Is Seasonal Households’ Consumption Good for the Nexus Carbon/Water Footprint? The Spanish Fruits and Vegetables Case

Gómez, María Ángeles Tobarra; Santiago, Luis Antonio López; Cadarso, María‐Ángeles; Gómez, Nuria; Cazcarro, Ignacio

doi:10.1021/acs.est.8b00221

Cited by 25 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 69 publications

(106 reference statements)

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“…While consumption of regional and seasonal food can save transport emissions, embodied emissions of nonseasonal regional food can be larger than the same food imported from some regions. These higher emissions can be due to, for example, from additional energy requirement for preserving or growing nonseasonal food . Therefore, we emphasize that the reduction of transport emissions from local and regional food is mainly beneficial when consumption patterns are also changed in favor of seasonal food.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Urban Food Systems: How Regionalization Can Contribute to Climate Change Mitigation

Pradhan

Kriewald

Costa

et al. 2020

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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Cities will play a key role in the grand challenge of nourishing a growing global population, because, due to their population density, they set the demand. To ensure that food systems are sustainable, as well as nourishing, one solution often suggested is to shorten their supply chains toward a regional rather than a global basis. While such regional systems may have a range of costs and benefits, we investigate the mitigation potential of regionalized urban food systems by examining the greenhouse gas emissions associated with food transport. Using data on food consumption for 7108 urban administrative units (UAUs), we simulate total transport emissions for both regionalized and globalized supply chains. In regionalized systems, the UAUs' demands are fulfilled by peripheral food production, whereas to simulate global supply chains, food demand is met from an international pool (where the origin can be any location globally). We estimate that regionalized systems could reduce current emissions from food transport. However, because longer supply chains benefit from maximizing comparative advantage, this emission reduction would require closing yield gaps, reducing food waste, shifting toward diversified farming, and consuming seasonal produce. Regionalization of food systems will be an essential component to limit global warming to well below 2 °C in the future.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Urban Food Systems: How Regionalization Can Contribute to Climate Change Mitigation

Pradhan

Kriewald

Costa

et al. 2020

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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“…With three weekly delivery routes, one local, one to Ronda and one to Malaga, for groups of consumers and shops, rural-urban alliances are essential to sustain an agro-ecosystem that is consistent with its philosophy and healthy, conscious and responsible food. In this sense, several studies have demonstrated the environmental and climatic benefits of diversified farming, as well as seasonally and proximally produced food products [65][66][67].…”

Section: Phase Iii: Production and Comercializatoinmentioning

confidence: 99%

Building an Agroecological Process towards Agricultural Sustainability: A Case Study from Southern Spain

et al. 2021

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The urgent need to implement agricultural systems that provide greater sustainability and resilience to the challenges of the climate change process has meant that alternative paradigms for agri-food systems and agriculture have become more relevant in recent times. In this study, we present the building process and consolidation of an agro-ecological project (Extiercol) in a rural area of southern Spain, with a prolonged depopulation process and close connections to nearby urban areas. Through participatory action research, the specific objectives of this study are (1) to describe the agroecological collective process from its creation by a youth association to its establishment as a viable agricultural project; (2) to identify the drivers for the development of this type of transition process towards agricultural sustainability and (3) to analyse urban-rural alliances in the establishment of agroecological projects. Finally, the replicability of this project was assessed, with a special focus on the main barriers to be addressed in order to implement this agricultural system such as difficult to land access or a negative perception of sustainable management by farmers. Through this study we have shown how the connection between the food production area and nearby urban areas can be achieved through an agroecological project.

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“…Urban vegetables garden is one of major form of urban agriculture in the world as well as China that act as an important feature of urban food security and sustainable urban food systems 14 , 15 . Urban gardens are characterized by a wide range of agricultural and industrial activities and are found in the urban areas 16 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of the pollution levels of potential toxic elements in urban vegetable gardens in southwest China

Gao

Zhang

Proshad

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

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Vegetable gardens are increasingly common in urban areas and can provide numerous societal benefits; however, contamination with potential toxic elements (PTEs) due to urbanization and industrialization is cause for concern. The present study aimed to assess the source of contamination and pollution levels in urban garden soils, as well as the health risks for adults and children consuming vegetables grown in such environments. Various types of vegetable samples and their corresponding soils from 26 community gardens were collected throughout Chengdu City in southwestern China. The results showed that leafy vegetables, particularly lettuce leaves and Chinese cabbage, had relatively higher levels of Cd (0.04 mg/kg FW) and Pb (0.05 mg/kg FW), while higher levels of As (0.07 mg/kg FW), Cr (0.07 mg/kg FW), and Hg (0.003 mg/kg FW) were found in amaranths, tomatoes, and Houttuynia cordatas, respectively. The pollution indices revealed that the vegetable purplish soils were relatively more polluted by Cd and As, and the concentrations of these metals in vegetables were correlated with their concentrations in the soils. Principal component analysis grouped the PTEs in two dimensions that cumulatively explained 62.3% of their variation, and hierarchical clustering identified two distinct clusters indicating that Cr originated from a unique source. The health risk assessment revealed that exposure to As and Cd induced the greatest non-carcinogenic risk, whereas Cr was most likely to cause cancer risks. Furthermore, contaminated vegetable consumption was riskier for children than adults. The critical factors contributing to PTE contamination in vegetable gardens were determined to be vegetable species, total soil element content, soil pH, and soil organic matter content. Overall, Cr and As pollution present the greatest concern, and community health care services must enact more effective regulatory and preventative measures for urban gardens in terms of PTEs.

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Is Seasonal Households’ Consumption Good for the Nexus Carbon/Water Footprint? The Spanish Fruits and Vegetables Case

Cited by 25 publications

References 69 publications

Urban Food Systems: How Regionalization Can Contribute to Climate Change Mitigation

Urban Food Systems: How Regionalization Can Contribute to Climate Change Mitigation

Building an Agroecological Process towards Agricultural Sustainability: A Case Study from Southern Spain

Assessment of the pollution levels of potential toxic elements in urban vegetable gardens in southwest China

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