Local action group promotes locally produced food

Greater Edmonton Alliance and United church try to boost consumer influence

- Design Pics photo Greater use of locally-produced foods would reduce greenhouse gas emissions, says the Greater Edmonton Alliance.

By BILL GLEN
WCR Staff Writer
Edmonton

Getting major grocery stores to buy more locally produced foods will not only bolster the Edmonton area economy, but cut down on greenhouse gas emissions due to shorter transportation distances, says the Greater Edmonton Alliance.

"You can make very clear arguments that you make better ecological decisions when you are buying locally by cutting down on the transportation of food," says Michael Walters of the GEA.

A group of leaders at Ebenezer United Church joined GEA based on their interest in doing something about energy costs and climate change.

The congregation had determined costs and savings values based on logical reflection and they wanted to do something about it publicly.

They thought about how much they spent annually on groceries and whether the food they were buying was coming from California or Calmar.

The church surveyed congregation members about their grocery spending and interest in buying local food.

Some 70 responses were received that revealed more than $400,000 was being spent on groceries every year. The replies unanimously supported buying locally if it meant protecting the environment.

In September 2006, the church hosted a congregational supper with food collected from within 200 km of Edmonton.

By using a "food kilometre" calculator from LifeCycles, a Victoria nonprofit organization, they determined the travel distances saved along with the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

Think globally

Linda Robinson said the event showed that local consumers can have an impact on global climate concerns.

"People want to buy locally grown food from major stores, but they can't." Michael Walters

"We were talking about the high cost of fuel and about how grocery stores just pass that cost onto the consumer. We wondered how much we would save if we bought food locally. That spearheaded the whole idea," said Robinson, who chairs Ebenezer United Church's local and global justice committee.

"By using the data we collected and based upon what we saved in one evening, we determined we would save one million litres of fuel over a year."

Some of the foods used for the dinner were salad ingredients purchased from Old Strathcona Farmers Market, grown near Devon. Robinson said there were fewer than 50 km travelled, compared to 2,500 km for vegetables not produced locally. This resulted in significant transportation savings and 587 grams fewer greenhouse gas emissions.

The ham came from Vegreville. Potatoes came from just north of Edmonton.

"When we go into a store, it's difficult to identify what is or isn't purchased locally," she said. Ebenezer wants to work with other churches to influence stores to make local foods more available.

The work done by Ebenezer leaders launched the Organized Food Buyers of GEA project. The Edmonton Archdiocese and several Catholic parishes are members of GEA.

The project's objectives include organizing $5 million of grocery buying power across the region, researching the distribution policies of local grocery stores and beginning discussions with management about increasing access to local foods.

"People want to buy locally grown food from major stores, but they can't. It isn't provided," Walters said.

"If I go to the grocery store as one person and say our household spends $5,000 a year on groceries, I won't be taken seriously. Whereas it would be different if I go representing $5 million inside of a congregation."

Walters would like to meet with local food producers and restaurant owners about their interests and to host a food fare demonstrating the possibilities in organized buying and a new kind of relationship to the marketplace.

Organized buying

Organizing other congregations to the amount of $5 million would create significant buying power, Walters says.

"The $5 million is money already being spent on groceries. Why not have organized food buyers to focus it?"

And why limit organized buying only to food? Walters sees a group of organized car buyers, mortgage purchasers or even solar panel buyers.

"Many would argue that organizing is about searching for and discovering people with leadership potential, then bringing them into public life and public power to act with others for a common good," Walters said.

"This is true, but it is also about a paradigm shift of moving people away from the individual to the organized. Our families and households have been left in isolation when dealing with today's major government and market forces."

For more information, contact Michael Walters at 982-4635 or 485-1089.

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