Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
but if transport costs for food increase significantly, these local developments will
become more important, especially if promoted by citizen groups such as those in
the Transition Town movement discussed in Chap. 7. What also seems likely is the
much greater development of more high intensity agricultural activities in, or near
cities.
Greenhouse developments around cities, producing vegetables, fruits and flow-
ers, were a common feature around western European cities by the early and mid-
twentieth century. In countries like the U.K. many of these enterprises closed in the
1960s and 70 s, due to their failure to withstand competition from cheaper and earlier
products transported cheaply by refrigerated trucks and by air from warmer climates.
In northern Europe, these sources were initially from the Mediterranean, but now
seasonal foods and flowers are often obtained from African and southern hemisphere
countries that are in a different season. Yet there are increasing signs of a revival in
local production near cities. Some come from farmers finding new opportunities by
supplying local markets; others from direct-buy schemes in which urban residents
contract to buy a certain amount of vegetables each week from farms who then
deliver their products. Another trend is associated with the development of more
technological greenhouses within commuting range of big cities. These produce a
range of vegetable crops and flowers via hydroponic means and more sustainable
energy sources, often using waste heat from district heating or industrial plants. Such
enterprises reduce the need for so many goods to be transported across continents.
A greater emphasis upon vegetables and grains may also be needed to ensure
future food supplies, given the rapid growth of the world population and recogni-
tion of the time and costs involved in animal protein production. For example, to
produce a kilogram of meat takes the equivalent of at least ten times that amount of
grain, as well as months or even years of pastoral effort in the case of cattle. Given
the limited supply of suitable land for this type of production, increases in animal
products to supply the growing population may not be possible; it may be time to
use rapidly breeding insects for protein.
Another trend in the green movement has been the growth in the support for more
ethical practices in food production and processing
. This is best seen by the increas-
ing number of people who abhor large-scale battery chicken and pig farms—where
the animals never leave their small cages—calling it unethical treatment, which
will cause problems for advocates of more intensive animal husbandry. In addition,
many agricultural practices are being shown to have serious negative side-products
affecting human health, apart from the transport costs and added pollution of getting
so many of our foods from very distant areas, such as the routine use of antibiot-
ics in cattle, an issue discussed in the Healthy City review in Chap. 13, which is
leading to the growth of drug resistant bacteria. However some large fast-food and
beverage chains are also adopting more ethical practices in their supply chains,
once a concern only of ecologically-minded people. For example, Starbucks has
long practiced what they call the sustainable sourcing of their coffee, paying their
growers in developing countries higher rates for their products. In early 2012 the
American fast food hamburger chain, Burger King, announced a five-year phase-out
plan to replace the use of eggs and pork products from caged animals, which if suc-
