Archive for the ‘Economics’ Category
Giving Time and Space to ‘Buying Local’
September 22, 2009
The USDA wants you to buy local –- a concept that may be more revolutionary than you think. The argument in their recent “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food” campaign seems straightforward: “Reconnecting consumers and institutions with local producers will stimulate rural economies, improve access to healthy, nutritious food and decrease the amount of resources to transport our food,” says Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
What’s less apparent is that this “buy local” approach could be part of a much larger scale shift towards an economy of locality. We mentioned in a previous blog post how the notion of mobility has changed drastically in the last few decades – an erstwhile fascination with the possibilities for individual mobility brought on by the automobile has been overtaken by a desire for more delivery services. While the last decade has been especially defined by a movement towards virtual notions of time and space, due to the around-the-clock access and associated gratification offered by online shopping and downloadable media, the truth is our economy is still very much rooted in physical space. We may not have to move to go shopping, but the goods still have to move across great distances to get to our shops and to us.
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