David,
You wrote:
"The local farmers here love Wal-Mart!"
I don't know where your "here" is. I also don't know if things have
changed dramatically in the last year or so but ....
I was visiting friends in Florida (southern US) during September of '06.
I commented that I thought there would be better produce in their
supermarkets. The tomatoes, peaches and strawberries reminded me of what is
available in December. I was told that they, the friends, bought most of
their produce from local farm markets rather than from the large
supermarkets.
On the way home to New York, I stopped at a farm stand in Georgia, the
"peach state", and bought half a bushel of fresh, delicious peaches. I asked
if I could get the same local peaches in Walmart and was told "No". The
young lady told me that the large supermarket chains deal with suppliers
that can deliver peaches, and other fruit and vegetables, all year round.
The local farmers can't do that. Their produce was sold at farm stands,
farmer's markets, and some of the small local markets ..... not the larger
supermarket chains.
When I returned home I spoke to the owner of our small, local market.
He seemed to agree with what I was told. He dealt with a distributor that
could assure delivery of produce year round. He does offer local produce
during the spring, summer and into the fall.
I've heard that the Walmarts of the world are now offering "organic"
produce. I have neither seen nor heard of them featuring locally-produced
meats or produce.
Maybe things have changed. Maybe your "here" is very different from my
"here".
Tom
----- Original Message -----
From: "David Lawson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <sustainablelorgbiofuel@sustainablelists.org>
Sent: Friday, January 11, 2008 11:05 AM
Subject: Re: [Biofuel] Fwd: Cute Video with important messages
> What exactly is so wrong with "Big Box Stores"? I can go to one store and
> buy most everything I need and granted some things I don't really need but
> want just the same. I don't have to drive 15 miles to five different
> locations to buy the things I can buy at one location. It is not just
> about convenience but about efficiency both in my time as well as
> resources. Think about the overall resources to get products to five
> different stores or five products to one store! It is not just about my
> efficiency but about the efficiency at which we use all resources. My
> local box store buys 90% of its fresh produce from local suppliers when it
> is available. So instead of driving 24 miles one way to the farmers market
> I can go less than 1 mile round trip to buy the very same produce.
>
> Regards,
> David
> Chip Mefford <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Kirk McLoren wrote:
>>
>>
>> Cute video, 9 min, with some important messages about consumption.
>>
>> http://www.alternet.org/blogs/workplace/73239/
>>
>> This film was selected for the 2008 Sonoma Environmental Film Festival.
>
> It is a cute video. But I have some issues with it.
>
> Is this about big box vs local business? or is it just
> yet still another slam against WallMart?
> Near as I can tell, it's just more slamming of WallMart.
>
> That's just fine with me on one level. WallMart certainly has
> it coming.
>
> But on many other levels, I think it's mostly a waste of time,
> and here's some reasons why.
>
> The video isn't going to change anyone's point of view, I don't think.
> Folks who still accept the WallMart model, are under much more
> pressure from WallMart than they are from local businesses. This
> pressure is well understood by folks who have built up the
> consumer mindset over the last 150-200 years quite well. It's
> subliminal and quite powerful. The wallmart overlords (heh)
> understand it really well. Hence the push for the green paint,
> all the hype about skylighting, 'organic' groceries, etc.
> This (effective) approach at heading off 'doubts' in the mind
> of the 'consumer' works.
>
> Being of a skeptical (and yes, ofttimes cynical) mindset, noise
> from wallmart about organic sets off alarm bells with me. But
> not with 'joe public consumer'. Attacking WallMart outright,
> as this video does, just shuts 'joe public consumer' down, and
> closes out any discussion. 'Jpc' already has their mind made up,
> and attacks neatly sidestep the debate. Folks who understand
> how debates work, know what I mean.
>
> IMO, a better approach would have been a stronger 'sales pitch'
> of the local business, farmers market and a lot less pejorative
> coverage of the big box. Just from a point of debate, there is
> a lot of apples vs oranges in that video. I see this more and more
> in short videos of this sort.
>
> In my quite limited experience, there are 'broad scale' farmers
> who are really good folks, and small scale farmer's market types
> who are complete jerks. That said, the trend is quite clear.
>
> There is optimism, and there is pessimism. There is advocacy
> and there is criticism. For some reason, there seems to be
> a lot of focus on criticism before advocacy. I'm not sure that's
> the best approach, for very many reasons.
>
> I could nitpick this video, there are problems with the facts as
> presented. But so what? I'd rather advocate for small/local
> businesses and small/local growers/diaries/farms.
>
> End of the day, for a legion of reasons, the Big-Box approach
> is fundamentally broken, it won't work out in the long run
> and so, I'd say, pay them no more mind (or money :) Focus on what works,
> will work, and get on with it. The more you live this, the
> more you'll find friends/co-workers/acquaintances with questions.
> You can refer them to this list :)
>
> --
>
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