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Shopping locally helps reduce your carbon footprint, transportation emissions, and food miles. Whether you’re looking for wine and a caterer for next month’s bash, or you’re on the hunt for fresh, natural personal care products, you can likely source it close to home.

How to shop locally

You may be pleasantly surprised by the variety of local items available just around the corner. So if you haven’t yet, explore your neighborhood to sniff out some great low-miles finds. And if you can’t spy something nearby, consider making it yourself!

Support local producers

• Head to farmer’s markets or participate in a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) to buy local produce.
• Choose a local organic caterer to green-up your next event.
• Buy local flowers to keep your bouquet from traveling long distances.
• Ensure optimal study conditions by pushing for local food in your school cafeteria.
• Support neighborhood artisans by choosing locally produced soaps.
• Find local beer and local wine producers to slash your libation miles.
• Choose locally caught fish and local farm meat for your next family meal.

Ultimate local choices - DIY

Avoid shopping altogether. The next time you need toothpaste, soap, a new table, or lettuce, consider making or growing your own. You'll not only cut waste and CO₂ emissions, but you'll also reduce the use of toxic industrial and agricultural chemicals.

• Harvest food from your own home by growing local produce with houseplants.
• Produce your own gift by growing heirloom flowers for your sweetheart.
• Drink tap water versus bottled—safe, container-free water is at your fingertips.
• Raid your pantry to make your own face wash.
• Cut costs, reduce waste, and clean without chemicals by making your own multi-purpose cleaners.
• Protect your wooden furniture by making your own furniture polish.
• Get your apron on and make your own baby food—it’ll be more earth- and baby-friendly.
• Install a heat pump, solar panels or shingles, wind turbine, or micro hydro system to generate your own home-grown power, heating, and cooling.
• Turn food and yard waste into gold—make your own compost.
• Use found items in your own home to make toys from salvaged materials.
• Make your own wine or brew your own beer and enjoy your own earthy concoctions.
• Whip up a batch of your own mouthwash or brush with baking soda for locally-clean mouth feeling.

Can’t shop near home?

• Carpool instead of driving solo
• Take public transportation
• Walk or ride your bike

Before you buy

Businesses large and small are seeing the green light, advancing toward more eco-friendly practices on a variety of fronts.[1] Some businesses are making little changes, like carrying more eco-friendly products, installing CFL light bulbs in their showrooms, or encouraging the use of reusable bags. More ambitious companies have instituted widespread changes, opting to install renewable energy generating systems (solar panels, wind turbines), phase out disposable bags altogether, and buy only sustainably harvested food.

If you’ve got the choice, therefore, between two local shops, opt for the one operating in a more earth-friendly fashion. News buzz makes it easy to spot big green companies, but if you’re not sure about the ma-and-pa store in your neighborhood, just ask! Have they considered carrying eco-friendly options? Are they using renewable energy? Do they offer discounts for those bringing their own bags? Even if they don’t have a green program in place, perhaps by posing the questions you’ll get them searching for answers…

Shopping locally helps you go green because…

• Locally-produced goods don’t have to travel as far as their imported counterparts, thus reducing the carbon dioxide emissions associated with long-distance travel.
• Often locally-sourced products are created in a more eco-friendly manner, with fewer chemicals and additives and a greater concentration of organic and natural ingredients.

Shortening travel time

It's estimated that most food products, including such foodstuffs as produce, meat, seafood, wine, and beer, travel an average of 1,500 miles by long-haul diesel trucks before reaching your kitchen table.[2] Many perishable products such as flowers and produce must travel in special cooled (read fuel-intensive) containers to consumers' homes, adding to the already hefty eco-travel bill.[3][4]

Diesel exhaust contains over 450 chemicals, 40 of them believed to be toxic to humans and detrimental to the environment.[5] Carbon monoxide from vehicle emissions accounts for 56 percent of total carbon emissions across the US[5] and, along with nitrogen oxide, contributes to air pollution.[6]

Researchers at the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture found that non-locally grown produce travels an estimated 27 times as far as its homegrown counterpart.[7] In the United States, 90 percent of domestic produce is transported by truck.[7] Shopping locally helps to reduce travel miles associated with the transport of goods from producer to consumer.[8]

Other eco-impacts

Local food, if produced by a small farm, tends to be less chemical-coated,[9] and because small farms often use heirloom seeds for fruits and veggies, they grow a greater variety. This not only protects the earth’s biodiversity, but also means tastier, often healthier food.[10] And because local food doesn’t have to travel the average 1,500 to 2,500 miles, it arrives on the dinner table shortly after it was picked, ensuring that it's much fresher.[11]

Controversies

Wal-Mart, Whole Foods, GE, and Macy’s have all recently made some significant green commitments. From Wal-Mart’s push to sell millions of CFL light bulbs and its commitment to purchase only sustainably-caught wild fish to Whole Foods’ elimination of disposable plastic bags and commitment to renewable energy, these companies are leading the way to green in the business world. With their tremendous purchasing power and their ability to advertise to millions (if not billions) of consumers, the potential for effecting significant change in the world of capitalism is tremendous.[12][13]

Yet there are concerns about the benefits of big green stores. Large, centralized companies (big box stores, for instance) control more and more of the economy. These big businesses are no longer connected to individual communities and therefore do not feel a responsibility for their health and wellbeing. When big box stores take the place of small, independently-owned companies, communities lose jobs, cash flow is diverted away from the community, and the local tax base shrinks.[14]

When consumers shop at local stores, on the other hand, more money re-circulates in the community because local businesses often purchase from other local businesses, service providers, etc. Locally-owned and operated businesses also add character and uniqueness. And where large stores often set up shop on the fringes of town, local businesses thrive in the centers where consumers can come and go using public transportation, local walking paths, and other low-impact transportation methods.[15]

So, as with any purchasing decision, discretion is advised. Using some of your dollars to purchase green products from big box stores will help to send a signal that the market supports their green changes. Spending money that’ll stay in your community with responsible vendors will also help to keep local vendors healthy and strong.

External links

• BALLE (Business Alliance for Local Living Economies) - Find a network
• Global Insight - Measuring the Economic Impact of Wal-Mart on the U.S. Economy
• Green Daily - Top 5 Big Box Stores
• LocalHarvest - guide to finding organic food close to home
• Institute for Local Self-Reliance