Speech- Meriwether Carling

Meriwether Carling

Mr. Logsdon

AP English Language and Composition

13 December 2015

Buying Local

Out of everyone in here, whose family shops at Kroger or buys merchandise from the mall? My guess is almost everyone. You probably aren’t surprised when I tell you that by doing so you are supporting nationally owned corporations around America, giving money to people who never plan to step foot in Lexington. I’m sure most of you have seen the bumper sticker that says “Shop Local” or you’ve been told to “Support Small Businesses” but you go about, shrugging of the offer and wondering how one purchase could make a difference. Most people choose to ignore how much of an impact we have on the well-being and prosperity of Lexington and how we can positively affect it just by changing something as simple as where we shop. By shopping at local stores and buying food from nearby farmers we help our local economy thrive while the money kept in our own community goes into helping our city become more unique and our environment is protected in the process.

Local businesses give a community character and make it a better place to live. They give each city a unique quality because they are shops not seen at a billion other places around America. Small businesses are 250% more likely to donate to local non-profit organizations than big businesses (Sustainable Connections). As local businesses donate to local organizations they create a web of interconnected friendships within the community that no chain store can compete with.

This past summer as I spent time in Michigan with my family, we drove around downtown Petosky. While we were there, we saw this little restaurant on the corner of the street. As we drove by, we spotted a sign reading “farm to table”. I’d heard of this idea before with many of the new restaurants in Lexington; but didn’t realize how quickly the concept was spreading, this idea where the food only makes 3 stops: the Farm, the Kitchen, the Table. It’s as simple as that. Through this local farmers receive financial support from local businesses that receive financial support from local consumers. And this “farm to table” concept is just one of many examples of the “relationships” buying local can create as people in the community support other people in the community rather than national businesses.

And, as if going from farm to table with only the kitchen in between isn’t good enough, buying local also helps the environment. You’re probably wondering, how does buying local save the planet? Well, hear me out. Most franchised restaurants order their food from all the way across the country, requiring planes and trucks to carry it thousands of miles before it is served, leading to more pollution and longer travel time for products that you can find 5 minutes away at local farmers markets. This doesn’t just stop with the food at restaurants either. Materials needed to make items at local shops can usually be found and bought from sellers nearby eliminating a factories need to produce mass amounts of products. The Environmental Protection Agency states, “industrial pollution is responsible for almost 50 percent of the pollution present in the United States. Shopping locally helps cut down on processing, packaging and transportation waste, leading to less pollution.”

Local businesses are also known for making the best use of small already existing spaces. If they find a little building in the middle of town that is vacant, they set up shop there, instead of going and tearing apart land to build a new shopping mall. Shopping local helps cut down on the distance products travel while also protecting the land from being destroyed by big businesses.

While we help our environment we also build and save our local economy.  Most of the time these small stores are run by people who live in the community. Not only are they run by local citizens, but they also open up more jobs for people nearby. Unlike chain stores, small businesses don’t send in members of a big corporation to run and manage the store, but instead find local people who can fit the jobs just as well without packing up and moving their life. Because the owners of local shops are from the community, they care more about their customers and often form relationships with them big corporations are unable to replicate.

People often claim they don’t buy locally because the products at these stores cost more than the products at the big chain stores. This may be true in some situations but the effects of spending that extra dollar only end up helping the community even more in the long run. “Each dollar you spend at independent businesses returns 3 times more money to your local economy than one spent at a chain [store]” (American Independent Business Alliance). This here is proof that spending a little bit more money at local businesses is worth it. If people make the choice to stop buying from nationally run corporations and start buying from nearby stores, then the revenue brought in by these stores will help the local economy in ways that may seem too good to be true.

Before I go sit down I hope at least a few of you who said yes when asked if you do most of your shopping at Kroger or at the mall will be able to say no a few months from now, not out of guilt, but out of desire. Desire because you know by doing so you will be bettering your local economy, giving your community more character, and helping the environment by simply shopping at a different store. So the next time you have the choice between, let's say, going to Kroger or going to the farmers market, choose the one that will better us as a community, choose local!

Bibliography

Beals, Rachel K. "How Consumers and Communities Can Benefit from 'Buying Local'" U.S. News and World Report: Money. N.p., 28 Oct. 2011. Web. 13 Dec. 2015.

Children Shopping at Local Farmers Market. Digital image. Community Advocate. Community Advocate Staff, 13 July 2015. Web. 13 Dec. 2015.

Salguero, Michael. "Why Buying Local Is Worth Every Cent [Infographic]." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 24 Nov. 2013. Web. 13 Dec. 2015.

Toohey, Paul, and Melissa E. Porter. "LOCAL - A Short Documentary." Vimeo. Rightfrog Productions, 2011. Web. 13 Dec. 2015.

"Top Reasons to Buy Local, Eat Local, Go Local." AMIBA. N.p., 15 Apr. 2015. Web. 13 Dec. 2015.

"Why Buy Locally Owned?" Sustainable Connections. Balle Member, 2014. Web. 13 Dec. 2015.