"Local" is not just an eco-food brand
The more the food movement goes mainstream, the more you hear casual descriptors like "local or organic or eco-friendly." Local becomes one of several labels that can stand in for eco-ethical food generally.
But local was never primarily about the environment, and it isn't just about food. It's about small-scale economies rooted in the particularity of place. And not just as a romantic ideal, though I'm as much of a sucker for a Wendell Berry poem as the next person. There's actual data about how much of a difference it makes to a community when people spend their money locally.
This is an old article, but someone linked to it the other day and I appreciated its quick take on the subject. One element I hadn't really thought about:
