Brief by Allen Best
Food – December 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine
While there is a great deal of talk in mountain resorts about “sustainability,” virtually none of them are remotely sustainable. From the tourists who arrive by jet planes to the big logs hauled hundreds of miles to create the “natural” look in homes, life depends on using vast amounts of fossil fuels.
Somewhat overlooked in this energy equation is the amount of fossil fuels used to deliver food, something noted by the Telluride Ecology Commission. The blame cannot be simply assigned to coal-fired power plants or gas-guzzling vehicles, points out Colin Hubbard, who sits on the Ecology Commission.
“We’re a really long way from our food,” said Kris Holstrom, a local organic grower, who noted that the average meal travels more than 1,500 miles.
Agribusiness consumes 10 calories of fossil fuels to create one calorie of food energy, Holstrom said. Industrially manufactured meat, which depends upon growing corn and other grains to feed cattle, has a ratio of 16 to 1.