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- fefu, on 07/22/2008, -1/+35I try to buy local when I can. The only problem is that the best time for me to shop is when farmer's markets and stands are closed. How about getting a movement going where supermarkets get their produce locally. This would make the largest impact since most folks shop at supermarkets.
I recently got back from a trip to Prince Edward Island where we stocked up on some food at a supermarket. They had some strawberries that looked good, so I bought some. Got them home and read the fine print that said they were from CALIFORNIA (in fact, they had no taste whatsoever). We also saw signs all over the place that farmers had strawberries for sale since it was the peak season. We ended up buying some great local strawberries later but am left wondering, why can't the supermarkets get great produce that's right next door! It's silly. - MariaSverdlova, on 07/22/2008, -4/+36I also prefer it buying at local farmers
Foreign importers and local huge companies products have completely different and much worse taste than local farmers do.. - inactive, on 07/22/2008, -2/+33I go to the farmers market every weekend. Local support and better products... priceless!
- inactive, on 07/22/2008, -2/+29It’s about transforming and democratizing the food system. It’s about increasing access to high-quality, nutrient-rich food and making it available and affordable to all people.
- MorganMghee, on 07/22/2008, -1/+24It also helps to eat food when it's in season in your area. If there is low demand for fresh tomato in winter, the energy to grow them in hothouses or transport them from warmer climates wouldn't be supported. Also consider (and this gets harder the further you get into it) is the energy cost less to bring it, even from further away, than it is to grow/produce this product locally. this usually relates to hard to grow crops that need lots of special conditions to grow locally, but that grow easily in other further areas. There is a growing movement to develop a system for working this all out in an effort to inform the consumer as to the real footprints of the foods they are being asked to consume.
- heymisspenny, on 07/23/2008, -2/+18Some very good thoughts here. Going out to the local fruit stand or farmer's market is always a fun thing to do, too! Plus it keeps the money IN the community, and that's majorly important in such a shifty market ...
Although on point with the notion that "organic" isn't always that green-friendly when you consider how far the food has to travel, I have to disagree with the pesticide comment:"Most local growers don’t use the kinds of chemicals that big commercial farms use" .
It seems to confuse the small-scale farm operations with growers that are simply locally operated. Many of the "local farmers" in the larger ag areas (like here in socal) are also the ones growing large scale to ship to other places. There are simply middle-man type distributors selling their local product locally ... That means even when you're buying in-season, hometown produce, it may still be the same conventional process/ same chemicals. Just a thought. - inactive, on 07/23/2008, -2/+18Stuff White People Like.com
#5 - Farmers Markets
http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/01/18/5-farme ... - pollyboxer, on 07/23/2008, -1/+15I am so supportive of local farmers. I wish more people felt this way.
- CrotchetyOldMan, on 07/23/2008, -2/+15Eat locally and seasonally and everyone wins.
- csiunatc, on 07/23/2008, -4/+16i dont care how organic anything is grown, if its shipped 900 miles it's no longer "green"
- onyxcoltrane, on 07/23/2008, -1/+11Read the Omnivore's Dilemma.
- heymisspenny, on 07/23/2008, -0/+8I got excited recently when I noticed one of our local large-scale tomato growers was selling in the Vons down the street. Local AND accessible, right?
But what I learned, and what's crazy, is that even when supermarkets buy from local growers, the produce can sometimes go through miles of travel through central distribution even just to get to a store down the street. The way the big corporate chains are set up ... it just seems so wasteful. - inactive, on 07/23/2008, -0/+8Like what?
- Narcism, on 07/23/2008, -2/+10Madness?
THIS IS... MUSTAAARRDDD - heymisspenny, on 07/23/2008, -1/+9All the way to Europe and back for a label.
Madness.
