One Small Step: get local. No, really local.

by Sarah Gilbert (Subscribe to Sarah Gilbert's posts)
Sep 7th 2006 5:54PM

Categories: Diet & Weight Loss, Motivation, Alternative & Green Health

One Small Step is our attempt to show you all how easy it can be to improve your health, and the health of the planet. Each week, we'll take one more little step and encourage you to take it with us. This week, I've finally agreed to listen to my husband and:

Get ultra-local.

Yes, I love the concept of the Eat Local Challenge, but this isn't just eating -- it's drinking coffee, and going to the dentist, and buying my favorite books. I guess you could call it "shop local." So today, when I went to get my hair cut, I didn't go downtown to the chic Aveda stylist where I got my hair done for my wedding (and the one who usually cuts my hair oh so well). Instead, I went to the corner barbershop -- literally, on the corner two blocks from my house. No energy was expended in getting there, and Tammy (along with "Bip", her partner) lives in the neighborhood. She gets her coffee at my favorite coffee shop -- she's about as local as you can get.

It was my husband's idea. I'd been encouraging him to go to the dentist about a mile up the street, instead of the one several miles away we'd been seeing; we've heard such great things. He went even further.

"Why not go to the dentist on our corner?" he asked. Instead of travelling a mile, why not a block? Instead of buying books from Amazon.com, why not go to the bookstore in our neighborhood? Instead of meeting my friends across town for coffee, why not meet them at the shop next to Tammy & Bip's?

This isn't just about resources for me; if I was going across town, I'd likely bike or take the bus. It's about time, and it's about community. How can I create relationships with the people around me if we share no context? How can I interact with my neighborhood if I'm never in it -- and my dollars are going where they're less impactful?

We've made a commitment to stay as close as we can to home, whenever possible. Talk to our neighbors, build community where it will make our lives better (not to mention: improve our property value, even if just intangibly), help Tammy pay her water bill.

It's a little thing, but it adds up. One small step at a time.

[And by the way: my hair looks awesome, and my husband's teeth are so clean.]

Comments (3)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

DaveH 9-08-2006 @ 1:23PM

Have you ever seen the South Park episode about Hybrids? I think of it each time I read these posts.

Howie Jacobson 9-08-2006 @ 1:44PM

I've heard several times recently that "local is tne new organic." When we look at the environmental costs of transporting ourselves, our goods, our service providers - we're looking at a huge burden on ourselves and future generations. When I buy organic lettuce from California, my family and I can eat without pesticides (maybe!), but the children all along highway 40 have to breath in more truck exhaust because of me.

When I work with parents to help them grow fit and healthy families, they all begin the work by wondering, "What do I have to give up?" As in, junk food, dessert, TV, coffee, sinfully fun habits, joy, etc.

We're taught by our culture that everything is a tradeoff. That we have to sacrifice fun for health. That we have to hurt others to be happy ourselves.

This pernicious story isn't an accident - it keeps us from making changes because we don't believe we can "stick with it." And a great deal of our economy is based on self-harm.

Here's the thing: no matter how much junk food and junk media we consume, it will never be enough, because it's distracting us from seeking what we really need: a healthy and wealthy environment.

Daniel Quinn points out in "My Ishmael" that the linguistic root of "wealth" is not money, but wellness.

What my FitFam.com clients discover is that they aren't "giving up" anything they really want or need. Instead, they're embracing a richer and more fulfilling lifestyle for themselves and their kids.

The lesson of the Commons is that when one person becomes truly healthier, we all do. So let's strengthen our own communities and grow a healthy world from the inside out.

Howie Jacobson 9-08-2006 @ 1:47PM

I've heard several times recently that "local is the new organic." When we look at the environmental costs of transporting ourselves, our goods, our service providers - we're looking at a huge burden on ourselves and future generations. When I buy organic lettuce from California, my family and I can eat without pesticides (maybe!), but the children all along highway 40 have to breath in more truck exhaust because of me.

When I work with parents to help them grow fit and healthy families, they all begin the work by wondering, "What do I have to give up?" As in, junk food, dessert, TV, coffee, sinfully fun habits, joy, etc.

We're taught by our culture that everything is a tradeoff. That we have to sacrifice fun for health. That we have to hurt others to be happy ourselves.

This pernicious story isn't an accident - it keeps us from making changes because we don't believe we can "stick with it." And a great deal of our economy is based on self-harm.

Here's the thing: no matter how much junk food and junk media we consume, it will never be enough, because it's distracting us from seeking what we really need: a healthy and wealthy environment.

Daniel Quinn points out in "My Ishmael" that the linguistic root of "wealth" is not money, but wellness.

What my FitFam.com clients discover is that they aren't "giving up" anything they really want or need. Instead, they're embracing a richer and more fulfilling lifestyle for themselves and their kids.

The lesson of the Commons is that when one person becomes truly healthier, we all do. So let's strengthen our own communities and grow a healthy world from the inside out.