Eat Canadian, eh! - an essay in media literacy

This engaging video for multinational Hellman-Unilever's Eat Real campaign urges us to eat local. Average distance travelled by fruit on our market shelves: 4500 km, adding to our already heavy carbon footprint. But in a strategy survey for the video, 86% of Canadians said they would rather be locavores.

Here is the videomakers' story of the production; a critique of the strategy by Vancouver's City Food magazine; and of Unilever's international marketing campaign by Corpobligation. Is it greenwash? Make up your own mind.

See also Wikipedia on local food, food security, permaculture, poverty and fair trade, and the Toronto Food Policy Council (TFPC). You will find in-depth analysis of urban gardening, CSA, Canadian food security, and international implications, in the TFPC's Foodforethought.net by activists Wayne Roberts and Amber McNair, James Kuhns of the American Community Gardening Association and others. And in Roberts' personal blog.