purchase consciously: organic, local, fair trade...

this might be both easier & harder to do while on vacation: easier because of the heightened awareness that traveling brings, harder because of not being familiar with local surroundings (as well as having limitations on both time & money). We shall see! smile

now that I don’t live in Russia anymore. I recently moved to Portland, where choices abound! I joined a co-op, and planted a little patio garden.

I have an affection for all things local, as well as an appreciation for local artisans. My most recent find while in travel mode was from the Farmer’s Market in Hood River, Oregon. A wonderful piece of pottery: a striking bright red chip-dip 2-in-1 platter with built in dip bowl, with a nice touch of black around the rims from Pisces Pottery. At first, I’ll admit I was hesitant, wondering if I was being too impulsive with my purchases, but now that I have it home I love it. It is durable, well made, and most importantly, from a “local” artisan. If I go back I will be looking for more pieces to match!

I still get my groceries from the big chains, and haven’t been to the market in ages, but having a bit more money has enabled me to spend more in the stores in the neighboorhood, and I never flinch anymore when I see the higher prices of fair trade products or organic vegetables (what a word). Or try to balance visits to big movie theaters by visits of the arthouse cinema around the corner. Things like that. Still, in order to become an even more conscious consumer, I need to “make this goal s.m.a.r.t.” (my goal, not this one), for instance by specifying at what place to shop for locally grown food, which food has to be organic, which fair trade products we can afford, what kind of places to support, and so on.

And I need more information. Get the air-freighted fruits from halfway around the world, in order to support eco-farming in those places? It’s not so easy – but it’s certainly very interesting to try and figure out.

I just signed up for a life-long membership at our local co-op. Don’t know why it took me so long!! The one in Olympia, although small is like a miniature of the one up in Bellingham, and full of wonderful products. I was amazed at how many of my favorite products were stocked on the shelves, they have done an amazing job! This year I am really looking forward to utilizing the co-op and the farmer’s market more than ever!

I am pondering the benefit of belonging to a community exchange. You know, during the Great Depression, Tenino, WA survived by printing their own money and developing their own community exchange system. It can be read about here:

http://www.ci.tenino.wa.us/wooden_money.htm

If we are facing another financial hardship, wouldn’t a secondary system be a useful connection to have? I discovered this group out of Bellingham, WA called “Fourth Corner Exchange”

Their website states:

“Fourth Corner Exchange is a Sustainable Community Currency based in the Pacific Northwest USA, which operates throughout the USA and the world. Currently we have over six-hundred participating members, with branches in Washington, Oregon, Colorado, New Mexico, Ohio, California in the USA, Nova Scotia and British Columbia in Canada. Founded by Francis Ayley and a small group of friends in 2002, Fourth Corner Exchange formally started trading in January 2004. From those small beginnings we have grown to over six-hundred members, exchanging a large selection of goods & services throughout the Pacific Northwest, centered around Bellingham and Port Townsend.

Our vision:

A world of economic freedom and justice for all, where all communities have access to a fair and equitable universal medium of exchange, issued by the people in sufficiency to meet their own needs and the needs of their communities.

Our mission is to create this world of economic democracy by rebuilding our communities through teaching people how to use our community currency in a socially just and responsible manner.”

You can join the group for a yearly fee. “Local, alternative and community currencies replace the money drained away, allowing the people to continue trading the essentials of life.”

http://www.fourthcornerexchange.com/index.php

Does anyone out there have any experience with a Sustainable Community Currency? I am curious and would love to hear your story.

My Organic Delivery came Dec 31 from spud.com

Not much in season right now in Washington State, but considering what I got, and the distance it traveled to get here, I’d say not bad!

in the box, I got the following:

Arugula – 1 (Cal-Organic Farms, CA)
Avocado, Hass – 1 (Calavo Growers, CA)
Bananas – 3 (Organics Unlimited, MEX)
Carrots, Bunched – 1 (Cal-Organic Farms, CA)
Celery – 1 (Pure Pacific Farm, CA)
Chard, Rainbow – 1 (Lakeside Organic Gardens, CA)
Collards – 1 (Purepak, Inc., CA)
Kiwis – 3 (Wild River Ranch, CA)
Lemons – 2 (Rainbow, CA)
Mangos, Tommy Atkins – Smaller – 1 (Natura Organic, MEX)
Salad Mix – 0.25 lb (Earthbound Farms, CA)
Spinach, Baby – 0.25 lb (Earthbound Farms, CA)
Organic Garlic Stuffed Olives – 5 oz (Santa Barbara Olive) Organic Olive & Garlic Hummus – 12 oz (Emerald Valley Kitchen)

Organic, locally grown food – salads, roots, or fruits – delivered directly into the apartment, and we don’t have to decide what to buy or carry the heavy bags? I love the idea, and finally got around to inquiring about delivery times (no need to overly tax my neighbors’ patience). Hopefully the shop owners’ answer will fit my work schedule. I’m also not really sure how long we’ll make do with just 4.5 kilo of vegetables (the starter box for 1-2 people), but we’ll figure that out as we go along. And then there’s the large Turkish market around here which also finds stalls with organic products. I always come home too late for that. That needs to change.

If you can’t pronounce it, you probably shouldn’t be putting it in your body or in your environment.

This has been an easy goal to do, once I gained an awareness of the issue.

Local: There are many advantages to consuming local products and services. The quality tends to be high: fresh food, purchased from nearby producers who really appreciate your business. You know how it was produced, and know that shipping it did not consume much energy. You can see if it was produced sustainably.The only disadvantages (which are slight) seem to be related to price or availability: local greens, berries, etc. are unavailable here in winter, so we have to freeze some in the summer.

Organic: We have some homegrown organic veggies and fruit from our garden, plus some local purchases. They taste delicious and are worth the extra work or expense. I can buy grain products and dried beans, etc. at the bulk store, which sells some organic varieties, though not all.

Fair Trade: Coffee is the only product that I am conscious of, in this category, but I’m sure there are others. I will continue to look for others.

I think that I can mark this as done, although I’ll still be doing it in the future, and may add more entries later.