Tip of the Week

Think globally, shop locally

Robert Reich's hit the mark when he said "today's economy offers us a Faustian bargain: it can give consumers deals largely because it hammers workers and communities" (New York Times, February 28, 2005). We may blame big corporations such as Wal-Mart for luring customers with lower prices, but Reich argues, "we're mostly making this bargain with ourselves." We're all deal hunters, bargain shoppers, proudest when we've brought on sale. Even the conscious consumers among us, who know the prices on sales tags don't reflect the full cost of a product to workers, communities, health and the environment, like to stretch the dollar when we can.

So if it's fundamentally true that for consumers to win, workers and citizens must lose, what can we do? As Reich suggests, we can support laws and regulations - such as fair labor and trade standards, minimum wage, health insurance requirements for companies - that make our purchases a social choice as well as a personal one. In addition, we can stop to consider the true cost of a product - say a book or an apple - before we go shopping. If the option to buy from a local book store exists where you live, ask there for the book you want before heading to Amazon.com. The local store is sure to have it or can easily get it for you, and what you get in addition is that human contact with someone who actually knows a thing or two about books. That, as they say on TV, is "priceless."

Apples of course are a pet issue of mine, since some of the best are grown right here in the Northeast where I live but can be the hardest to find when shopping in the supermarket. I don't have a farmers' market near me but I do make a point of going to the one specialty market near me that regularly carries local produce. Curiously, the produce that has traveled thousands of miles and been sprayed with expensive chemicals to make the trip can be cheaper than the produce grown a few hundred miles away. But when I buy local, I get not only a sense of where the apples are from but who grew them and that again is "priceless."

I guess I'm lucky though. I live in a city where small neighborhood stores where you know the owner are abundant and the most essential among them - the hardware store, the book store, the pharmacy, grocery and office supply store - appear to be thriving. I like the human scale of these stores. I like that the storekeepers know me and my kids. I like that they are down the street and I don't have to get in my car to get to them. But I worry about the pressures they face, that the large chains where the prices are lower and the selection may be greater are drawing away their customers. I worry whether they'll be here next year. I hope so since they make my neighborhood a great place to live.

I confess, I don't only buy local. I buy my paper by the ream through Staples.com, though that's because I can get the recycled kind I want. And to save money, I bulk order certain household products from web sites. Again, I get the eco-friendly kind which my local store doesn't carry. If it did, I'd buy it locally, even if it cost more.

There is indeed a tug of war going on, as Reich suggests, between the consumer and the citizen in me, and probably in all of us. I wonder how one strikes that balance? How much do you consciously try to shop locally or buy from socially responsible companies? We at The Green Guide are curious. How do you decide where to shop and what to buy? We're interested to learn if there are local small businesses that are special to you and your communities - markets, restaurants, mom and pop shops and others. Tell us about them, if you would. You can use the Local Small Businesses Message Board to let us know about those in your town and what keeps drawing you back to them. Thanks.

© The Green Guide, 2008

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