One thing she really does have a choice about is the "SUV" part. Why not a far less fuel consumptive car, such as a wagon?

Seeing as she has to sell about 100 loaves just to pay for fuel, not only is Tara not acting sustainably but she isn't a wise business person.

There sure does have to be a better way, but let's not throw the sustainability baby out with the carbon-footprint bathwater. Carbon footprint is just one part of sustainability. It is critical, but so are a bunch of other factors, like biodiversity.

So while driving an SUV full of bread baked from home-grown wheat to the market is not sustainable, is it closer to sustainable than factory farmed monocultures, pumped out of the ground with fossil fuels, chemical fertilizers and depleting water supplies, which are then baked and trucked a thousand miles? I think it is.

Well, let's look at a few of the options.

She could grow her grain right by the city, and pay so much for land no one would buy the bread.

She could ship the grain by rail if there are trains nearby farm. This would require that she ship enough stock that it would be worthwhile to have a train stop near her, and that would probably mean large, centralized farms with a high output, or at the very least, a large number of individually small farms.

Maybe if several sellers at the farmers market were coming from the same area they could chip in for a big diesel (or maybe biodiesel or CNG) trick, and ride to the farmer's market together. Two could ride in the truck's cab, and the rest could carpool in some very efficient cars.

The options I can think of all involve either higher prices or a higher volume of goods.

umm..

that's a mini van in the picture.. not an suv.

captains chairs up front, sliding door on drivers side, rear hatch..

So.. without any work I've already reduced her carbon footprint..

Ruben already said it. I tend to fall into this trap of how green things could be greener too. While we beat up our own there is a larger world shipping produce from italy to china for processing then back to europe for sale. Lets get the low hanging fruit then worry about a baker driving her SUV 115 miles to market. I'm not a believer in electric cars but they still are probably a better step forward than low efficiency internal combustion. Like Ruben said...

She also bought those baskets at Walmart. :) I know because I have several of them for toys.

My hat is off to her. She is living a lifesyle she likes and is doing what she believes in. She is growing and producing good food for people to eat.

Looks like a Minivan to me....they get decent mileage for the size of the vehicle. Even in a Prius, with all hwy travel, the savings are pretty small. Plus, at probably 5-6 bucks a loaf, she is paying for the gas quite quickly I would imagine.

I had an engineering professor who always liked to remind me "Better is the enemy of good".

This is good, don't destroy it because it could be better.

Amen, Jeremiah...

Some people will seek out the negative in everything.

Yeah, a station-wagon would indubitably get better fuel economy. Volkswagon Jetta TDI hatchbacks are quite nice for that. Hard to tell how much volume she uses of that van, but with stackable, reusable crates you could fit quite a few into a 40+ mpg Jetta. What's that, half the carbon right there? Ecodrive and you could get it even lower. ;)

russ and Lary are correct...

... IT IS NOT AN SUV. Its a Chevy Uplander (newer version of the Chevy Venture).

Also, she is transporting high-volume cargo. Bread is light, but it is FULL OF AIR. It takes a large vehicle to transport enough bread to make it worth the drive to the market. Ever notice that Frito-Lay has oversize 18 wheeler trailers to deliver their potato chips? Those bags of chips have lots of air in them.

I own a Prius, and a Sienna minivan. I could transport 3 times as much bread in my Sienna as I could in my Prius. I get 48 mpg in my Prius, and 20 mpg in my Sienna (the Uplander gets similar mileage). Let's say I can load 50 loaves in my Prius and 150 in my Sienna, and I drive that 230 miles round trip, that's...

... 0.096 gallons per loaf in the Prius
... 0.077 gallons per loaf in the Sienna

And at $5 per loaf, I gross...

... $250 in the Prius
... $750 in the Sienna

Gee, which is the smarter vehicle to drive? I'll use LESS GAS and make MORE money with the minivan. Duh.

Well, let's look at the alternative:

If I went to the store (used gas in my wagon) and bought a regular mass-manufactured loaf of bread, it would probably have 8x the carbon foot print because it was hauled in 400 miles from a bakery via a semi-truck. The grain from the store bought bread probably came 1500 miles away via a semi-truck as well not to mention the other ingredients (high fructose corn syrup!). And how much energy was put into growing the ingredients for the store bought bread?

Plus the store bought bread is probably less tasty and much less healthy.

I'll take her mini-van bread any day over the store bought.

Well, let's look at the alternative:

If I went to the store (used gas in my wagon) and bought a regular mass-manufactured loaf of bread, it would probably have 8x the carbon foot print because it was hauled in 400 miles from a bakery via a semi-truck. The grain from the store bought bread probably came 1500 miles away via a semi-truck as well not to mention the other ingredients (high fructose corn syrup!). And how much energy was put into growing the ingredients for the store bought bread?

Plus the store bought bread is probably less tasty and much less healthy.

I'll take her mini-van bread any day over the store bought.