Locally Produced.
12/11/2009
Locally produced. A term often used, but what do we really mean by it? How do we relate our lifestyles to locally produced items and services? These questions were the theme for a workshop arranged by the network K21 in Malmö this Wednesday. Invited participants were ecological shops, artists, the municipality, design studios and more random people with a focus on sustainability (whatever that means) in their everyday work. And of course The Allotment Plot. Johanna and me represented and got to tell about our work and the future magazine.
A surprise for me was the major focus on food production, when discussing locally produced. For us in T.A.P. the production of food is the most central (of course, since that’s what we do). But for most of the other participants, the field where you felt that you could make a conscious choice as a consumer was in food!! Maybe it’s what we buy on an everyday basis that makes our consciences most heavy. Maybe we can relate easier to how our decisions effect the environment when thinking of carrots in a field.
What we eat changes the landscape! A statement was made that tomatoes from Holland are more clomate friendly than a tomatoe grown in a greenhouse somewhere in Sweden. Meaning: dutch tomatoes are better. The end. But that’s only one perspective! I as a consumer may believe that contributing to Swedish economy and supporting my fellow gardeners as more important. Again: What we buy affects the landscape!
The day was interesting. And we all agreed that the question of local production is very complex. When does local stop being local and become global? And how can jeans from France be local at the same time as frames from Latvia aren’t? Gives you something to think about, right?
