Local

There are all kinds of movements popping up these days. One that I've been thinking a lot about lately is the push to "buy local." At its foundation, buy local folks encourage the purchase and enjoyment of fresh food, crafts and other things, that without looking at the labels you'd never know were grown or manufactured thousands of miles away. For example, I'm on my way to a conference in Phoenix and while packing glanced at the label of a shirt -- Bangladesh.

Bangladesh? According to the World Bank the country's about 56,000 square miles in total area, or about 10,000 square miles smaller than Florida. The country packs an amazing 162 million people in that space, or about half as many who live in the U.S. Oh, and its about 8,000 miles from Sterling, VA.

Definitely not local; and someone there made my shirt. A year or so ago, I heard about a book written by woman whose family tried not to buy anything made in China. While to me their quest was more of a lark, the problems they faced in finding things manufactured someplace else was tough, and illustrated a real truth: we get so much of our stuff from so far away.

But while trying to find things like tennis shoes or kids toys made locally may be difficult, this time of year there is no problem finding fresh produce and even meats. May 1 opens the Fairfax County Farmers Market, as well as other markets throughout Virginia.

Buying local produce has benefits across nearly all shades of green. For example, sustainabletable, a buy local advocate lists a range of environmental benefits from buying local, including boosts to the local economy, reduced pesticide use (and less runoff) and less fossil-based energy being used through shorter travel distances for your food.

Most people don't know this, but California is where most of our green stuff comes from (red stuff, too, like strawberries.) According to Beachcalifornia.com, ninety-nine percent of U.S. almonds, prunes, figs and walnuts come from California. I bought almonds a few days ago and never thought twice where they came from. A little closer than my Bangladesh shirt, but what's a few thousand miles once you get over 3,000?

Can I do without almonds? Sure. Should I? Don't know, but it certainly doesn't hurt to pause to think about the real cost of those almonds when I'm sprinkling them on my oatmeal -- or the cost of everything else that we buy -- on the environment .