we do have a better press corps (Michael Spector edition)

If you haven't read it already, Michael Spector's article on the carbon footprint in the New Yorker is excellent. It details what we've learned since people have started attempting to measure exactly how much carbon is associated with each product.

I really hope that carbon labelling catches on. Though article makes clear its obstacles, labelling could really help us to understand what is and what isn't a major source of carbon emissions. Trying to do so without effective and clear measurement could be counter-productive.

The other thing that that I like about this article is it's sceptical take on the "Eat Local" movement. I've always thought there were two bad reasons and one good reason to eat local.

1. Local food has less "food miles" on it.
2. Eating local helps the money stay in our economy.
3. Local food is fresher, and has been bred for taste rather than durability of transportation.

I don't think food miles are a good way to measure carbon emissions, for the reasons Spector describes. "Our Economy" ought to include our whole country, at the very least. Foreigners and people from Missouri need and deserve our dollars as much as anybody else.

#3 is hard to dispute, as anyone who has experience the difference between farmer's market heirloom tomatoes and the indestructibly bland grocery store variety can attest. However it does pt us foodies into a bit of corner. It could well be that it's more carbon friendly to only eat mass-produced mass-shipped food. Then what would be do? Choose between my planet and my dinner? Makes me want to cry.

bad government!

Occasionally the United States government, in a fit of bipartisan douchebaggery, decides to do everything it can to make everyone worse off. Lately, this seems like a full time occupation:

1. Why the Price of Your Morning Starbucks Went Up.
2. Congress Passes Anti China Legislation

Not content with bungling energy policy into raising the price of food generally, so that we can switch to a fuel that does not emit less greenhouse gasses than oil, Congress decides to go about attempting to make everything else more expensive as well.

Perhaps this is all part of some generalized attempt to lower social welfare. Did we do something to piss the government off? I'm pretty sure that I've been good lately, but I don't really know about you. Maybe this is a bit of elaborate revenge against Larry Flint.

other websites

One of the things I like about Marginal Revolution is that it frequently contains "Well-Duh" arguments that you have for some reason, never thought of before.

Case in point this The Economist quotation:

Perhaps the most eminent critic of organic farming is Norman Borlaug, the
father of the “green revolution”, winner of the Nobel peace prize and an
outspoken advocate of the use of synthetic fertilisers to increase crop
yields. He claims the idea that organic farming is better for the
environment is “ridiculous” because organic farming produces lower yields and
therefore requires more land under cultivation to produce the same amount of
food. Thanks to synthetic fertilisers, Mr Borlaug points out, global
cereal production tripled between 1950 and 2000, but the amount of land used
increased by only 10%. Using traditional techniques such as crop rotation,
compost and manure to supply the soil with nitrogen and other minerals would
have required a tripling of the area under cultivation. The more
intensively you farm, Mr Borlaug contends, the more room you have left for
rainforest.

It is a good point, and I have, for some reason never heard it made before. I'm going to run it by some environmentalist friends to see if any holes can be poked.

On another note the new link (North Eastern Delight) is the estimable Luke, who

1) is a terribly smart guy

2)lives in Sunderland

3) has a bit of knack with the digital camera

4) was one of the Ziboys, toughing it out in a town that was considered polluted even by Chinese standards

5) has quite the dorky stockpile of music knowledge, although he seems to refrain from blogging that

6) is quite capable, when prodded, of committing peace time atrocities with a buffet platter of shrimp. Zenmeyang, ge menr?

Lastly, my public note to Johnny Logic, I've started posting again. Now it's your turn.