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Cheap prozac, OCTOBER 26, 2007 - Britain's Soil Association has come up with a sensible approach to whether or not it will offer organic certification for food that is flown in by air; food, that is, that travels from farm to plate with the highest environmental cost. Yesterday, the organization's standards board released recommendations that the association only certify air-freighted organic products if they are (a) produced according to Fair Trade standards (such as the Soil Association's Ethical Trade program) and "deliver genuine benefits for farmers in developing countries"; and (b) the producers "have a plan for reducing their reliance on air freight."

It's a good decision (see the earlier blog entries on this difficult topic) - one that pits global development against local food. If approved, the Soil Association standard will encourage reasonable labour and environmental conditions in areas of the world with little infrastructure to support trade, while at the same time ensuring that air freight doesn't continue to occur once adequate road (or, better, railways and ports) are in place. At the same time, it will lift organic certification for practices such as "topping up" the UK organic tomato supply with tomatoes flown in from, say, Spain, buy generic levitra, at extraordinary and unnecessary environmental cost.

In making the decision, the association took into account whether a ban on air freight might simply damage or eliminate nascent organic agriculture in the so-called developing world - to the detriment of all of us, globally - and noted there is evidence that building a trade market for organic food can also strengthen local markets for organics.

They also did not lose sight of the most critical point: "[T]he importance of addressing climate change quickly cannot be overstated and the effects of climate change will hit Africa hardest, cheap prozac. It could therefore be irresponsible to support a development strategy that is heavily dependent on fossil fuels." At the same time, statistics from the association bear repeating: the UK's carbon footprint is estimated to be 9.8 tonnes per person per year (the figure is even higher in the U.S. and Canada), while the average African is annually contributing less than a tonne.

While some critics attacked the focus on "food miles" over full energy life-cycle analyses of products, there is no doubt - in an era in which we are being asked to make even the smallest changes to reduce our personal energy consumption - air freight is a legitimate concern. Price of diazepam, According to UK government statistics, air freight accounts for just 1 percent of Britain's food miles, but is the fastest growing form of food transportation and accounts for 11 percent of food transport carbon emissions. Cheap prozac, Furthermore, the association considered research showing that air freight can increase a food product's carbon contribution tremendously: in the overall life cycle of non-organic green beans shipped in from Kenya, air freight accounts for 80 percent of the carbon footprint.

Finally, the Soil Association continues to reiterate the basics of sustainable eating. Eat local foods in season; eat a diet that is mainly made up of plant-based foods; and eat organic, humanely produced animal products when and if you consume them. There's a further point I'd want to reiterate: there is a tendency to overthink the issue of international development versus localism. No one should feel that there is anything - anything whatsoever - that is morally wrong with eating a local diet. It is the most natural, most commonsense thing in the world, and it's one of the only models we have from human history for a way to eat truly sustainably, xanax generic. Strong local food systems first! That's a message that makes as much sense in Ghana and Kenya as it does in the UK and America.-JBM.

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