thought question... shop local?
Shop Local? It sounds good to me, but, wait?
I live in a community where there is nearly universal access to health care, schools, clean water (though many of my neighbors choose to spurn it for bottled water anyway), and numerous public assistance programs. Though clearly there are still those in dire need in my community, I still find myself wondering: if I focus my dollars primarily on my local economy, am I turning my back on the global community? Am I playing in to nationalistic, provincial biases of caring for "us" and ignoring "them," when "they," the workers in developing nations, rely on exports to wealthier countries for their very survival? Do I perpetuate a system of global economic injustice by ignoring those whom we exploit for our raw materials for our "local" economy? Is my local community any more deserving than the global community? Are we the ones in most need?
I'm feeling a little queasy about the current fervor for plaid-washing that keeps my first-world prosperity close at hand, keeps me focused on the difficulties of my local economic conditions and hides from me the bigger picture. What about supporting and developing the markets and distribution conduits for independent artists and craftspeople from Haiti, Guatemala, Zimbabwe and around the world whom I can't see?
Discuss?
(Contradictory opinions and ideas welcome! Just keep it civil, please; trolls and flames deleted and banned)
I live in a community where there is nearly universal access to health care, schools, clean water (though many of my neighbors choose to spurn it for bottled water anyway), and numerous public assistance programs. Though clearly there are still those in dire need in my community, I still find myself wondering: if I focus my dollars primarily on my local economy, am I turning my back on the global community? Am I playing in to nationalistic, provincial biases of caring for "us" and ignoring "them," when "they," the workers in developing nations, rely on exports to wealthier countries for their very survival? Do I perpetuate a system of global economic injustice by ignoring those whom we exploit for our raw materials for our "local" economy? Is my local community any more deserving than the global community? Are we the ones in most need?
I'm feeling a little queasy about the current fervor for plaid-washing that keeps my first-world prosperity close at hand, keeps me focused on the difficulties of my local economic conditions and hides from me the bigger picture. What about supporting and developing the markets and distribution conduits for independent artists and craftspeople from Haiti, Guatemala, Zimbabwe and around the world whom I can't see?
Discuss?
(Contradictory opinions and ideas welcome! Just keep it civil, please; trolls and flames deleted and banned)