Are you a carbon criminal

 
Supermarkets are scrambling to capture the millions of "green" pounds spent by increasingly environmentally aware shopers. Farmer's markets across the country are buzzing with conscientious customers buying locally grown knobbly carrots and leeks pulled straight from the soil.

With the threat of climate change racing up the global political agenda Britons are going green when they shop. And their sights are set on food miles.

" The concept of food miles has absolutely rightly entered into people's consciousness in Britain", says Bill Vortey, Head of the Sustainable markets group at Britain  International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) think Tank.

The idea of reducing food miles seems straight forward simply by produce, which has travelled the shortest possible distance from farm to plate.

However, just as British consumer's enthusiasm to cut food miles is growing, some experts are warning that an over simplistic view of the issue risks doing more harm than good.

They are urging policy makers not to rush blindly into formulatring "buy-local-only" campaigns for consumers, which could prove disastrous for many poor African food producers.

According to Britain's National consumer      Council (NCC) about 10 percent of the carbon dioxide emissions associated with British food transport come from air-freighted goods.

(The Business Line 8th February 2007)