Superfreakonomics is blowing my mind

Superfreakonomics is the sequel to the incredible book Freakonomics (by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner).

Chapter 5, titled What do Al Gore and Mount Pinatubo have in Common?, has blown most of what I thought I knew about global warming and saving the environment right out of the water. For example: when I first read about being a ''locavore''(a person who eats only locally grown food), I thought it was a great idea. But - being a locavore can be worse for the environment than eating imported food. According to a recent study by Christopher Weber and H. Scott Matthews, buying food grown close by ''increases greenhouse gas emissions.'' The reason? Almost all the greenhouse gas emissions that come from producing food come about during production. Smaller farms are less efficient than bigger farms, and ''transportation represents only 11 percent of food emissions''.

I don't believe that I should stop eating locally grown food - instead, I think that I should try to find out how the food is produced (I know this might be difficult to find out), and how the production process affects the environment.