:-/ - gnilrets, on 07/23/2008, -0/+7That's not necessarily true. In some cases, due to growing conditions for example, it may require fewer natural resources to grow food in one area and then ship it 900 miles to sell it in another. So even though something is shipped over long distances, it's could be more "green" than something coming from down the street. Price is actually a pretty good indicator of the amount of natural resources required to produce a product (particularly when comparing very similar products). There's a good article about this on the Mises blog: http://www.mises.org/story/3026
There are much better reasons to buy locally than because of a perceived notion that it's "greener." The primary reason for me is that the produce is typically better than others. Another reason would be that you enjoy having farms in your neck of the woods and would like to keep it that way. - known, on 07/23/2008, -0/+7Every time you spend money, you're casting a vote for the kind of world you want .-- Anna Lappe
- nneader007, on 07/23/2008, -1/+7I total agree. Buy local. Why not support your local farmers?
- greenfyre, on 07/23/2008, -1/+7I call it the boomerang. Two examples that make me crazy
Local (less than 100 km) made Soba goes through distributer for round trip 850 km
Mustard seed grown west of here is shipped to Europe to get the brand name Dijon, Dusseldorf, whichever, and shipped back
Aaarrrggghghhhhh - inactive, on 07/23/2008, -1/+7Local is better for the local economy but it also is safer. Issues with food can be caught earlier and be rectified faster if you know exactly where that food comes from
- aliweb, on 07/23/2008, -0/+6I try to buy from local farmers as much as possible.
- gskill, on 07/23/2008, -0/+6Trader Joes is the best.
- inactive, on 07/23/2008, -0/+5Many local farmers have created a successful niche by differentiating themselves from mega-growers and importers by catering to their customers local preferences and desire for quality. Viva la capitalism!
- joemofo214, on 07/23/2008, -0/+5I live in Texas, you can drive a mile in any direction and see a sign for locally grown produce
Im very fortunate - mieprowan, on 07/23/2008, -0/+4Good thought. If it's legal, don't assume people aren't using it, including backyard farmers. This is partly a cultural thing. Where I live they probably think it's fine to drink the stuff. Alternately, certified organic growers have to be audited, so to speak, which is why the whole process of certification was invented.
- inactive, on 07/23/2008, -0/+4I think buying local is the best way to ensure fresh produce at a reasonable price, while supporting the local farmer. No controversy in that:-)
- brettg102, on 07/23/2008, -0/+4Just grow your own.
- TheUngod, on 07/23/2008, -1/+5Pft, you can get watermelon at farmers markets too ya know
- Lynx55, on 07/23/2008, -0/+4Two simple words: Tastes better.
- strictnein, on 07/23/2008, -0/+3Never quite understood what people like about Trader Joes so much. And unless all of their Trader Joes branded products are made at numerous locations all across the US, most of the stuff you would buy there is shipped across the country.
- strictnein, on 07/23/2008, -1/+4Union Square
- sens, on 07/23/2008, -0/+3I absolutely agree, and everything in this article is correct, but was this written by a child for other children? It's extremely simplistic.
Or is the issue just that simple?
"Buy local 'cause it tastes more gooder and it's more gooder for the planet."
I think I just answered my own question. - liuite, on 07/23/2008, -0/+3squash and tomatoes are very easy to grow
- bdbr, on 07/23/2008, -0/+3I like TJ's, but when it comes to getting the best fruit at the best price you can't beat a local farm market.
- dxgg, on 07/23/2008, -0/+3Generalize much?
- aigulf, on 07/23/2008, -0/+3Eating seasonally is the hidden aspect of eating locally that I realized when I started buying from a local farmer. It was a little annoying that I couldn't get watermelon when I wanted it back in June, but having to wait for the right season makes me appreciate it now that they're ripening up here in Pennsylvania.
I think learning the patience to eat seasonally helps with another modern epidemic, the idea of instant gratification, of getting what I want right now. Patience makes us appreciate what we get more when it arrives. - SanDaiFez, on 07/23/2008, -0/+3In the free market you should be able to buy from anyone, with no political or psychological bullying.
- inactive, on 07/23/2008, -0/+3If you don't have time to shop at a farmer's market - one possibility is a CSA basket (Community Supported Agriculture) You basically buy a share in this season's crops and they provide a weekly basket of the harvest.
