In this recent Wall Street Journal piece, UNC professor Peter Coclanis discusses the loco locavore climate around Chapel Hill. Big agra, as he terms it, has made food much less costly, yet Luddite activists are on a mission to get everyone to buy local.

Of course, this mania can be found all over the U.S. — wherever you have lots of wealthy leftists who need to feel that they’re doing something to save the planet. Shipping food (and other goods) does not, however, threaten the planet. This is yet another of Mencken’s hobgoblins.