Right, enough dreary emo stuff about my kids doing what they are meant to do - grow up and leave!
Moving swiftly away from all the angst, it's time to get back on track with this blog and resume the ongoing tale of a lightly green journey.
After our launch Local-Lish-Us Spring lunch on the 14th October, I (belatedly) started digging up and researching that species, the Locavore. Or Localvore, depending upon your preference. For ease of reference, hereafter abbrieviated to LV.
Google it, and the pages roll up, excitedly leaping off the screen, so much enthusiasm and delight. Just reading some of the pages transfers goodness and a beatific smugness right onto me - watch out universe, you are saved!
Oh, wait just a minute....that link mentions why LV's have got it wrong. Click click, and damp cloud of heavy, practical and downright depressing news opens before me. Damn James E McWilliams. Double damn, after reading his comments, and about his book, as well as numerous blogs, newspaper interviews and suchlike, it's hard to blow a raspberry at his grown up reality check. The anti LV's make some sense - not what I want to read about, at all!
Switching back and forth across interminable electronic arguments, spanning several years, and it becomes blindingly clear that battle lines have been drawn, and everyone is so hell bent on defending their point of view, and obliterating the opposition, few are actually listening. Fewer still are ready to sit down and talk compromise: how do we take the idealism and pertinent points from one side, and mix it with the economic hard facts and broader picture of the other, to create a middle path for all.
Could this 'take no prisoners - I'm right, you're wrong, I don't need to listen to your nonsense' date back to good ol' Dubbya 'if you are not with us, you're against us' speech of 6th November 2001? Have we forgotten the art of debate, the elegant cut and thrust of verbal foils? How on earth do we negotiate compromise and solution finding, if all we hear is the resounding clang of our own opinions and beliefs, whilst watching our opponents lips move, soundlessly? For goodness sake!
In Dubbya's defense, he was far from the first to imply the 'either or' scenario. Lenin, Orwell, Mussolini even Hilary Clinton climbed on that bandwagon before he did. But it does feel as though we are breeding intolerance at a fast rate.
So, as with anything, research, research, research. Both sides of the argument. Then pick your own path to follow, one which will grow and sustain your interest, soothe your conscience, and satisfy your intellectual challenges.
As for me, I am now shopping with my glasses permanently on my nose, reading the Made in... section on the labels. Slowly but surely, replacing the out of stock items in my pantry, with similar items sourced locally. It's making shopping more interesting, for sure. My little vege patch smiles at me through the kitchen window, and I willingly share the teeny surplus with a friend. She, in turn, doesn't laugh or turn her nose up at the small offering - accepting them with grace. Dairy will be reduced, and doubly so when Robert leaves - he is the milk drinker. But I'll buy locally made cheese, and less of it. Good for the pocket, my hips and puts me into both the pro and anti Locavore courts.
As for meat, we already eat very little, and again, when the carnivore heads down south in February, that will shrink even further. I've discovered that the avocado oil I buy in litres in P n P, isn't local, but yesterday I found a brand which is. A switch will be coming up shortly. This LV stuff is getting simpler by the minute!
Thank you, James E McWilliam, for pointing out the shortcomings of the ultrastrict and Marco Polo LV's. Finding the middle path between what you espose, and the ideals of Locovore living, really is the best of both worlds. Happiest of all, I believe that I'm treading my path based on facts and ideals that make sense to me, cherry picked from both sides.
Now why can't the drum banging Dubbya's at both extremes do the same? You're both right, guys, shake hands and start to work on and collate the goodness you both believe in.
A strong, united front, to reduce meat / dairy consumption, grow your own where possible, support local business as much as you can, eat seasonally, or preserved just makes sense, and instead of giving the broader community the chance to slip through the cracks, saying that "both sides are wrong, so why bother at all to make some changes" woo them with positive encouragement.
All together now, heave!
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