Locavores Rhetorical Analysis

February 9, 2012

Synthesis Essay: “Locavores”

The last hundred years in America and abroad, the farm and food production industry has revolutionized and been expanded past recognition of the simple entity it once was. It has been studied that the majority of food at the store, though seemingly varitous, is distributed by only a handful of monopoly companies (Food Inc.: great movie, it is eye-opening to the food industry). The result is that exotic, foreign food items are normal commodities to the middle-class (and above) diet. The implications of this new system of food production, transportation, and commercial resale has raised questions and inspired a local food promoting movement to combat such practices. Main goals of these “Locavores”
include: reduced CO2 emissions, more tasty and nutritious produce, and a revival of local economies. Upon considering Locavoristic ideals in a realistic community, to be applied in full effect, I believe it would work cooperatively with the larger scale foreign production; a balance of domestic and foreign food production. I think a combined effort of a community towards a goal would refresh and remind the world of how we humans lived for thousands of years. It would benefit a community to then consider what changes, societal and technologically, cannot be undone and must be accounted for when applying the Locavore concept. Such things like jobs, and expanded variety of food that are benefits of our more “foreign-vore”, modern ways. In Jennifer Maiser’s web document from 2006 amny common people share their reasons and personal appeal to locally grown food.
Aside from cost figures, relative CO2 emissions, and economist concerns, fresh well grown food seems to invigorate people and make them fell good. A common mistake in modern analyses is to ignore emotional, basic human response. For example, the institution of Communism is a theoretically utopian idea for poorer countries, but when humans are the test subjects, the intended structure falls prey to uneven distribution of power and a deprived people. Similarly, even if it was more cost effective and economically efficient to outsource food production, the cozy knowledge of where the food on your plate originated and who produced it is left to cold mystery. The afore-mentioned documentary, Food Inc, exposes many of the lies behind the appealing labels on our food products (seriously a crazy movie!). In addition to taste and piece of mind, Maiser’s web document suggests how locality promotes preserving open spaces, which are rapidly disappearing in the cities of the U.K. and America. Urbanization is a rampant force that extinguishes humanity’s valuable connections with nature. Nature calms us; everyone who has hiked or camped can vouch with uncountable reasons why this is
true. In logical terms, you cannot ignore the negative impacts of CO2 emitting transportation, which is graphically measured in Source D.
An amount averaged to 250 lbs of approximate CO2 emissions a year per household are daunting when multiplied by the thousands of houses in a community and the millions across the country. Source C refutes the food miles versus amount transported per gallon, but the comparison is unrealistic; asserting that an unrealistically low local production, “50 apples”, and not accounting for the mode. A farmer’s pick-up truck uses considerably less harmful fuel than the airplane loaded with
food. The revival of local economy is an idea forgotten on many more levels than the food a community consumes, but this small portion would be a deciding step in the proper direction. Source C may ask how Kenyans would be affected if the U.K. didn’t purchase their green beans, but if both countries fended for themselves, so to speak, and produced their own sustainable food source, both countries would strengthen their economies from within and be subsisting without foreign aid. Of course 100% devotion to local production reduces variety and possibly health in this way, so the best solution is a combination of the two sources. That way the community could enjoy the local community promoting benefits and hold on to foreign benefits like your bananas from Honduras, creating a hybrid that pleases all.