is why America has the highest percentage of obesity in the world. This is a serious problem because one in every three adults is obese, and one in every six children is obese. There are many factors that go into the regular American diet, but most of those factors are not appealing nor is it healthy. Americans put way too much processed food into their daily diet. Some would say that other countries diets superior the American diet because of nutritional values that it carries. Other countries have proven that an active lifestyle is a huge element in the average weight of the country. There are many things that Americans could change about their diets and lifestyle that would help them to become healthier.
In 1987 Carlo Petrini started a coalition dedicated to the politics and pleasures of slowness and the opposition of fast food. (Leitch 439) He describes one of his goals by saying: