North American produce travels an average of 1,500 miles to consumers.

Evidence

On average, fruits and vegetables that arrive at our tables in North America have traveled 1,500 miles to get there. On the positive side of this system is the seemingly infinite variety of produce available (to those who can pay) all year long that many of us now simply take for granted. Bananas from the Caribbean, apples from New Zealand, tomatoes, oranges, and grapes from California—all available every month of the year. The downside of this, of course, is the reduction in quality of many of these varieties as they are picked early, ripened artificially, processed in large quantities, and shipped halfway around the world to be packaged, then shipped again to various places across the world to awaiting consumers. In a world experiencing the ever-rising effects of climate change and decreasing levels of cheap oil, this system is clearly not sustainable. — Rebecca A. Martusewicz, Jeff Edmundson, and John Lupinacci, EcoJustice Education, 1429

Categorization

• CANDY: The 1,500-mile ‘food miles’ stat is a light, shareable nugget for sparking sustainable-food conversation.
• XREF: connects to: Local food efforts respond to urban health crisis and industrial agriculture’s harm — Rebecca A. Martusewicz, Jeff Edmundson, and John Lupinacci, EcoJustice Education: Toward Diverse,…, 1821