Go local… and how!

Richard KoolRoyal Roads University

Victoria BC

Bernice Packford

“That’s the topic and you’re the speaker”

“Don’t Mock the Artisanal-Pickle Makers”

New York Times, Mon, 02/27/2012, By Adam Davidson

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/magazine/adam-davidson-craft-business.html?_r=4&src=tp&smid=fb-share

Rick’ls Pickles Rick’ls Pickles

American educator and philosopher John Dewey defined freedom as the power to choose among known alternatives.

Locally, “money is like blood. It needs to keep moving around to keep the economy going…” When you don’t spend locally, “it flows out, like a wound.”

How does money come into our local economy?

Local agriculture

Small local business

“Chain” businesses

Healthcare, education

Government

How do we keep the bucket full?

Problems of ‘leakage’: movement of money outside of the area it was spent in

Fill it faster (more sources of income)

This is what buying locally can do!

2001 BC tax cuts of $2.1 billion

BC has weak manufacturing base, so much of what we buy comes from outside of the province.

Many of the services we purchase are also created outside the province and the country

Where did it go??? $.5 billion left the country

How much of your gas dollar stays in the community?

Of every dollar spent on gasoline, only $.15 stays in the community

Leakage!Heading to Invermere

$$$$$$$$

$$$$$$$$$

Heading to Alberta??

And what can we do about

it??

Big Box stores are major sources of leakage out of local economies

Average portion of $100 spent at a Target store that stays in the local economy: $16

Average portion of $100 spent at independent retailers that stays in the local economy: $32http://www.newrules.org/retail/news/localism-index

Average amount of local wages paid for every $100 spent at a full-service chain restaurant: $18.68

Average amount of local wages paid for every $100 spent at a full-service locally owned restaurant: $28.46http://www.newrules.org/retail/news/localism-index

Chicago: compared ten locally owned restaurants, retail stores, and service providers with chains competing in the same categories.

Every $100 spent at one of the independent businesses created $68 in additional economic activity…Spending the same amount at a chain generated $43 worth of local impact.(Civic Economics, The Andersonville Study of Retail Economics, 2004.)

"As stores closed in the city enclaves, as well as in suburban and rural malls…”

“Retail stores are boarded up, marked with graffiti and as jobs are lost in the neighborhood, even neighborhood housing also begins to decay. Welfare rolls rise, crime and violence increase and unemployed youth often turn to underground employment, drugs, crime, school truancy and eventual ‘drop out’ from both school and society…”Shils, E. B. (1997). The Shils report: measuring the economic and sociological impact of the mega-retail discount chains on small enterprise in urban, suburban and rural communities: The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. http://www.lawmall.com/rpa/rpashils.htm

Carries 15,000 containers, goes rom China to LA in four days

What happens when large retailers move in?

Lose local infrastructure support.

Local warehousing is lost

Banking, legal, accounting and other local services are not needed by the large chains.

Kill local business.Significant monetary

‘leakage’ out of community

Revenues gained by the large discount chains are actually money lost from local merchants.

Regional impacts: studies show that towns outside of Wal-Marts lost sales on average of 25% because of customers moving out to shop at the chains.

Local businesses use local business, so when a small retailer goes down, others in the community are weakened by that loss.

Superstores harm communitiesLow prices have hidden costs

weaken downtown and Main Streets

Waste or abandonment of previous public and private investments in existing community assets

Displace locally owned businesses that contribute to local civic life

increase property taxes by needing costly services: roads, water and sewer lines etc.

Barnstable, MA: the annual cost of providing city services to traditional downtown and neighborhood business districts was $786 per 1,000 ft2.

Big-box stores were 30% more costly, requiring $1,023 in services per 1,000 ft2. (Tischler & Associates, Fiscal Impact Analysis of Residential and Nonresidential Land Use Prototypes, 2002)

Homogenizes communities

Encourages sprawl and greater dependence on autos

Money leaves community to pay distant shareholders

“On average, Wal-Mart store openings reduce retail employment by about 2.7%, implying that each Wal-Mart employee replaces about 1.4 employees in the rest of the

retail sector.”

