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For the Record 12/24/08

Posted on December 23, 2008 by Staff

What is local?

We’re curious. We hear so much talk about buying local; supporting local; eating, breathing and existing local. And we get it, sort of. The benefits of doing much more closer to home are clear, especially from an environmental standpoint.

And this paper is among the many encouraging support of our local economy. In fact, there are several efforts to do so — all of them pretty much focused on their version of supporting local.

It’s quite a panoply:

In the last several months in Carrboro alone, there have been several efforts started or floated, including the town-sponsored Local Living Economy Task Force, a group exploring the BALLE model (Business Alliance for Local Living Economies), and photographer Jesse Kalisher’s “Walk Carrboro” campaign to promote Carrboro as an arts destination around the state and region. Add to that the many groups and organizations also seeking to promote our arts community, a new “Book Local” campaign by the Orange County Visitor’s Bureau and the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce’s official “Buy Local” campaign.

All of these efforts hinge on shoring up something that is local. It would be interesting to see just how much these various efforts concur on what that word means.

There’s no simple answer. The Farmers’ Market model, typical of many markets throughout the country, uses a 50-mile rule, which is akin to the definition of local in some macrobiotic diets. Fifty miles makes sense for the production of food, but not so much for light bulbs, paper towels and paintings.

Let’s start with geography. Does local mean the Piedmont or just Carrboro, or Carrboro and Chapel Hill and maybe Orange County? Where does that leave Pittsboro and Saxapahaw? How does Hillsborough fit in?

And how about commerce? Does the local economy include the grocery store chains that are among the county’s top employers? Do we recruit businesses that will compete with homegrown enterprises? Is a shop still locally owned if the owner retires to the beach but keeps the place open?

And planning? How does the vision of making this town an arts destination jibe with concerns about lack of parking and traffic congestion? Do we want a tourist economy?

We don’t question the motivation of all these buy/shop/support/eat local efforts. They’re all genuine attempts to make this a better place to live and work.

What we do question is how well the various ideas fit together and whether there is some way for these efforts to support each other.

Some kind of local local summit is in order — probably not to forge a consensus, but to get the ideas out in front of groups and individuals similarly inclined.

We’d like to hear from you about this issue. Please send us your definition of local and any thoughts you might have about improving our local economy.

You can email editor [AT] carrborocitizen.com or send a note our way to Box 248, Carrboro, N.C., 27510.

Weather alert

Two years of drought have spoiled us in a strange way. Gloomy, cold rainy weather is traditional this time of year. So quit moaning, this isn’t Arizona.

And please note that spring is just around the corner. Research conducted by The Citizen confirms that the planet is still tilting on its axis and, given the current movements, spring should be rolling around in a little less than 90 days.

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