Eco-Photo

It really doesn’t make any kind of ecological or economical sense to import food or goods that can be created locally, yet that is exactly what we’ve been doing for over 40 years. Many of our craft skills have been scaled up into large factories and then we’ve seen those large factories moved over seas.  Now we find ourselves importing goods that were once made down the road, which is wasting a lot of time and resources in the process.  This globalization has helped to make the world “wealthier” and the people of countries like China and India have certainly improved their living standards.

Because of this new distribution of wealth, populations are growing and, unfortunately, resources are dwindling. We are finding ourselves faced with the challenge of using our resources more wisely. One way to accomplish that is to start producing and selling more goods locally.  Producing our own food and products locally will help us to become more self sufficient, and therefore more in control of our lives. I’m not suggesting we never buy imported goods, but that we begin buying a good percentage of our consumables locally and import the rest.

This is where local economies come in. Local currencies are monies that can only be spent within the community. They are backed by the trust of the people using them - trust that the community can provide goods and services that are needed. Local currencies are a tangible agreement with your community that you will spend your money with the people who surround you. That local exchange of money supports local jobs and helps to provide livable wages to the people living in your community.  And if you spend your money with your neighbors, you’ll get to know to know them and like them, and next thing you know, you are supporting each other in your businesses and your personal lives. This is what I call an enriched and vibrant life.

Local currencies allow transparency throughout the life cycle of a product or food. When I go to the farmers’ market, I’m paying for a farmer to continue farming and lead a good life.  I directly benefit from giving that farmer a good life because he in turns feels obligated to continue to give me healthy, tasty food. When I spend globally, I’m not sure who’s bank account or what agenda I’m supporting.  How do I know that the textile mills in China have good labor laws? Or whether or not the peanuts grown in Texas are sprayed with pesticides? Buying locally increases my power to support others who share my beliefs on how the earth, humans and animals are respected.

Watching the advertising trends of the past years has proven to me that we vote with our dollars. First I noticed that the fast food chains began offering options for the Atkins Diet. Now I’m seeing an incredible amount of “green” products on the market.  These new products were created to satisfy the public’s demand. If enough of us vote wisely with how we spend our dollars, be it local or federal, we are sure to create a more sustainable and humane civilization.

P.S. In doing research on local currencies, I came across a series of interviews with financial experts conducted by Bill Moyers, a highly respected PBS journalist. He is earnestly trying to understand the economic crisis and the series provides some good insights. You can watch them here.