“Retail earnings at the county level also decline as a result of Wal-Mart entry, by about 1.3%.”

Neumark, D., Zhang, J., & Ciccarella, S. (2007). The Effects of Wal-Mart on Local Labor Markets. Bonn, Germany: Institute for the Study of Labor.

In discussing Wal-Mart's future growth and expansion plans, David D. Glass, Chief Executive Officer, said: "We're going to dominate North America."

HAS WAL-MART BURIED MOM AND

POP?: THE IMPACT OF WAL-MART ON SELF-EMPLOYMENT AND

SMALL ESTABLISHMENTS IN THE UNITED STATES

“Contrary to popular belief, our results suggest that the process of creative destruction unleashed by Wal-Mart has had no statistically significant long-run impact on the overall size and profitability of the small business sector in the United States.”

Sobel & Dean. (2008). HAS WAL-MART BURIED MOM AND POP?: THE IMPACT OF WAL-MART ON SELF-EMPLOYMENT AND SMALL ESTABLISHMENTS IN THE UNITED STATES. Economic Inquiry; Oct 2008; 46, 4; pg. 676

WAL-MART AND SOCIAL CAPITAL

“Our results indicate that the presence of Wal-Mart depresses social capital stocks in local communities… these externalities represent real costs for communities in the form of reduced economic growth. Our results also indicate that community leaders should think carefully about providing infrastructure development subsidies to the chain. Given the measurable impact that social capital has on economic well-being, our findings are important. Less clear is what should or could be done about this…

Local county leaders should be made aware of the likely adverse effects of the chain on local civic capacity and social capital, and consider implementing policies and programs to help mitigate these effects.”

Goetz, S. J., & Rupasingha, A. (2006). Wal-Mart and social capital American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 88(5).

“WalMart’s presence depresses voter turnout on election day, signifying a reduction in local social capital and civic capacity (or, in this case, activity)… In the case of tax-exempt non-profit organizations per 10,000 we again have the expected sign and statistical significance for both Wal-Mart variables at below the 1 % level.”

“In particular, local lawyers, accountants and bankers provide essential support services for the mom-and-pop stores, and these individuals typically are community leaders. With the arrival of Wal-Mart, and the attendant reduction in the demand for their services, they leave the community to pursue opportunities elsewhere. In the process, the social capital they embody is destroyed, and their entrepreneurial skills and other forms of location-specific human capital are forever lost to the community…”

Goetz, S. J., & Rupasingha, A. (2006). Wal-Mart and social capital. American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 88(5), 1304-1310.

WAL-MART AND SOCIAL CAPITAL

Go Local

Buy Local -- Support yourself: more of your money is used to make purchases from other local businesses, service providers and farms.

Support community groups: Non-profit organizations receive an average 250% more support from smaller business owners than they do from large businesses.

Keep our community unique: Our community is our home. Tourism also benefit.  “When people go on vacation they generally seek out destinations that offer them the sense of being someplace, not just anyplace.”

Big-Box Economic Impact Studies: http://www.newrules.org/retail/bigboxstudies.pdf

Reduce environmental impact: Locally owned businesses make more local purchases, and are generally set in town or city centers as opposed to developing on the fringe: less sprawl, congestion, habitat loss and pollution.

Create more good jobs: Small & local businesses are the largest employers.

Get better service: Local businesses often hire people with a better understanding of the products  Big-Box Economic Impact Studies: http://www.newrules.org/retail/bigboxstudies.pdf

Invest in community: Local businesses are owned by people who live in this community, are less likely to leave, and are more invested in the community’s future.

