Forum Post: On Buying Local

I think that one of the areas that Occupy Portland should concern itself with is the Buy Local movement.

There are a lot of misconceptions about the concept of buying local, and what that means to the affected localities. There seems to be a thread of thinking that portrays it as a hippie thing, or somehow left-wing or anti-establishment. Nothing is further from the truth.

In fact, I look at the buying local movement as more conservative than anything else.  It's really about a return to old-time values, when mom and pop businesses proliferated and you knew who ran the place you shopped.  When the revenue from the purchases you made stayed in the community you lived in, and the purveyors making the sales lived there as well and were accountable to their neighbors.

We've come so far from that picture of seemingly small town values, and it's perplexing to me that conservatives are not more upset about it.  While it's true that the Wal-Marts and Targets of the world do provide local jobs and keep prices down, their contributions to local communities are really just an illusion.  The jobs were "created" by means of driving all their competition and local mom and pops out of business, or contributing to a commercial rental structure that was prohibitive to the little guy.  In addition, while the meager salaries they pay may stay in the community, the profits do not.  Further, most of what they sell are made cheaply overseas, and that results in fewer American jobs and fewer American businesses that can compete with foreign sweatshops.

In addition, this economy strengthens the power of the large corporations, enabling them to more successfully lobby for favorable tax and regulatory laws, at the expense of local industry and the U.S. economy.

While it is difficult at this juncture to completely buy local and American - when was the last time you saw an American-made camera or pair of socks or underwear, and local stores that sold them? - we can start small and help turn the tide:

    a) Eat at local restaurants, food carts, etc. and eschew fast food and chain restaurants.

    b) Try to shop at locally owned supermarkets and food shops.  And when you do, look at the labels of what you buy and try to buy things that are made locally, or regionally, or at least in the U.S.  That goes for wine, olive oil, chocolate, etc.  The U.S. is making pretty good versions of all those things.  Coffee may not be grown locally or in the U.S. - but at least buy coffee that was roasted here, as close to home as possible.

    c) As much as possible, try to buy everything at locally owned stores or businesses, and try to buy products that are made as close to home as possible.  That's not always easy, and sometimes more expensive.  Maybe it means you buy less, or less often, or put off a purchase until there's a version made here.

    d) If you're ordering things online, try to make sure that there is a relationship between what you order and how close to home it's manufactured.  At least ask - that in itself will start to send a message. 

These measures won't turn the tide overnight.  But they will send a message - both to large corporations about their buying and economic practices, but to U.S. workers and small businesspeople as well, empowering them to take steps to fulfill their needs, and that their neighbors are behind them.