An article - 'How the myth of food miles hurts the planet', by Robin McKie - was printed in 'The Observer' on Sunday 23rd March in the Focus section; this was posted online and updated on 24th March.
The article discusses food and our carbon footprint or 'foodprint'.
This is the concluding paragraph:
'... In short, the issue of trying to reduce the emissions produced by food is bedevilled by complexity. Even replacing food miles with a carbon footprint figure will only partly simplify the issues, a point stressed by Tara Garnett of the Food Climate Research Network.
"There is only one way of being sure that you cut down on your carbon emissions when buying food: stop eating meat, milk, butter and cheese," said Garnett. "These come from ruminants - sheep and cattle - that produce a great deal of harmful methane. In other words, it is not the source of the food that matters but the kind of food you eat. Whether people are prepared to cut these from their shopping lists is a different issue, however" ...'
Read the article in full at www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/mar/23/food.ethicalliving