The Why

Many conscientious consumers are passing up imported items to purchase locally produced goods. Buying locally has benefits, including bolstering the domestic economy and promoting responsible manufacturing practices.

Green enthusiasts were quick to support the locavore movement and fostered the idea that not buying locally was directly responsible for global warming. The term "food miles" appeared, indicating the distance food had travelled to be sold.

While it is possible to grow certain crops and raise livestock locally, if the climate is not ideal, then yeilds will be much lower- even with greenhouses, fertilizers and machinery. In these cases of forced growth, the environmental impact is often far greater than when the goods are imported from a location with the absolute advantage, defined as being able to produce a good with the fewest natural resources.

Read the Kenyan Roses Case Study

Despite the demand for locally grown goods and rejection of imported goods, driving six miles to the supermarket can produce the same carbon emissions as air freighting the bundle of roses in the first place.