MOLI VIEW™

When the presidential hopefuls hunker down for their final meals before the Iowa caucuses on January 3, let's hope they'll be eating spinach. That's not just to keep them strong through the grueling primary season; spinach is one food item the candidates can get fresh and grown locally right there in Iowa. And, as a new analysis from the National Resources Defense Council confirms, eating locally grown food cuts down on the pollution and global warming caused by flying or trucking produce long distances.

According to NRDC's analysis, the average carrot, green bean, pineapple, or grapefruit travels 1,500 miles before arriving at your table. "The typical American meal contains ingredients from at least five countries outside the United States," says Dr. Gina Solomon, a physician and senior scientist at NRDC, in a recent press release. "Those food miles all add up, and the result is more pollution, threatening the air we breathe and our planet's climate."

Unfortunately there will be no fresh, local produce available in time for the January 19 primary in Nevada or the January 22 primary in New Hampshire, but there will be plenty of artichokes, Asian pears, asparagus, and avocados available from Nevada's neighbor California, and pumpkins, winter squash, potatoes, and beans from New Hampshire's neighbor Maine. The shorter the distance the produce has to travel, the better.

How can the candidates and their aides keep track of what's fresh at every campaign stop? The same way you can: Just go to the NRDC's Food Miles site. Select a state and time of year and — poof! — up pops a list of locally grown produce as well as items available from nearby states. May the freshest produce win! (You can find a primary calendar here.)

Celeste Fraser Delgado is the MOLI View's contributing editor for Worthy Causes.

» Read Celeste's blog