Foodsheds- regional food production/consumption

[n2doc]

Good food nation
MIT researchers think America's obesity epidemic can be reversed via ‘foodsheds,’ in which healthier, more affordable food is produced and consumed regionally.
Peter Dizikes, MIT News Office


A map of northeastern cities depicts their proposed “foodsheds,” the areas that naturally supply metropolitan areas with their food.
Image: Urban Design Lab at the Earth Institute, Columbia University

In the last three decades, childhood obesity in the United States has become a massive public-health problem. According to the Centers for Disease Control, between 1980 and 2006 the percentage of obese teenagers in the United States grew from 5 to 18, while the percentage of pre-teens suffering from obesity increased from 7 to 17. Such children often become overweight adults, leaving themselves especially susceptible to heart illness, Type 2 diabetes, strokes, and some forms of cancer.

These weight problems do not simply stem from a lack of willpower, according to Dr. Tenley Albright, director of MIT’s Collaborative Initiatives program, which uses systems analysis to study broad social issues. Albright is a Harvard-educated surgeon who, two years ago, helped organize an interdisciplinary group of about 10 researchers, from MIT and Columbia University, specifically to analyze the causes of child obesity. Aided by a grant from the United Health Foundation, the team scoured medical and economic data, and consulted with medical researchers, economists and policy-makers, before releasing an initial October 2008 report.

The group’s conclusion: Obesity is widespread due to our national-scale system of food production and distribution, which surrounds children — especially lower-income children — with high-calorie products. “The problem lies not just in a child, but the whole environment around a child,” says Albright. “To end obesity, we need to produce healthier, more accessible, more affordable food.” As Albright notes, 90 percent of American food is processed — according to the United States Department of Agriculture — meaning it has been mixed with ingredients, often acting as preservatives, that can make food fattening.

more:
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2009/foodshed.html

[kestrel91316]

1. I am making a conscious effort to get as much of my produce as possible

from our local farmer's market, and specifically from very local producers, most of them organic or close to it. I don't buy obviously out-of-season produce anymore, except the occasional lemon or onion for cooking. I got some local Brandywine tomatoes last Sunday, but there was no local basil so I am making do on the sliced tomatoes without.

Even things like rice, I make a point of buying CA-grown rather than imported. And milk comes from the most local dairy, even though it's not technically organic (just no-BST). I can get extremely local eggs from a producer right here in the Valley, and California Cheese (TM).

Oh, and since I am car-free for the time being, I ride my trusty bike to the farmer's market and other stores, so I get exercise PLUS it limits how much crap I can buy, so I choose purchases carefully.