Going Local

Where things come from, what they are made of, by whom and how are becoming increasingly important questions as we learn just how much distant or huge manufacturers let things slide. This week alone these stories are revealed; the Gap lets an outsourced contractor use children to make clothing in horrible conditions, Japan's famous candy maker Akafuku is sloppy and Chinese drugs are found to be completely unregulated.

I don't know though, I don't really eat local food and use locally made crafts because I am afraid of this other stuff. I do it because I feel better on many levels for eating fresh organic food, living in a mostly DIY environment, etc. It is environmentally better for my family and the planet and it is ethically easier to discern the treatment of who's making my stuff. I am far from perfect. Actually, perfection isn't my goal. Far from it. There's so much fun good stuff out there. But, I am on a path. A path many others are streaming onto and that feels very good. Maybe, just maybe, the world isn't going somewhere hot in a hand bag. Maybe, our kids and grand kids will have something to work with when we are gone.