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byAnna White
Around the world, there is a growing movement topull back from the relentless march of corporate globalization by re-rootingeconomic and social activities at the community level. From the burgeoningpopularity of farmers' markets and food co-ops to the revitalization of communitybanking, people are organizing themselves to reclaim the economyfrom large profit-driven corporations and instead build sustainable, localalternatives.
While the term ‘localization' has never gainedpopular currency (perhaps because it is so easily misunderstood), it is worthconsidering a broad definition for this trend towards small-scale, community-orientedbusinesses. In Localization: AGlobal Manifesto, Colin Hines defines localization as "aprocess which reverses the trend of globalization by discriminating in favor ofthe local". It is important to note, however, that this does not mean"walling off the outside world" through nationalistic protectionism(see Micahel Schuman, Going Local:Creating Self Reliant Communities in a Global Age). Nor does it mean creatingcommunal autarky, with self-sufficient groups cutting themselves off from themonetary economy. International trade, travel and cultural exchange wouldcontinue, but locally-controlled, diversified economic activity would reorientproduction and service provision towards meeting the needs of the communityfirst.
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Genetically modified food crops could be used as ”weapons of infliction of hunger and poverty” if they are managed unjustly, said the new head of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. Cardinal Peter Turkson told Catholic News Service March 9 that he would urge an attitude of caution and further study of the possible negative effects of genetically engineered organisms.
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Thousands of people all over India and the world are joining the *NationalDay of Fast* on *Jan 30th - Gandhiji's anniversary*. From Kerala to Delhiand Bengal to Gujarat in Inda, and Baton Rouge to Boston in the US (see listof events/locations below), they are opposing the introduction ofgenetically modified (GM) Bt Brinjal into the Indian markets. GM foods likeBt brinjal pose a large threat to health, agriculture and environment, andthey need to be strongly opposed in order to preserve farmers' self-relianceand control over seeds and agriculture, and protect the consumers' access tosafe healthy food.
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Will the local economy movement replace the 'climate movement'?
Internet entrepreneur blogs about the latest in green media.
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Friday, Aug. 21, 2009
by Bryan Walsh, Time Magazine
Somewhere in Iowa, a pig is being raised in a confined pen, packed
in so tightly with other swine that their curly tails have been chopped
off so they won't bite one another. To prevent him from getting sick in
such close quarters, he is dosed with antibiotics. The waste produced
by the pig and his thousands of pen mates on the factory farm where
they live goes into manure lagoons that blanket neighboring communities
with air pollution and a stomach-churning stench. He's fed on American
corn that was grown with the help of government subsidies and millions
of tons of chemical fertilizer. When the pig is slaughtered, at about 5
months of age, he'll become sausage or bacon that will sell cheap,
feeding an American addiction to meat that has contributed to an
obesity epidemic currently afflicting more than two-thirds of the
population. And when the rains come, the excess fertilizer that coaxed
so much corn from the ground will be washed into the Mississippi River
and down into the Gulf of Mexico, where it will help kill fish for
miles and miles around. That's the state of your bacon — circa 2009. (See TIME's photo-essay "From Farm to Fork.")
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