Sustaining Us

The local movement is driven by the idea that we waste millions of barrels of oil producing and transporting produce that will travel hundreds or thousands of miles away, eating locally is better for the environment. Farming in Brooklyn is a challenge in itself, but attempting to sustain yourself doing so may be near impossible. Manny Howard, a writer for New York Magazine, attempted the stunt and chronicled it for a feature a story this summer. Despite nobel efforts and some necessary concessions, his success is hard to determine. On one hand he was steadfast and true to the idea, creating, by his own accord, tasty and nutritious foods, but on the other hand he was unable to overcome some notable obstacles that required non-local fixes to continue the experiment. In all fairness, he also faced a tornado, an event that hadn’t happened in Brooklyn in a century

But this post isn’t as much about Manny Howard and his Brooklyn farm as it is about the “locavore” movement described in the same article. Locavores are people who eat foods produced within 100 miles of their homes. Slow Food USA, is an organization that supports the local movement. Sustainability can be driven by this concept on a few important fronts. First, eating locally limits your carbon footprint and supports community. But local eating slows our lives. Local food comes to us in a raw form , meaning it won’t be in the form of a frozen dinner. Local foods arrive at our markets unprocessed so local eating means we prepare our own food. The same way that a family game night is encouraged, maybe we should encourage a local eating night. Spending time with family and friends to cook up some local fare will be a nice change of pace. This is where Slow Food USA gets it right. While going green people will find that there’s a real connection we share with the earth beneath our feet, and that connection brings us all together.

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