Buying from an independent business just got easier

Well I know a lot of you already support locally owned, independent businesses. But what if you travel somewhere and want to find an independent coffee shop? Or if you have moved and aren't sure where to find an independent bookseller? Delocator.net was launched with the intention of helping people locate precisely these locally owned, independent businesses across the country (and in Canada and the UK, thanks to the web-meme component of Delocator). There are over 5000 entries in the database so far, and anyone can submit their favorite local and indpendent book stores, coffee houses, and movie theaters in any US zip code. I checked out Boulder and found a list of 25 locally owned coffee houses in my area.

Become active on Delocator.net or Delocator.Mapyourcity.Net and help promote independent businesses across the country!

Day 5 of National Downshifting Week: Buy Local

Day 5 of National Downshifting Week is about supporting local food markets and independent businesses. If you are still looking for a compelling reason to do so, rent The End of Suburbia or borrow it from your local library system. Locally owned shops and vibrant markets form the backbone of our communities; they need our support more than ever before. By making one new purchasing decision each week that favors local seasonal produce or independently-owned business, you are helping to breathe new life into these precious resources.

If you are lucky enough to know a local artist or producer of just about anything (furniture, pottery, jams and jellies, music, etc.), please consider buying from these folks the next time you need something. Research shows that more money is circulated in the community when we support our local producers, rather than having profits go to some centralized corporate office far away. Plus these are the people that give our community it's unique flair and make it feel like home.

Being a Conscious Consumer of Furniture

I just read an interesting article over on used furniture over at the Apartment Therapy website. The article got me thinking about what an outstanding choice quality used furniture is from a Conscious Consuming perspective.

The store featured in her article had the following positive features:

• It was a local and independent business
• Offered high quality/durable furniture at a reasonable price
• Focused on reusing and repurposing items
• Provides an alternative to Ikea, Crate & Barrel, etc.
• Will also refinish or reupholster your existing furniture
• Free delivery so it doesn't require/justify car usage!

This all sounded like a few steps in the right direction. Although I don't have much furniture right now, if I'm in a situation where I confuse wanting more with needing more and choose to purchase some - I'm going to Eddie's!

Did Your Shopping List Kill a Songbird - The New York Times

Here's a sad tale of what our demand for out of season fruits and vegetables does to other species -- specifically, the beautiful songbirds that we take for granted. Eating locally, in season, means that our food doesn't require the massive amounts of toxic pesticides that those berries in the winter need to make it up to our cold region.

This year, I made it to about January on the frozen peaches and berries I bought at the farmer's market and saved from last season. This just means I'll have to stock up more next summer!

Why “local” and “Equal Exchange Fair Trade” are two sides of the same coin

Thank you to Phyllis Robinson at Equal Exchange for this great blog post and the permission to repost it here.

Farmers’ markets are springing up in food co-operative and church parking lots and on Main Streets throughout the country. More people are joining CSAs (community supported agriculture) and choosing locally grown products in their grocery stores. And as this trend continues, more and more consumers are starting to ask hard questions about where their food comes from and how its grown, who is growing it and under what conditions, and equally important of course, who’s making the decisions that control our food choices and who’s making the profits from those purchases?

The “buy local” movement implies that people are acknowledging all the hard work that goes into producing high quality, healthy, flavorful products and they want to support their local farmers. They want to know the farmers, how the food was grown and be assured that it’s both healthy for them and safe for the planet. To me, it says that we as consumers are choosing to re-personalize the food system; that we want to be a part of a movement that supports community and the planet and that we are ever more ready to resist the trend for corporate control of our food system and our values.

But what happens when we want to purchase products which aren’t grown locally - such as coffee, tea, chocolate or bananas? How do we translate “buy local” values for imported products? When I think about this desire for good, healthy food; for connections to the growers; and for honest, transparent business practices where farmers, workers, and consumers are all treated with respect and fairness, it sounds just like what we’ve been talking about and working for at Equal Exchange ever since our co-operative business was founded over 20 years ago.

In fact, it’s exactly the reason Equal Exchange has chosen to partner exclusively with small-scale farmer co-operatives when we buy our coffee, tea, and chocolate products. It may be more difficult to go direct, to visit remote, isolated communities, to communicate long-distance by shaky fax and telephone lines that are often down, across language and cultural barriers and time zones, than it would be to purchase our products through a broker or a large plantation owner with all of modern technology at their disposal.

But we do so, because ironically, although our products come from rural communities in Latin America, Africa and Asia, we share the same interests, values, and principles as the “buy local” advocates. We see our farmer partners as local actors in their own co-operatives and in their own communities, working together to create positive change and to resist agricultural and trade policies that also threaten them. We want to know our partners and we want our consumers to know our partners.

It’s why we lead dozens of trips to source each year so that consumers can see firsthand who the farmers are, how their products are grown, and what the farmers’ dreams and challenges are. Of course, we also want the farmers to know where their products are ending up, who’s enjoying them and how, and to make the notion of foreign “consumers” more real and human to them - this is the food system we are co-creating and the larger community and network that we and our partners and allies are helping to foster.

For more on this and on related topics, visit the Equal Exchange blog: Small Farmers. Big Change.

Are you a Carbon Conscious Consumer?

Conscious Consuming is delighted to partner with the Center for a New American Dream in presenting their Carbon Conscious Consumer campaign!

The action for July is Eating Local, which is what Day 6 of National Downshifting Week was all about. What a perfect fit! To read more about that, check out our blog entry for Day 6.

We're excited to be involved with this campaign as we continue to grow and spread the Conscious Consuming message.


Click the banner below to find out more and join us!