- dxgg, on 07/23/2008, -0/+3Find your local farmers (US only) - http://www.localharvest.org/
- allowners, on 07/23/2008, -1/+4One simple word: community.
- dxgg, on 07/23/2008, -1/+4Good word. I also like the word "sustainability".
- heymisspenny, on 07/23/2008, -1/+4Exactly!!
It's so much worse buying organics from another hemisphere than sprayed from down the street. - neognostic, on 07/23/2008, -0/+3Here is an example, at the Dallas Farmers market, they have rows and rows of sellers, and they all have the same boxes, from the same huge distributor down the street. Not locally grown. Down at the far end of the market, not even in the same shed are the local farmers. You just have to look around. Unfortunately, people don't all notice and the cheaper stuff that is not local or organic sells, and it is exactly the same thing you get from the supermarkets.
- aigulf, on 07/23/2008, -0/+3There probably are small farmers using pesticides, but with a little searching you can find the ones that care about the food they grow and use sustainable, whole-farm methods. When you let your cattle graze on the grass, followed by your chickens and pigs picking at the insects the cows attract, and rotate your crops, you don't need pesticides.
Farmers got along without them for thousands of years. It was only when we moved to these massive mono-crop farms, and separated the animals from the crops that pesticides became necessary. With diverse farms, if something comes in and decimates one crop, you're still safe with the other 10 or 20 you planted.
And, as for the cost, I subscribe to a local farm for all of my food (admittedly, it's a commitment saying you'll pay for 20 weeks of groceries, not knowing exactly what will show up in the basket each week), and spend $24/week on enough food for 2 people. Not to mention that, as the cost of oil rises, these local options with very little transportation will become more and more economically viable. - prometheanspark, on 07/23/2008, -0/+3Actually, this isn't always true because the organic movement (which is based on marketing) ignores the biggest environmental cost of producing food - water. It is decidedly BAD for environment to buy locally grown food if you live in an arid area because the water used for that purpose reduces rivers to a trickle, endangering fish and other riparian species, and also depletes aquifers, lowering ground water levels and in some cases killing entire forests when their underground water supply disappears. Unfortunately 'water wise' doesn't sell as well as 'chemical free', so it's ignored and as far as the organic rules go you can squeeze the water for your crop out of california condors.
The sad fact is, the BEST place to grow a crop is in the climate that's best suited for it, getting by as much as possible on natural rainfall. The cost of logistics, particularly by train, are relatively low compared to other ecological problems with farming, and transportation can be made entirely renewable in the future. - mieprowan, on 07/23/2008, -0/+2I read the other day that Wal-mart had taken to buying produce more locally, due to increasing gas prices. We live in a culture that takes the idea of centralization being more efficient for granted, but this idea never took into count the real expense of transportation. It is unlikely that we are going to find something new to burn that already has lots of energy built into it, and more likely we will have to rely on fuel we make, and it will be hard to figure out how to make fuel that has a lot more energy in it than we put into it. Goodbye centralization, sooner or later.
- mieprowan, on 07/23/2008, -0/+2You don't take into account how inefficient irrigation so often is. With proper water management, the adverse effects you describe can be minimized. But you are absolutely right that these things should be taken into account, and you left out soil salinization as a result of over-irrigating. You are also right that clean transportation would change the whole equation. But we don't have that right now. In any case, a lot can be done in semiarid climates without excessive disruption, if waste is eliminated, and there is so much waste. Lawns. I'm preaching to the choir here, I imagine.
- mieprowan, on 07/23/2008, -0/+2I was recently recommended this by one of my brothers and look forward to reading it. He said it was one of the five best books he'd read (and he's read bunches).
- KidDynamo0, on 07/23/2008, -1/+3What the hell are you talking about? Way to take something like locally grown produce into a political issue. FAIL.
- perfectsilence, on 07/23/2008, -0/+2so we should buy locally made clothes? cars? electronics? why not let the most efficient producer make these things? "buy local" is a road to poverty, not wealth.
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