The Green Way: Are You a Locavore?

By Stan Sersen

I was so pleased to see the top page one articles for the May and June issues of The Business Monthly, which focused on how local organic farms are able to survive using Community Supported Agriculture (May) and the need for local roadside stands (June).
The underlying theme was the growing demand, and need, to maintain a strong, locally grown food source.
When was the last time you sat down to a meal and were concerned that the food on your plate came from halfway around the world? Or whether that same food would even be available at any cost in the future?
How about the questions, "What will we do if the food is no longer available?" or "What types of chemicals are they putting on this food to grow it in China and ship it to us?"
According to the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service (www.attra.ncat.org/farm_energy/food_miles.html), the average "food miles" to get food from the farm to your plate in the U.S. is, on average, between 1,300 to 2,000 miles. Would you have thought that?
Another disturbing fact is that, since 1970, when the supposed endless supply of oil was available to us, truck shipping has dramatically increased, replacing the more energy efficient, and less carbon burning, rail and water transport used in other parts of the world, even today.

Think Local
These are questions that many of us concerned about the effects of climate change and peak oil (the depletion of oil reserves) are asking ourselves on a regular basis. If you are concerned about what type of world we are leaving for future generations, you need to think local.
If you ask any of these questions, you are, or very easily can become, a Locavore. Locavores are those who believe that eating locally grown food is one of the best ways of being eco-consious, helping the local economy, having healthier and better tasting food, and creating food security for themselves, their families and their community.
After all, when you know, and trust, the farmer who is supplying you with food, you will know the way in which it is grown and you can take comfort that your interest and health is the farmer's concern.
Can you say the same thing about that head of lettuce you bought from a local grocer last night? Ask your favorite restaurant before ordering your meal if you can only order food that was produced less than 100 miles away. I bet you won't eat much at that establishment. I'll also bet that the chef doesn't even know the exact source.

More Than Just Food
Before the days of super tankers and endless caravans of trucks with double trailers spewing pollution into the air (standard diesel exhaust from trucks has 13 known carcinogens), we had close communities where people knew each other and all relied on each other for goods and services.
This community created more than security for those goods and services; it created a sense of need for everyone in the social order. The farmers felt a sense of worth that the rest of the community needed them, as the doctor felt needed to help the farmer. In turn, the farmer made sure the doctor and his family ate, and no government agency was taking 30% off the top because government wasn't needed to be a "Big Brother."
The community took care of itself. Sustainability at work.
The design concept of studying a plot of land and using that land to its fullest, most natural and earth-friendly potential needs to be a concept that is embraced and required by all. We can no longer establish monocultures of food, housing or offices that do not take in to account all aspects of sustainability.
In order to do this, a major paradigm shift is underway. The age of regeneration is upon us.

Permaculture
Back in the '70s, the founder of the Permaculture movement, Bill Mollison, stated in his publication Permaculture, A Designer's Manual:
"Permaculture is the conscious design and maintenance of agriculturally productive ecosystems which have the diversity, stability and resilience of natural ecosystems. It is the harmonious integration of landscape and people providing their food, energy, shelter, and other material and non-material needs in a sustainable way. Without permanent agriculture, there is no possibility of a stable social order."
As we begin to understand the need throughout the world, and especially in the U.S., to reduce our energy consuming ways, we are going to be increasing the efficiency of everything we do, including growing our food.
Once we start, a whole new social climate will begin to emerge again.
Schools, libraries, warehouses, government buildings, assisted living facilities, hospitals - and yes, even offices - will begin to be beds of locally grown food. Not only can we enjoy the food, clean the air and reap the health benefits, we can get back to that sense of "place" that we all need as yet another species on this planet.
Please support your local farmers and the establishments that buy, prepare and deliver their food. Maybe even consider a "canning club" to further your community togetherness and be able to eat during the winter. The time will come when those skills will be in demand once again.

Stan Sersen is an eco-architect, a green building developer, the developer of the EnviroCenter in Jessup and the founder of the nonprofit educational organization The Green Building Institute, also in Jessup. He can be contacted at buildinggreen@greenbuildinginstitute.org.