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The local food movement is demonstrating what can happen when you shorten distances: you encourage a shift from monoculture to diversification on the land; you reduce the energy consumption, the packaging, the refrigeration, and the waste; you provide healthier food at a reasonable price; and you have healthier, more prosperous farming communities.

— Helena Norberg-Hodge Caretaking by Wendell Berry and Helena Norberg-Hodge, Orion Magazine (2019)

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For our species to have a future, it must be local.

Even bolder action is needed if there is to be any hope of eliminating the damage done by the global food system. A crucial first step is to raise awareness of the costs of the current system, and the multiple benefits of local food.

Having society determine the rules for business is not the same as communism. It’s simply that citizens have a vote in how they want to spend their public budget. Do they want to continue on an evermore competitive and global path where there is virtually no accountability?

Another important point is that small, diversified farms always produce more per unit of land, water, and energy than large monocultures. So we have to turn this lie around that there are too many people now to localize, too many people to have small farms. It’s exactly the opposite.

Caretaking by Wendell Berry and Helena Norberg-Hodge, Orion Magazine (2019)

As the fault lines in the global economy continue to grow, and the desire for genuine human connection becomes ever more keenly felt, these existing initiatives will provide direction as well as inspiration, and stand as a compelling alternative to the faux-localist path of violence, fear, and hate.

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Helena Norberg-Hodge (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.