http://ecojusticechallenge.wordpress.com/2008/07/04/oh-joy-oh-bliss/ A bunch of people doing their part to make this world a better place for future generations Fri, 25 Dec 2009 07:06:20 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 http://ecojusticechallenge.wordpress.com/2008/07/04/oh-joy-oh-bliss/#comment-140 Emily Barton Sat, 05 Jul 2008 02:14:17 +0000 http://ecojusticechallenge.wordpress.com/?p=31#comment-140 I know, I know, Cam. And I don't have the answers. I do think, though, that supporting local businesses is important, period. Better for the economy and better for workers, and ecojustice is about that, too. I know, I know, Cam. And I don’t have the answers. I do think, though, that supporting local businesses is important, period. Better for the economy and better for workers, and ecojustice is about that, too.

]]> http://ecojusticechallenge.wordpress.com/2008/07/04/oh-joy-oh-bliss/#comment-139 Cam Fri, 04 Jul 2008 22:19:01 +0000 http://ecojusticechallenge.wordpress.com/?p=31#comment-139 This raises all sorts of questions about the supply chain. Like, if the ingredients come from someplace else (like cocoa) but it's made locally, is it local? Where does one draw the line? While that decision must be made on the individual level, it does give one pause -- what are you trying to accomplish by eating locally and how does that translate into quotidian purchasing decisions? These are the questions that I've been struggling with. I don't live where coffee grows, but I buy my organic, shade-grown, free-trade beans from a local roaster. In doing so, I support a local business -- something that I believe in doing for reasons other than ecology (besides, we just like her, so we support her business) -- but am I cutting any transportation costs by not buying beans from a regional or national distributor? Or do I just do this because I like the supplier and her store? Do you buy something that is recyclable, or something that is recycled? If natural gas is cleaner than electricity, but more expensive, are you wrong to use electricity in an energy-efficient furnace/heat pump? Do I use grain-based biofuels in my car -- or do I boycott them because they take valuable commodities out of the food chain and adversly impact the hungry in poverty-stricken regions of the world? So many questions for which there aren't clear cut answers. That we ask the questions, though, is important. This raises all sorts of questions about the supply chain. Like, if the ingredients come from someplace else (like cocoa) but it’s made locally, is it local? Where does one draw the line? While that decision must be made on the individual level, it does give one pause — what are you trying to accomplish by eating locally and how does that translate into quotidian purchasing decisions? These are the questions that I’ve been struggling with. I don’t live where coffee grows, but I buy my organic, shade-grown, free-trade beans from a local roaster. In doing so, I support a local business — something that I believe in doing for reasons other than ecology (besides, we just like her, so we support her business) — but am I cutting any transportation costs by not buying beans from a regional or national distributor? Or do I just do this because I like the supplier and her store? Do you buy something that is recyclable, or something that is recycled? If natural gas is cleaner than electricity, but more expensive, are you wrong to use electricity in an energy-efficient furnace/heat pump? Do I use grain-based biofuels in my car — or do I boycott them because they take valuable commodities out of the food chain and adversly impact the hungry in poverty-stricken regions of the world? So many questions for which there aren’t clear cut answers. That we ask the questions, though, is important.

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