Food Miles: Environmental Implications of Food Imports to the Kingston Region - Brief Summary of Findings and Comparison to Waterloo Region

Sunny Lam
School of Environmental Studies
Queen's University
sunny.lam@gmail.com

Abstract
The rapidly escalating impacts of climate change are making energy and emissions reductions a necessity. One of the biggest contributors is the usage of fossil fuels, especially with regards to transport. In an energy hungry world, it is well known that fossil fuel use continues to climb with regards to the shipping of items like food.

The issue of “food miles” has been examined previously (Pretty et al. 2005, Pirog et al. 2001, Pirog and Benjamin 2003); one of the more recent Canadian analyses was conducted for food miles of imports into Waterloo (Xuerub 2005). Using the tool developed by Xuerub (2005), food miles for imports into the Kingston Region are examined relative to scenarios involving regional and local sourcing. In addition, the Kingston case is compared to the Waterloo Region.

The 58 studied food items travelled approximately 4685 km from their sources to retailers. It is found that if all 58 imports were sourced locally or regionally, the Kingston Region could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by ~20621 tonnes annually. This would be the equivalent to removing ~6747 cars from Kingston’s roads. It would also reduce household greenhouse gas emissions by a third of a tonne. When compared to Waterloo, Kingston stands to gain more from local or regional sourcing, due to its increased distance from common road shipping routes.

Full Paper (PDF)

Français

 

Posted March 2007