A Call for Local Resilience
Supporting local everything has far reaching benefit
When you gather food, how do you do it? Where do you go? Do you shop online for delivery? Go to a local grocer? A large supermarket? Your own garden?
I imagine you might do a combination of these things, as I do.
Whenever I think about community resilience, I think of food security first.
There are a few different facets of resilience I will highlight here, although there are many more. In this article, I include local food, artisans and shops, and local elections. I invite you to consider these elements as part of a larger conversation in this forum and within your community.
Let’s start with food.
Community Supported Agriculture
During the stay-at-home pandemic years, I lost my ambition to venture into large grocery stores. That ambition remains missing in action. What I do like to do, however, is visit all the local farm stands and small grocers that I can to meet our dietary needs.
There are three small farm stands within a few miles of where I live. I have watched each of those stands grow in abundance over the last few years. One of them now operates as a miniature market not just for the products of the farm where it is located, but for many other local food producers who bring their products to market.
It is a great opportunity to grow a local food economy.
What I especially like about this farm stand is that it is open seven days a week during daylight hours. It is run on an honor system. You check out at the counter where you weigh your own produce and pay by credit card, as they have opted out of dealing with having a cash box on premise.
The sense of community that is generated by having a stand so easily accessible and so often available is significant. There’s even a little book lending library just outside the front door. I remember when there was not a farm there at all, just a lonely stretch of road and open fields. Now it is a community hub.
I realize that I am very fortunate this is in my locality.
Community supported agriculture is a viable approach to building local resilience in the face of climate change and energy transition. It’s not just a good neighbor thing to do, it is a smart and strategic thing to do. The more we support local farms and food producers during regular times, the easier it will be for them to produce food when times get harder.
Something I really appreciate about this local farm down the road is that during the pandemic, they offered a free box of mixed produce that you could request if you needed it. You could also contribute money to a food fund as a community member. That’s a good neighbor ethos in hard times, and it’s a buoy for morale.
I should mention I have lived in my city for twenty years, so I’ve seen things change a lot. For the longest time, it was difficult to obtain local produce from more than just the local farm stands and weekly farmers’ market. Some farmers saw the need for a new central farm stand, and collaborated on a project that is now called the Argus Farm Stop. At this small market in the middle of town, you can find all kinds of locally produced foods. It has met demand so well, in fact, that they opened a second location.
The weekly open air farmers’ market is still available, but if you can’t make it there on a Saturday morning, local food is conveniently accessible at the farm stop.
Local Shops
There is a small town in Ohio called Yellow Springs that has made it possible for small locally owned shops to flourish downtown. How? They zoned all big box chain stores to the periphery of the town. Corporations cannot build chain stores in the downtown area anywhere.
The downtown feels like a village from rural England, charming and quaint.
I have strolled through this lovely town. Small shop after small shop, you can find anything you need. Most importantly, a sense of community.
There are probably at least a couple streets with shops like this where you live. Visit them, even if just to say hello to the shopkeeper. Find creative ways to evolve the local economy. If there is a gap, consider how you can contribute to a solution.
Another opportunity to shop local in my community is the weekly artisans’ market, akin to the farmers’ market. I can find all kinds of locally made goods. Some are just for fun, some are very useful, and there are many in between.
If there is a similar marketplace where you live, consider supporting local artisans more often. It might take some searching, but I imagine there are more locally owned businesses waiting to be discovered than you may realize.
Building Capacity
Once you really get into the weeds of shopping local, you start to ask certain questions—what is local? Within a town or city? 20 miles? A hundred miles? 500 miles? How do you define local? The reality is that it is a subjective answer. Different areas will have different resources, so use your best judgment. Developing regional cooperation lends to long term resilience, so you can cast a broader net and still be strengthening a local system.
While shopping local has intrinsic value of being a good neighbor, it also has strategic long term benefits that will matter increasingly as we transition to a sustainable energy economy. Put simply, it’s much easier to fetch things that are really nearby.
A local resilience approach to sustainability might feel like a story about David and Goliath, but it matters nonetheless. In that tale of facing seemingly insurmountable odds, David was victorious. Each community is unique, with different strengths and weaknesses. Take time to understand what is in your community, and where you can build more capacity.
Finally — the importance of local democracy in a world trending towards strong man politics is crucial. Think city and town councils, schools, libraries, commissions, food cooperatives—there are numerous ways to engage in local electoral politics. If it suits you, run for office, or join an advisory board. Find what works for you.
It matters, and you can improve the quality of life in your community.
This is my call to you to build a resilient community, wherever you are.
What will be your unique contribution?
For you:
If you live in the USA, please consider participating in this poll. For this, let local be defined as sourced within your regional area of county and bordering counties.