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| NEIL CORDER (C) |
I'm not sure at what point the term 'Local Living' became a lifestyle phrase, but it has. A few years ago people would have just said they were "moving to the country" or liked organic veggie boxes. Anyhow now it's almost a movement, has spawned its own magazines and is as much a socio-economic thing as it is an interior design style with lots of cool looking distressed kitchen tables.
You would think that if you lived on a small Caribbean island you would be the very epitome of 'Local Living' wouldn't you? Irie vegetables from the Rasta market gardeners, gorgeous tropical fruit and fresh fish caught locally. Not a bit of it. Apart from a small handful of local farmers, just about everything is shipped in. The carbon footprint is appalling: Tomatoes from Canada, potatoes from Idaho, salmon from Norway, Marmite from England and for some odd reason garlic from China. Yes, China. Agriculture and market gardening has unfortunately all but stopped. People aspire to a kind of 'Less is Local' approach, as office jobs replace traditional skills and big supermarkets replace little local shops - much like the rest of the world.
At our very first sale of artisan bread on the island, the response from customers who were not acquainted with all things 'artisan' was one of complete horror. They were appalled that we made such rustic looking bread and had the cheek to sell it. They were even more appalled to find out that people actually (liked and) bought it, shaking their heads in disbelief at our inability to make 'real' bread - ie. sliced in plastic packets with sugar and additives. Talk about bursting one's little middle class bubble. We've had to work really hard over the past few years to convince people that our bread is not "burnt" and that it tastes good. Don't even mention the Gluten Free debate! That's a whole another story.
As globalisation has gobbled up the world, the move towards regionalism and local living has grown concomitantly. It's all about building local economies and cutting out the Big Fat Capitalists. We are all Hippies now, apparently. All well and good, but after reading some of the debates around the 'New' Local Economy it all gets a bit silly to my unreconstructed mind.
Fore me 'Local Living' (now spelt with capital L's to denote Lifestyle, I presume) is more to do with joining up the dots (no, not my old blog!) in order to be able to see the bigger picture. If one can live lightly, buy organic (meaning all things free range and preservative free) keep your family healthy and happy and be involved in your local community, one is already making a difference, right? If we can support local producers and enterprises so that they can trade profitably and therefore employ more people who in turn buy more local products and services - we all get to have a nicer life. This is not only restricted to rural areas either but applies to cities too. It is a matter of consumer-based choices and what criteria you use to choose your service providers. Of course businesses need to make a profit, but how they choose to do business impacts too. We can choose who we want to support.
'Local Living', is therefore both theory and practise: A gentler and more collaborative way to 'do your bit' for saving the planet and building equitable communities. Local economies will always be part of larger economies and ultimately the global economy, but in my view it's much more cost effective, smarter and delicious to buy fresh local vegetables, high welfare meat, hand-crafted homeware and fruit ripened by the sun. Recycling your old tins and plastic bits (as much as I truly struggle with the logistics of all of this) helps too, as does paying a living wage and taxes to ensure clean water, effective public transport, education and health care for all. These things all matter a lot.
I cannot admit to lying awake at night worrying about The Planet. I probably should, but I don't. My reality is far more about paying orthodontists bills and re-covering the sofa and keeping the world spinning for three not so little boys. I do think quite a bit about laying tracks and going forward, though. The future, for me, is about continuity and opportunity. I need this planet to carry on working so that my boys will be able to get some ROI on their very expensive education and so that they too can go out and worry about their children when their turn comes.
So I'll happily eat a lot of vegetables and join many fundraising committees to ensure that our community will continue to flourish. Most of all though I'm going to concentrate on living locally because I'm falling in love with this place and I'd like more of the same please.
It always seems to come back to passion.
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