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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Rebuilding Local Economies: A Shift in Priorities
  • Date: Tue, 26 Oct 2010 07:53:25 -0600


excerpts

Rebuilding Local Economies: A Shift in Priorities
http://www.stwr.org/economic-sharing-alternatives/rebuilding-local-economies-a-shift-in-priorities.html

The grassroots movement for economic localisation represents a positive and
practical response to the challenges of food insecurity, climate change, peak
oil and financial instability. Governments should support this alternative
vision for sustainable, human-scale development, writes Anna White.

>From the burgeoning popularity of farmers’ markets and co-operatives to the
>revitalisation of community banking, people are organising to reclaim the
>economy from large profit-driven corporations and ‘too big to fail’
>financial institutions. The small-scale and diversity of these local
>initiatives masks the immense potential they hold for addressing fundamental
>flaws in the current model of economic development. Rather than treat the
>swing towards the local as a fad or misplaced radicalism, the policy
>community should work to support this alternative vision for sustainable,
>human-scale development.

Rebuilding local food economies is an important step towards addressing the
problems of volatility in global markets. Small-scale, diversified food
production for local and regional consumption is essential for creating more
stable livelihood opportunities for the rural poor in developing countries,
and also offers the best hope for ensuring national and regional food
security through increased self-reliance.

In industrialised countries, localising food production and increasing food
self-sufficiency is equally important. The local food movement, most evident
in the growing popularity of initiatives such as community gardens and local
farmers’ markets, seeks to address both sustainability and fairness in the
global food system. Concepts such as ‘food miles’ have made consumers
conscious of the carbon emissions associated with long-distance trade in
agricultural commodities, to the point where supermarket chains now actively
seek to stock shelves with local produce.




  • [Livingontheland] Rebuilding Local Economies: A Shift in Priorities, Tradingpost, 10/26/2010

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