Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
CALIFORNIA IS FAMOUS FOR BEING A TRENDSETTER
. B
LUE
jeans (San Francisco), indoor shop-
ping malls (Los Angeles), theme parks (Anaheim), and the Internet (Silicon Valley) all got
their start here.
One of the strongest current trends in Sonoma County, California, where I live, is localism. In
Santa Rosa, my city, a downtown storefront is home to Share Exchange—perhaps best described as
a localist mini-mall, hosting a “Made Local” marketplace, a “share space” coworking center, and
a cooperative business incubator. Signs on Santa Rosa windows and lampposts advise residents to
“Shop Local,” “Bank Local,” “Eat Local,” and “Compost Local.” A new county-based nonprofit
power agency, Sonoma Clean Power, started up in 2014. Menus at an upscale restaurant at the center
of town proclaim, “We feature organic food from local farmers.” And Sonoma County is now es-
timated to have about 250 small commercial food producers.
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Of course, localism is not unique to California; it's blossoming across America, with “Go
Local” programs thriving in Boston, Atlanta, Tacoma, and other cities. The US Department of Agri-
culture lists 8,144 farmers' markets in its National Farmers' Market Directory, up from 5,000 in
2008. Indeed, local food is one of the fastest growing segments of American agriculture, though it
has yet to become as popular as blue jeans or shopping malls.
To be sure, localism has its critics, who argue that it amounts merely to a snobbish, nostalgia-
driven fad; they say globalization—in effect, anti-localism—has given us economic growth and
cheaper consumer goods, lifted hundreds of millions in poor countries from poverty, and contrib-
uted to cross-cultural understanding. Localism, its detractors say, rows against the tide of history.
Localism's supporters counter that globalization has spurred economic inequality and destroyed
jobs. Further, localists worry that globalization is an inherently unsustainable trend that will leave
households and communities high and dry when it inevitably falters. Nearly everyone agrees that
global communication and cultural exchange are good things, and that complete local self-suffi-
ciency is probably both unattainable and undesirable. Nevertheless, localists contend that, during re-
cent decades, the economic pendulum has swung much too far toward globalism and is now poised
to reverse itself, making localism the dominant trend through the remainder of this century.
Throughout this essay, as I illustrate the case for the desirability and inevitability of a return to
shorter supply chains, I'll circle back to examples and evidence from my home region. Readers can
readily find similar examples in their own neck of the woods. We'll also explore ways in which a
