Saving the World Through Dieting

Filed in archive Opinion on August 11, 2006

I know this post is a bit off. But since Alternative Energy is related to the wider global goal of saving the planet, I thought it appropriate to write about one of the many simple yet intuitively smart ways of contributing to global environmental preservation. I am talking about Dieting.

Dieting it turns out, isn't just for health purposes. According to 100 Mile Diet: When the average North American sits down to eat, each ingredient has typically travelled at least 1,500 miles (the SUV diet).

What if food was gathered only from within a radius of 100-miles? That question was examined by Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon, who decided that for one year, they would buy or gather their food and drink from within 100 miles of their apartment in Vancouver, British Columbia.

This experiment, which inspired a host of other activities, has now turned into a globally recognized movement. The 100-mile diet. And if you sit down to think, it does make sense, or does it?

For one, the 100-mile diet doesnt bode well with economic theory (I have economic background see, and it really goes against several widely accepted economic frameworks I know). It sounds good, sure, but is it effective? Maybe not that effective, since factors of production other than food have already been transferred, which may be the same or even greater effect. Food alone cant be held in isolation.

Still the idea is a good one. If and only if domestic production increases at a rate that it becomes viable and can support a pre-determined area.

Do you guys agree?