Issues with Cod, Commons, and More.

For the most part Singer and Mason seem to have decided eating locally is a poor idea. They shoot down the ethical arguments for eating locally provided by FoodRoute, with the exception of the part where you'll support endangered family farms. However, even here they seem to offer little backing besides the fact that one will lose some rural values. To counter this though, why not say that through this changing of the way our society is structured we are creating new values. Values come and go, as do the ways in which societies function. It is good not to forget about our roots, but if we want to really address the problems facing us because of big non-family farms we should first devote ourselves to it, so we can then move on from it. Instead of resisting progress and holding onto traditions we should be moving forward. There are obviously costs that come with progress like this, but a way to combat this problem is not to hold onto to outdated forms of farming that if we returned to would only lessen the amount of food in the world (thus heightening the cost from lack of supplies and inefficiency in production relative to a larger farm).

With this in mind they offer no real ethical incentive to support local farming. Another gripe I had with Singer and Mason is there occasionally use of statistics and facts. Though all I do not doubt are true, many times they seem only used to create a sense of urgency or fear in the reader. Other occasions such as the case of the Pollock fisheries ends up having no real weight to their argument. They list huge statistics but fail to actually explain the ill effects on the environment or fish (other than being eaten).

Finally a quick point I want to mention is how willing they adhere to the tragedy of the commons. They let it slide by without much of a defense and leave the reader to assume they must be right and all will starve. This has never really happened though. People are not stupid enough to do so, and on the occasions where it almost happens a person/group takes control through whatever means necessary. With fisheries there has been less of a sense of urgency because of the massive amount of commons. Eventually, people will recognize something must be done, and this will happen before humanity runs out of sea food.