{"id":16405,"date":"2018-09-26T09:00:35","date_gmt":"2018-09-26T16:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=16405"},"modified":"2018-10-03T09:12:09","modified_gmt":"2018-10-03T16:12:09","slug":"open-space-the-importance-of-buying-local","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2018\/09\/26\/open-space-the-importance-of-buying-local\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Space<\/em>: The importance of buying local"},"content":{"rendered":"

When is the last time you took out $100 and burned it? My guess is you\u2019ve done it hundreds\u2014if not thousands\u2014of times. Have you ever purchased from Walmart? Do your clothes come from Forever 21, H&M, Joe Fresh? If the answer is \u201cyes\u201d to any one of these (and these are just the tip of the iceberg), then the answer is also \u201cyes\u201d to the first question. Do the world a favour and shred your money instead.<\/p>\n

Every dollar you spend is a vote you cast. You may think the call to vote only comes every few years, when picket signs colour-code neighbourhoods and clipboard-carrying volunteers ask us for a moment of our time. Just now, we are being asked to vote in the upcoming municipal elections (insert shameless plug to go vote here). With an average turnout of 63 percent over the past five years of federal elections in Canada, the GPA for voter confidence is sitting at a disheartening 2.0, and the wrong people are winning.<\/p>\n

Contrary to these stats, however, voter turnout is actually closer to 100 percent on a day-to-day basis. Each time you pull out your wallet, you are\u2014consciously or unconsciously\u2014giving power to the institutions and governing bodies\u2014and their beliefs and social and environmental practices\u2014that receive your precious dollars.<\/p>\n

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This story originally appeared in our September 26, 2018 issue.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So, what happens when you choose local?<\/p>\n

Local businesses are the largest employers, nationally. They invest their money back into the community in the form of sports teams, events, rotary, charities and not-for-profits, and sourcing locally made products. Every dollar spent in your community leads to a stronger municipal tax base, which leads to better infrastructure and services at home.<\/p>\n

Some softer benefits include a more unique range of products, arguably better customer service from people who care about building community, and more sustainability than most low-cost imports.<\/p>\n

I get it: Walmart is cheap and convenient. They even shelf some local products. You could argue that the imports of goods and services are a substantial and impactful addition to our nation\u2019s GDP. Perhaps you think buying local is the costly privilege of upper-middle-class consumers. Heck, you may not even be local! So why should you care?<\/p>\n

How you choose to invest your money locally can take many forms. It’s a cycle that leads to stronger communities, which in turn creates stronger countries, which will bring us to a wealthier and healthier world than the one we live in today.<\/p>\n

How can you make this choice without breaking the bank or doubling the time it takes to shop?<\/p>\n

You could make the shift to having your produce delivered to your doorstep from companies like The Good Food Box or Saanich Organics (and you could split the cost and bounty with roommates or neighbours); you could choose to buy the clothes that were made to last years rather than the fast fashion that will be out of style and out of your closet in months; you could choose to frequent a local coffee shop instead of Starbucks the next time the choice presents itself.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t underestimate the power of choice and the influence you exercise every time you spend money. You are more powerful than you may think and no decision is too small.<\/p>\n

Your choices today are going to directly impact the world we live in tomorrow. I vote for fair wages, environmental stewardship, community events, product diversity, personal and meaningful customer service, and a stronger tax base in my community.<\/p>\n

I vote we shop local.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When is the last time you took out $100 and burned it? My guess is you\u2019ve done it hundreds\u2014if not thousands\u2014of times. Have you ever purchased from Walmart? Do your clothes come from Forever 21, H&M, Joe Fresh? If the answer is \u201cyes\u201d to any one of these (and these are just the tip of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16422,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,219],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-views","category-september-26-2018"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16405"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16405\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16423,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16405\/revisions\/16423"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}