THINQon : Buying Local

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Hanna Clapson, I am an English major. I write and think. I...

Buying Local

Latest Post: August 17, 2010 at 4:11 PM

22 followers

In Gandhi's philosophy of satyagraha (non-violent mass civil disobedience) he called for his fellow Indians to halt the use of British products. The novel The Home and the World investigates this form of civil disobedience. Two main characters of the novel represent the issues at stake. One of the main characters is the very nationalist voice of the people who hypocritically uses British products while telling the poorer groups not to. His foil and friend is a wealthy landowner who oversees the local market and is against the boycott of British goods. On one hand we want to side with the people and the nationalist movement to get British products out of India, but the wealthy landowner raises a strong argument. He says that the people who occupy his land and his market can't afford such a boycott. Buying only Indian products is more expensive and would drive the already poor to further canyons of poverty. The British products are better crafted and also cheaper. How then could the masses, most of whom are poor, afford to only purchase local?

We learned this in class and I immediately saw the parallels to today. Though I would love to only buy locally grown food and products made right around the corner, I just can't. It's too expensive and inconvenient. For a fraction of the prices of locally manufactured products I can get the same thing. The difference between this and what was the case in India however is that local products tend to be better than the generic. But still, my dilemma is similar. (Not that I exist at all under an imperial hand). How can I do my neighborhood and my neighbors good when I just can't afford their wares? I know in the long run I'm helping the community grow, but in the short term it makes it harder to make the ends meet.

How then can we make the green revolution happen? The whole basis of the movement is localization. Can we nationalize localization? Make it more cost effective and affordable for local producers and at the same time more troublesome for big chains? Would we want to do this? I'm all for painting this world green, but right now we seem to be in the very early stages where we need to work on trial and error. The government needs to somehow make it more worthwhile to go green and local or else no one will and the necessary change we've been hearing about won't happen. It can't just be a local movement or it will never succeed.

Reply to:

Cupcake (alias)

March 16, 2010 at 5:23 AM

1 follower

I've had this same issue, but one consideration is as follows:
When you go to buy something, think "do I really need this?" Why do I want it? Often, you will find you don't really need to buy that product. Buying less and spending more on quality, local items is one way to achieve 'living local.' But I still agree, it is a HUGE challenge. I"m hopefully that as "local" takes hold, it will become cheaper and more available to the masses.... It might take a while, but it is a start.

corrie watt tagged this post as Good one!.

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Claire Stark

August 17, 2010 at 1:07 PM

1 follower

I have lived the "local" life for six years now. The trick is knowing where to buy and how to cook. Yes the food will be more expensive. The average american spends less then 10% on food where in france it is between 30-40%. One thing my family does is buy a side of cow or pig and freeze the rest. The fee is normally butching cost and a set pound weight. See if you can get some friends to buy in with you for a animal A big freezer is a must. Also with the extra space we keep fruits and vegetables we freeze in the summer to eat in the winter. A true locavore eats only what is in season or what has been stored from other season. So unless you live in florida bananas no longer exist in your diet. Joining a buying co-op can also save you ALOT of money. You get a catalog like they do at a store and order stuff at the same price. Its normally much more reasonable prices but again some items have to be bought it balk so expect to get floor by the 25 pound bag. its well worth it though.
The last and EASIEST thing to do is join a CSA or community supported agriculture. THis is where for a set time( normally a growing season) each week you receive a box of food grown on a local farm. The sizes, prices, and time vary but normally its a 3/4 of a bushel. This is enough food to feed a family of four for a week. THe boxes are full of whatever the farm can harvest for the week. This many cause you to have vegetables you never had before (I never had kale before i had a CSA) but its worth it. On the down side you can only get what they grow so if all the field flood out you get nothing (REALLY REALLY RARE!!!!). But if that happens they normally find something else to fill the box with ( one i got honey eggs and some vegatables on a weak week). On the other side you may end up with more food then you know what to do with if the fields are doing great.

Just dont worry about it and take it in small steps. Change small things start with only drinking local milk or fruits and expand. Farmers markets are a great place to meet and buy local produce. Just remenber to do you homework and it gets easier.

Lastly you make it happen. Wishing wont help. If its to "inconvenient" then pick something else to do. If you really want a green revolution get out there make connections with people and make the future a little greener.

some good resources are:
www.eatingwell.com
www.slowfood.com
www.locavore.org

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hardik mehta

August 17, 2010 at 4:11 PM

17 followers

To Hanna, that's really distorted meaning represented as philosophy of satyagraha and attributed to Gandhi. I don't know why..Satyagraha movement were not meant for civil disobedience but to get civil rights for all. Main tenets of these movements were non-violence and truth. Satyagraha movements weren't offensive but were reaction to the policies of the rule at that time. Satyagraha means devotion to complete truth.

The policy of buy local was part of swadeshi movement not Satyagraha. Here is the reference http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swadeshi_movement

The main motive of Satyagraha moment was not to promote buy local and oppose British products but to achieve Independence for the state of India. Gandhi wanted everyone to integrate with India's freedom movement. Women in India weren't considered as a power during those days, Gandhi gave that power to women. During these time only maximum arrests were happened in the history of colonization of the India.

Secondary motive was to prepare for self-reliance. I still need to study about opposition to swadeshi movement by land lords and their hypocrisy. It's highly possible, as at that time few capitalist elite were opposing these movements to be in power by grace of British power.

Coming back to your point, without going in depth about trade imbalance, i would say short-sightedness in good times hitting us hard in bad time. If the local market of any country in the world is loosing its edge to the foreign country, "Buy Local" must be the motto. All the international bodies like WTO,World bank etc.etc. founded by another international body has created highly dysfunctional system which can work only in good times.

i truly remember human(i would say leader) like Norman Borlaug, especially when the world is looking for the solutions for multiple problems.