The document discusses the benefits of eating locally sourced food over food that is shipped long distances. It notes that eating locally can save energy since less fuel is used to transport the food. It then presents a case study comparing the energy used to harvest beef versus hunting Dall sheep in Alaska. Calculations show that substituting 50 pounds of locally harvested sheep meat for beef could save around 0.118 gallons of gas per pound of meat.

2. Everyone tells me to “eat locally.” Why? Help your local economy Local means fresher Know what you are eating: Pesticides? Genetically modified? Free range? Save energy resources! “ A study in Iowa found that a regional diet consumed 17 times less oil and gas than a typical diet based on food shipped across the country.” ( http://100milediet.org/why-eat-local/ ) “ Estimates on how long the average food travels from pasture to plate range from 1200 to 2500 miles. A lot of energy is expended freezing, refrigerating, and trucking that food around. Eating locally grown food means less fossil fuel burned in preparation and transport.” ( http:// www.newdream.org/consumer/farmersmarkets.php )

3. How much energy can I save by eating “locally”? Sheep tag (ewe) for October 2007 What if I substituted my beef consumption with a locally harvested Dall sheep? Would this use less energy? How do I compare energy consumption to harvest beef versus wild sheep?

4. Methodology Need to find amount of energy consumed pound of meat harvested = gallons of gas lb of edible meat Which numbers will be the most comparable for sheep versus beef?

5. What’s the BEEF? Beef: Internet figures vary. Some include energy consumption figures for food, slaughter, processing, and packaging. Sheep: No good way to calculate energy figures for processing and packaging a sheep, so…

6. The best figures for comparison will be those that calculate energy consumption in terms of “food consumed” and “slaughtering” only. For a cow , we will ignore numbers that involve processing, shipping, etc. For a sheep , this means I will calculate the gallons of gas needed to harvest the meat. In other words:

7. Need to Find How much gasoline is used to procure bullets, game bags, etc? How much gasoline is used driving back and forth to the hunt(s)? How many pounds of edible meat did we salvage? (Weighed after carving) gallons of gas lb of meat

8. The Hunt

10. Where Have All the Sheep Gone?

11. Data Collection – Sheep Miles Miles/Gallon = Miles x Gallon Miles = Gallons Used

12. Data Collection - Beef How much energy goes into raising a pound of beef? Remember: use numbers that compare Sources say… Unclear if all of these are carcass weight or edible meat

13. gallons of gas lb of meat Beef? CHECK! Sheep? Gallons of Gas But no meat!

14. No sheep! Now what? Call it quits?? Boo. Not after all this work. Find numbers to substitute?? Yay!! Check the internet for average carcass weight of a Dall sheep Use this number to calculate what our energy consumption per pound would have been , use to compare with beef statistics

15. The Alaska Fish and Game says… The average “boned-out carcass weight” (all bones except ribs removed) of a Dall Sheep is between 40 and 80 pounds (http://wildlife.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=hunting.planning#during) This number is an average for both sexes. Our tag was for a female, so I will use numbers on the smaller side .

16. = Gallons Gas Pound of Meat

17. What if? 30 pounds of sheep meat? Energy savings: 0.339 – 0.368 = -0.029 g/lb OOPS! 40 pounds of sheep meat? Energy savings: 0.339 – 0.276 = 0.063 g/lb Or the same energy you would consume watching 20 hours of TV (http://www.dalefield.com/slspartners/hydrogen_stdu2.html) 50 pounds of sheep meat? Energy savings: 0.339 – 0.221 = 0.118 g/lb

18. So? That doesn’t sound like very much energy saved, Ms. G. If the average American eats 30 pounds of hamburger/year, this could mean gasoline savings between 1.89 and 3.54 gallons per person ( http://www.mcspotlight.org/media/press/restaurant_news.html ) If 50 people did it? Savings of 94.5 – 177 gallons 100? 189 – 354 gallons of gasoline saved!

19. So? That doesn’t sound like very much energy saved, Ms. G. If the average American eats 69.5 pounds of hamburger/year, this could mean gasoline savings between 4.38 and 8.20 gallons per person ( http://www.newschannel8.com/Global/story.asp?S=863620&nav=menu29_2_3_3 ) If 50 people did it? Savings of 219 – 410 gallons 100? 438 – 820 gallons of gasoline saved! Provided, of course, you get at least 40 pounds of meat!

20. The Verdict Is… Yes, you can help the environment by eating locally Bigger is better! Economies of scale Other Considerations: Fun being outdoors, the “sport”, great exercise Beef statistics inexact – another way to find info? Could have consolidated trips to use less gasoline (ie, only one trip to the store instead of two) Store trips used to purchase other goods, not just hunting supplies Next time: What if you went moose hunting? Numbers that include transportation – big savings for Alaskans! Price Factor??

21. Beef Energy Figures from: http://www.beeffrompasturetoplate.org/mythmeatproductioniswasteful.aspx#Sixteen%20pounds%20of%20grain http://www.ncga.com/research/pdfs/Energy_and_Oil_Consumption_in_Beef_Production.pdf http://earthsave.org/environment/foodchoices.htm http://bicycleuniverse.info/transpo/beef.html http://sierraclub.org/sustainable_consumption/toolkit/choosing.pdf http://www.vegansworldnetwork.org/topic_environment_meat_eating.php

22. Image Sources http://www.culiblog.org/archives/DSC03630-HatCotWbanquet-'tGroeneSpoorTL-culiblog-thumb.jpg http://www.greenlivingonline.com/HealthNutrition/eat-locally-act-globally/ http://www.farmettereport.com/blog/2005/08/august_challeng.html http://www.wilson.edu/wilson/uploadedimages/offices/academic_affairs/fulton_ctr/greenhouse%20inside2.jpg http://www.naturalcollection.com/organic/greener-living-starts-here.aspx http://livingindryden.org/images/home/eatLocal08052007B.jpg http://www.pittsburghpostgazette.com/images4/465eatlocal.gif http:// digitalretrograde.com/Photos/cow.png http://www.pbase.com/tull777/image/84777374

23. Data Collection Sources http://www.foodgoods.com/images/eat_local_.jpg http://blogsofbainbridge.typepad.com/ecotalkblog/images/eatlocallogo.jpg http://www.riverwood.cc/stir/pics/eatlocal.jpg http://www.missmalaprop.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/09/eatlocal.jpg http://gridskipper.com/assets/resources/2007/10/los-angeles-eat-local-main.jpg http://cioppino.blogs.com/hungrig_in_san_francisco/images/eat_local_2.gif http:// www.foodshed.wisefoodways.com/img/eat_local.jpg http://fogcity.blogs.com/jen/2005/08/10_reasons_to_e.html

24. Eat Locally, Think Globally It’s dinnertime. Do you know where your food is...from? Eat responsibly. Eat sustainably.