The Local Angle

The Espresso Book Machine appealed to me for another reason that I haven’t mentioned: the opportunity to do everything locally. You see, ever since I wrote on the Transition Town movement in the Christian Science Monitor, I have looked at means of production and exchange differently. Why should tasks be outsourced if they can be done right here, keeping money in the local economy? Why should products be shipped (using fuel, raw materials, space, etc.) from production facility to warehouse to distributor to retailer if we could cut out some of those steps?

My response to the current economic downturn has been to ask questions about how money functions and to explore alternate means of exchange. I have found myself traveling down economic byways I never knew existed. Here are links to articles I’ve done on the topic for Time.com and Yes! magazine.

How does this relate to The Therapist’s New Clothes? Well, remember that dazzling cover? I am paying designer Amy Anselmo in editorial services. The absence of typos in the book is thanks to Gabrielle Rynes, who would only accept lily plants. Tony once conducted an independent study for daffodil bulbs in lieu of a fee. The daffodils pop up all over every spring and the bulbs have multiplied. Here in Vermont it is too late for daffodils and too early for lilies but our lupine are up in force:I will get back to the theme of local economies in future posts.