Watching what is on our plates, is one of the many small acts of civic responsibility which we can reduce our environmental impact
De Morgen, 22 February 2007
The media, the public and politicians are becoming increasingly interested in the global warming and the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. In recent weeks I have the advertising brochures of my nearest hypermarket tried to fix a fine dinner to put together. Following is the result for eight people, and their number of kilometers each ingredient has traveled to Belgium, and the amount of CO2 in the transport kilogram produced. I especially selected ingredients that the airplane landed, because air produces an average of sixty times more CO2 than sea freight. Because
also count, I decorate the table with a beautiful bouquet of twenty roses. The beautiful flowers come by plane from Kenya (6550 km, 5.2 kg of CO2). Once settled, we can serve the asparagus soup with langoustines. The asparagus are flown straight from Peru (10,500 km, 12.5 kg of CO2) and langoustines, peeled and frozen by boat from Indonesia (14,000 km) argued. Note that in terms of CO2 is more interesting to lobster from Southeast Asia to buy than their counterparts who are caught off the coast of Scotland. A paradox. The Scottish creatures leave because of a distant boat trip to Thailand, where it is peeled and then return to Europe (22,000 km). This odyssey is very necessary because I - not just at Christmas but the rest of the year - my shelled crustaceans prefer to buy. I'm not alone: 70 percent of consumers choose the time savings.
After two excellent bottles of white Chilean Sauvignon (11,900 km) it is time for the main dish. Basically I want my guests with take anything exotic, so I have long hesitated between Springbok in Namibia (8300 km), kangaroo from Australia (16,700 km), ostrich from South Africa (8900 km), venison from New Zealand (18,700 km) and bison from Canada (5600 km). Because I can not choose, it is a simple steak and chips from us. The hypermarket is flown Argentine steak (11,300 km, 14.5 kg CO 2) 30 percent cheaper than Belgian Bleu-Blanc. That does not say no to. For the homemade chips I buy bioaardappelen with the truck coming from the south of France. The lettuce speaks English. I am pondering whether your steak and chips is a traditional Belgian dish you mention, while I bottles of excellent California Cabernet Sauvignon (8900 km) uncork. My wife has
made a delicious dessert: a fresh fruit salad with fruit only in the hypermarket in promotion is. Not scare: Nash Iperen from South Korea, mango, papaya, figs and Charentais from Brazil, passion fruit from Colombia, pomegranate from the United States, Israel strawberries, pineapples from Central America, cherries from Argentina, carom and fruits from Malaysia. We do two kiwis from New Zealand with an orange from South Africa and a Belgian apple, so we have every continent on our plates. As midnight approaches, it is still 10 degrees outside and my three year old son whines that Christmas can not be because he sees no snow, I make the sum of the dessert: a total distance of 126,000 kilometers and a bill of about 9 pounds of CO2. That calls for a bottle of white sparkling wine from Tasmania, an island south of Australia (17,100 km).
our feast, flowers and wine, has a total of 209,000 kilometers behind, more than five times the journey around the world. Accounted for 41.3 kilograms of CO2, equivalent to the emissions of a normal car that runs 258 km. The transport of less than 6 kg of food is therefore approximately 15 liters petrol cost!
With a beautiful holly bush as table decorations, a delicious pumpkin soup as a starter, the same steak and chips with salad, but with products from us, a fruit salad without strawberries, cherries and other fruit flown, and French wine, We had more than 80 percent C02 produced.
Watching what is on our plates, is one of the many small acts of civic responsibility which we can reduce our environmental impact. In 1960 represented the air freight transport 2 billion tons per kilometer. In 2006, 150 billion has become. And the share of air transport in CO2 emissions is increasing every year.
The supermarkets say they like us at our beck and call. If we in the winter, no more would buy cherries from Argentina, no strawberries from Israel and no blueberries from Chile, who were no longer in the shelves. We can together enforce a change without really having to sacrifice comfort.
But to consciously consume, we need an informed choice. There we need help. We therefore ask that politicians would do their legislative work and the distribution would require any logo on products to make (eg a red or a blue airplane boat) that would systematically and clearly demonstrate how our food is transported.
Pierre Ozer is scientific researcher at the Département des Sciences et Gestion de l'Environnement, Université de Liège.
Dominique Perrin is a researcher at the Faculté Universitaire des Sciences Agronomiques de Gembloux.
Après trois semaines 
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