Localisms

By BARCODE 2x

Why anyone would participate in a thing called Black Friday is completely beyond me. It sounds apocalyptic. It sounds like a bomb going off in a big box store. As your Civic Ethicist, I am recommending you stay home with your family this Friday after Thanksgiving.

Local food ethics can be as complex as the overlapping leaves of a (nicely steamed,100-mile) artichoke. Questions of economics and justice, politics and activism, consumption and the environment all come to the table, hungry for attention. Metaphor aside, the Matthaei Botanical Gardens in Ann Arbor was recently the host of the first Local Food Summit, whose mission strove to make progress toward "a healthy, just and secure local food economy."

I have been wrapping a few gifts to send off to friends for the holidays, at the same time thinking about how to tie several ribbons of ideas together on the issues that gifts and giving bring up this time of year. Here are some of these ideas:

1. The old saying "charity begins at home" has taken on new meaning this year, as at least one of my relatives has lost his job, and several friends (more than I can count) have connections to the auto industry.

Originally submitted by: Mz. Manners

Originally submitted by: Mz. Manners

Originally submitted by: jadelay

Originally submitted by: jadelay

Originally submitted by: barcode 2x

Originally submitted by: barcode 2x

Originally submitted by: Administrator