Localized

Now is the time to bring the economy closer to home. There a several ways that you can bring the economy closer to home. At the top of the list for the localization movement is home production. Second is to buy locally produced goods. Next is to shop locally.

What can you do to bring the production of things you consume closer to home? Got some spare time, make some bread, start some seeds. The more you can procure your own products the less reliant you will be on a volatile global economy. Cooperative efforts can make the practice even easier. The options for cooperative efforts are endless. Just like a barn raising, we can gather people for all sorts of projects: community gardens, beer making, wine making, roof raising, canning, drying food, pot lucks. The list can go on and on. Can you think of any community projects?
We don't have time for everything so we must get some of our goods and services elsewhere. If you procure things that are produced locally then you are supporting your surrounding community. You can think of it as a net. The more people that are supporting locally produced goods the more strings in the net and vice versa. Do you want a stronger net or a weaker net in your community?
Similar with buying goods produced locally is shopping locally. Even though the goods may not be produced so locally at least you are supporting a local business owner. This can strengthen the local "net", unless the store is competing with a local producer.
If you don't support your local economy then you are helping to contribute to a vacuum in the local economy. Rather than putting into the local economy you may be taking out of it. It is crucial that we start living with a more localized economy so that we may have a more stable economy in the face of volatile world markets. Local investment is worth it as we will know where our money is going and we will quite possibly see where it is being invested.