Local Footprint (the numbers keep on comin'!)

As part of our project we want to provide an approximate numerical comparison of the respective carbon footprints of eating locally and in Brown Dining Halls.  I am pleased to present the first half of those numbers: the local carbon footprint!

In order to make our calculations, we first tracked the farm source and location of every local ingredient we used.  Then we used this very helpful website (powered by Google and Brighter Planet), which works a little bit like an environmental MapQuest.  For “point A” we plugged in the address of the farm from which a specific local ingredient came, and we used Brown’s mailing address (69 Brown Street, Providence, RI) as the destination.  The website allows you to select a method of transportation (in our case it was “driving”) and then gives the approximate pounds (lbs) of carbon dioxide (CO2) used to transport the ingredient.  What we came up with is this:

Milk: Rhody Fresh milk (this local company uses numerous RI dairy farms for its milk, so we picked one called Emma Acres which is in Exeter, RI), Exeter, RI 24.85 lbs CO2

Feta cheese: Narragansett Creamery, Providence, RI  4.26 lbs CO2

Yogurt: Narragansett Creamery, Providence, RI  4.26 lbs CO2

Onion: Mello Farm, Portsmouth, RI 27.3 lbs CO2

Apples: Hill Orchard, Johnston, RI   12.31 lbs CO2

Tatsoi: Rosasharn, Rehoboth, MA  13.54 lbs CO2

Parsnips: Four Town Farm, Seekonk, MA  6.89 lbs CO2

Carrots: Shartner, Exeter, RI  23.76 lbs CO2 

Bread: Seven Stars Bakery, Providence RI 1.76 lbs CO2 

The flour in the bread is from Montreal, Quebec, Canada  381.91 lbs CO2

Greens: Rosaharn, Rehoboth, MA  13.54 lbs CO2

Garlic: Hopkins Farm, North Scituate, RI 17.06 lbs CO2

Fresh pasta: Nella Pasta, Jamaica Plain, MA  46.22 lbs CO2

Fresh mozzarella: Narragansett Creamery, Providence, RI  4.26 lbs CO2

Tomato sauce: Poblano Farm, South Kingstown, RI 36.58 lbs CO2

Making the total approximate carbon footprint for our day of local foods (drum roll please!): 618.5 lbs CO2

Another way of looking at it is about 44.18 lbs CO2 per item.

At least to me, 618.5 lbs of CO2 seems like A LOT of CO2, so it will be very interesting to see the numbers for our “dining hall day”.  The hootroot.com website makes these calculation super easy, and I would highly suggest it to anyone who is curious about the impact his or her food has on the world around us—it certainly puts every meal in perspective.