While living in California we made a decision to try to become more self-sufficient. We began growing our own vegetables and started raising chickens and pigs. At the same time we decided to purchase locally sourced items as much as we could. In our community it was a really big deal to provide as much as you can for yourself. What you could not provide for yourself you would trade with someone else or purchase locally. The social norm, obviously, is that it was an unspoken expectation that you would provide for yourself as much as you were able to. The idea was that self-reliance was important to living a healthy and burden free life style. There were no negative repercussions if you decided not to do this but you definitely knew who was and was not a locavore.

The societal issues that the previous paragraph can be connected to are as follows. By becoming more self-sufficient and buying locally sourced products we cut down on emission of greenhouse gasses. The products we produced or purchased came from nearby, most times from right down the road, and were not transported by large fossil fuel burning transports. The products that we produced or purchased also had no GMO’s, growth hormones, insecticides, inorganic fertilizers or antibiotics. What we had was clean food. The meat products we had were all free range and lived happy lives that served a specific purpose. Most of the times we would be able to meet the animal before we purchased it. They were not caged and confined, removed from their natural environment. This ensured that there were no unwanted chemicals entering our bodies or leeching into the environment.