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Old 03-16-2009, 09:55 AM   #67 (permalink)
RobertSmalls
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Mandarin oranges are named after a region of China, so no suprise there. And they sure are delicious and priced right. The canned white mushrooms I buy used to be grown in India, but they're imported from China now. My cashews are from Vietnam, my rice is from Thailand. The globalization of food supply allows me to eat a richer, more diverse diet for less money. Since the US is a large net exporter of food, so the protectionist in me isn't too concerned about importing a few foods.

The carbon footprint of a chinese farmer is much smaller than that of an American farmer, due to his poverty and the mechanization of American farming. So Chinese oranges are probably less carbon-intensive than American ones.

The simplest solution is always to throw a tax on whatever offends you, like CO2 or workers being paid less than 1 USD per hour. Then let the market sort out which oranges to buy.
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