Idea for Change in America: Support Local Economies
Published December 03, 2008 @ 10:24PM PT
Change.org's Ideas for Change in America has really taken off since it launched and it even got a nod in Newsweek. Goes to show how motivated people are and how we're all determined to see change in the next administration.
Human rights activist and Farmers Market Enthusiast, Meredith Barges, offered a great idea to the Obama Administration. She calls for measures to support and strengthen local economies by encouraging to buy locally grown and produced foods and other goods.
All the money that we spend in big grocery and department stores feeds a vicious cycle of exploitation and inequality, for workers and the environment. By buying our food and other products locally, we create more jobs and nurture a more respectful relationship with the earth.
We need to move beyond “growth” as the paramount economic ideal and pursue prosperity in a more local direction, with regions producing more of their own food, generating more of their own energy, and even creating more of their own culture and entertainment.
As Bill McKibben explains, in Deep Economy, the more we nurture the essential humanity of our economy, the more we will recapture our own.
The Local and Fair Trade movements have closely tied goals of, as Meredith puts it, ending the vicious cycle of exploitation and inequality, for workers and the environment. As the Bill McKibben quote says, the more we nurture the essential humanity of our economy, the more we will recapture our own. We must put back the humanity in our economy by respecting where the products come from and how they were made. Mass consumption of goods that were made by destroying the earth and other people's well being is hurting all of us and only by being more aware of our purchases will we be able to truly succeed and see our economy grow.
Like Meredith's idea? Vote for it. Got an idea of your own? Let your voice be heard.
Like Meredith's idea?
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Author
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Zarah is the Operations Manager for the Global Exchange Fair Trade Online Store, a project of the international human rights organization, Global Exchange. Alongside her work with marginalized communities from all over the world to get their products into the international market, Zarah serves to educate and inform the public about a more just and sustainable trading system.
