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Close Reading of argumentative nonfiction Texts (continued)
key ideas and deTails
How does the author use the example of New Zealand lamb as evidence to support
his claim that focusing on transportation in food production is wrong?
key ideas and deTails
How does McWilliams use the same source as Peirce to assert an opposing claim? Why are Pirog’s statements in the two articles not contradictory?
key ideas and deTails
In paragraph 4, what concession does McWilliams make to the reasoning behind the locavore movement? What reason does he add to argue against their logic?
From
“On My Mind: The Locavore Myth”
by James E. McWilliams
1 Buy local, shrink the distance food travels, save the planet. The locavore movement has captured a lot of fans. To their credit, they are highlighting the problems with industrialized food. But a lot of them are making a big mistake. By focusing on transportation, they overlook other energy-hogging factors in food production.
2 Take lamb. A 2006 academic study (funded by the New Zealand government) discovered that it made more environmental sense for a Londoner to buy lamb shipped from New Zealand than to buy lamb raised in the U.K. This finding is counterintuitive–if you’re only counting food miles. But New Zealand lamb is raised on pastures with a small carbon footprint, whereas most English lamb is produced under intensive factory- like conditions with a big carbon footprint. This disparity overwhelms domestic lamb’s advantage in transportation energy.
3 New Zealand lamb is not exceptional. Take a close look at water usage, fertilizer types, processing methods and packaging techniques and you discover that factors other than shipping far outweigh the energy it takes to transport food. One analysis, by Rich Pirog of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, showed that transportation accounts for only 11% of food’s carbon footprint. A fourth of the energy required to produce food is expended in the consumer’s kitchen. Still more energy is consumed per meal in a restaurant, since restaurants throw away most of their leftovers.
4 Locavores argue that buying local food supports an area’s farmers and, in turn, strengthens the community. Fair enough. Left unacknowledged, however, is the fact that it also hurts farmers in other parts of the world. The U.K. buys most of its green beans from Kenya. While it’s true that the beans almost always arrive in airplanes–the form of transportation that consumes the most energy–it’s also true that a campaign to shame English consumers with small airplane stickers affixed to flown-in produce threatens the livelihood of 1.5 million sub-Saharan farmers.
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SpringBoard® English Language Arts Grade 6
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