by Pablo Päster under AskPablo of TreeHugger on Thu 23 Jun 2011
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Image credit: Pablo Päster
Dear Pablo: What is the environmental impact of importing tropical fruit? Should I eat only what is grown in the US?
In our globalized world, products travel halfway around the world all the time. Water is shipped from Fiji and Italy, wine comes from Australia and Chile, shoes and electronics come from China, and beer is imported from just about anywhere that produces it. Unless we take the extreme stance that nothing should be transported (in which case we can go back to subsistence farming, making our own clothes, and walking everywhere), we should instead focus on minimizing the negative impacts of our contribution to the global economy.
Global trade is also filled with interesting paradoxes that are worth examining. Here we take a closer look at a commodity shipped all over the globe — tropical fruits. … Read the full story on TreeHugger