My project took a meandering "root", as I encountered some obstacles that reshaped my thinking that convinced me to commit to a greater personal challenge. The original idea I had was to contact my local grocery store (a subsidiary of Loblaws), ask for information about where a variety of products come from and, based on purchases I made, then calculate the carbon footprint for the transportation.

 

The Inquiry Component

 

I initially asked to speak to a manager and told her my idea. She said she’d pass my name on to the owner. After not hearing anything for two days, I revisited the store, as calling it directly is not possible. All calls go to a call centre. My second visit was more productive, as I was told to reach out to the owner through Facebook. He responded within the hour, but told me he didn’t have any information as to where the food in his store originates. This was very concerning. He then told me to call the Loblaws public relations department, which was my next step. I called, not knowing what to expect, but was told they were capable of telling me the origin of a maximum of 3 products and they had to be Loblaws brand. Unfortunately, I had limited Loblaws products on hand, but was able to provide the UPC code of canned corn, canned spinach, and canned tomatoes. After a 29 minute and 36 second phone call, I was told that the corn and tomatoes were manufactured and shipped from Canada, whereas the spinach was shipped from the United States. I was dismayed by the lack of specificity and asked for more information, but the representative was unable to tell me anything more. I was also told that if I wanted information for another product, like Beatrice milk for instance, I would have to call that company.

 

Needless to say, I was quite dismayed with the start of the project. However, I did more research and found that the tomatoes are likely grown in greenhouses in Leamington, Ontario (Kuitenbrouwer, 2017). However, knowing that corn grows in every province, I had no idea where it may have originated, but then I discovered in a government of Canada document that  states that “approximately 96% of the crop is grown in Eastern Canada in the provinces of Ontario (63% or 630,000 hectares) and Quebec (33% or 330,000 hectares)” (Crop Profile for Field Corn in Canada, 2006).  Lastly, the largest producer of spinach in the U.S. is California; however, other producers include Texas, Arizona, and New Jersey (Spinach, 2018).

 

Another source that I found indicated that unleaded gasoline emits 8.66 kg of CO2 per gallon or 2.29 kg/l, but diesel is slightly higher at 10.06 kg of CO2 per gallon or 2.66 kg/l (Autosmart, 2014). Also, with my past experience making long-haul deliveries and consulting the manager of a trucking fleet, I was able to determine that a tractor trailer with a full load gets 8-10 miles/gallon. I used 9 miles/gallon as the mean.

 

That being said, if the three products in my pantry came from Leamington, Ontario (1896 km or 1178 miles away), San Joaquin Valley, California (3008 km or 1869 miles away) and Barrie, Ontario (1888 km or 1173 miles away), their shipments utilized 468.88 gallons or 1,774.72 liters of diesel fuel. Their shipments, if they were shipped from farm to table, would have produced 4,716.93 kg of CO2. However, this calculation is much higher in reality, as I’m not factoring in the fuel used in the production of the crops, the shipment from farm to manufacturing facility, etc.

 

Additionally, as a result of Catherine O’Brien’s suggestion, I consulted www.waterfootprint.org and was able to determine the water footprint of corn, tomatoes, and spinach, which are 1222 l/kg, 214 l/kg, and 467 l/kg respectively (Hoekstra, 2017).  The website is very interesting, particularly the product gallery, which provides information on a variety of products. To check it out, click on the image on the right.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Take Action Component

 

As a result of the inquiry, I contemplated many directions that this may take me, including producing a meal with locally sourced ingredients. However, I felt that this would not be sustainable as a common practice due to Manitoba’s short growing season. Additionally, I considered other factors, like the packaging involved. Therefore, I decided to venture into an area that my wife and I have failed at miserably in the past: horticulture.

 

We have murdered many innocent plants in a number of negligent and horrific ways in the past, including freezing the roots of a fairly resilient ficus. However, the purpose of this is to challenge oneself, so perhaps we’ll turn over a new leaf (insert groans). Therefore, I decided to try and grow some of the ingredients that we frequently use in our salads, namely peppers, cucumbers and cherry tomatoes.