Sustainability- It’s More Than Food

You’re not “in” today unless you profess to eat everything within 50 miles of home. The theory being local farms are greener and healthier.  The only problem with that in the winter in New Hampshire we’re pretty much limited to snow cones. Granted, in the growing season we have a bountiful harvest, but how do we sustain ourselves for the other nine or ten months of the year? It kills me to see our supermarkets selling potatoes from California when Maine is next-door, or anything from afar except oranges, coffee and bananas for that matter.

Some people say freeze your foods, but that’s not being “green”. That freezer has a huge carbon footprint. We could can goods. That makes sense. It takes time though- something we all lack in this multi-tasking, fast paced, GPS everywhere, text-everyone life we’ve built for ourselves. OK. I could do it. I’m retired. Maybe I’ll open a “Can Your Own Goods” shop. I could provide the apparatus and facility; you bring the food and kids and make a day of it. Or better yet, maybe I could get the school to open the kitchen in the summer for the residents to use. I could just be the supervisor. I’ll look into that.

Maybe we should not be so focused on food. Living sustainably is actually much more than food. Few people actually grow and raise food for a living even if they’d like to.  Sustainability should go way beyond food and include any product, service or institution within the local area. Catering to the people in your area develops closer community relationships, supports their business, and enables them to have a viable business without reaching beyond the local area. It keeps their carbon footprint down, while you do the same. You make new friends too.

I buy all my bark mulch, gravel, and such from my neighbor a mile from my house. He waives the delivery charge, I get a deal, and he stays in business. When my septic system needed to be replaced I went to an in-town contractor. Lisbon, NH used to have Chevy Dealer. He went out of business several years ago, but before he did you would’ve been impressed by the local loyalty. I think everyone in town (all 500 of them) drove a Chevy. There just weren’t enough people to keep in him in business, but they had the right idea.

So think about sustainability the next time you get your hair done, need your house painted, do landscaping, need the driveway paved or sealed, need a new roof, need a new well pump, or have your snow plowed- anything really... Go to your local hardware or paint store instead of Home Depot, Walmart or Lowes. They get to know you and they appreciate your business, and you build a more sustainable community.

I knew a lawyer in town that epitomized this ethic. He would barter for most of the local services if he could. He’d trade a new roof for a divorce, or a new transmission for a will, etc… Pretty cool. Unfortunately his brother invented those Ninja Turtles and he had to go be a corporate attorney in some other place. I hope he’s still bartering though.