Put your taxes to good use: Local businesses in town centers require comparatively little infrastructure investment and make efficient use of public services

Encourage local prosperity: In an increasingly homogenized world, entrepreneurs and skilled workers are more likely to invest and settle in communities that preserve their businesses and distinctive character.

Big-Box Economic Impact Studies: http://www.newrules.org/retail/bigboxstudies.pdf

Why local foods?

The land is there for growing

There are benefits to our children to be engaged in growing food

Locally fresh food is healthier and less likely to have pesticides or biocontaminants

It increases the security of our communities

It keeps our money flowing around our communities

How do we get there?Consider a big box/chain-store descent plan…

At the same time considering a local purchasing ascent plan…

Lots

Little

Now In the near future

How Could You Switch 1% Of Your Budget To

Be Spent Locally

Plug the leaks

Keeps wealth closer to home

Keeps it going around the local economy

Supports your neighbours

Puts your money where your mouth is.

More local foods

Buy from non-chain businesses

Use less fossil fuels

Use local banking/credit unions

Engage with your neighbours to strengthen

your community!

So why are we not building strong communities through increased local economic activity?

Pressure

Change

hi

hi

Hi

lo

Lo

Change

Lo

Lo

Hi

Hi

Attraction

Resistance

Resistance

Resistance

Change

hi

hi

Hi

Potentially keeps change from happening

LO

Change Lo

Practical real-world reasons to not change

Psychological defense-based reasons to not change

The conservative impulse: “… the tendency of adaptive beings to assimilate reality to their existing structure, and so to avoid or reorganize parts of the environment which cannot be assimilated.” (Marris, 1974 p. 4)

http://yfrog.com/z/oex97kej

Greenwash “Disinformation disseminated by an organisation, etc., so as to present an environmentally responsible public image; a public image of environmental responsibility promulgated by or for an organisation, etc., but perceived as being unfounded or intentionally misleading.”

Greenwash

Media coverage of ‘Greenwash’, based ona review of 30 national UK newspapersFuterra Sustainability Communications. (n.d.). The

Greenwash guide. London, UK.

“Walmart’s Growth Will Offset Its Planned Energy Savings. Walmart’s new stores will use more energy that its energy-saving measures will save… New stores built in 2007 alone, however, will consume enough electricity to add approximately one million metric tons of CO2 to the atmosphere.”

Walmart Leaves Empty Buildings Behind. In the United States alone, Walmart has abandoned over 300 of its stores… resulting in over 500 million square feet of unused retail space.

PressurePush towards change is a response to a pressure moving people from their status quo not necessarily by choice, but because of some compulsion that drives them to move

Change

Pressure

hi

lo

Potentially push towards change

Pressure

Change

Terror

Soviet Union Gulag, 1932

Toronto Canada 2010

TerrorPersuasion Reciprocatio

nConsistencySocial proofLikingAuthorityScarcity

Pressure

Change

Pressure

“… dramatic, sensational, fearful, shocking, and other climate change representations of a similar ilk can successfully capture people’s attention to the issue of climate change and drive a general sense of the importance of the issue. However, they are also likely to distance or disengage individuals from climate change, tending to render them feeling helpless and overwhelmed when they try to comprehend their own relationship with the issue.”

O'Neill, S., & Nicholson-Cole, S. (2009). "Fear won't do it": Promoting positive engagement with climate change through visual and iconic representations. Science Communication, 30(3), 355-379.

TerrorPersuasion“Fear campaigns”

“a norm is a rule or principle that specifies actions which are required, permissible or forbidden independently of any legal or social institution”

Change

Pressure

Descriptive-norm only condition: how much energy they had used in the previous weekactual energy consumption of the average household in their neighborhood during that same periodpreprinted suggestions for how to conserve energy

1200 San Diego households getting weekly ‘doorhangers’ with information

TerrorPersuasion“Fear campaigns”Norms

Descriptive-plus-injunctive-information conditionSame information as the descriptive-norm-only group, with one addition:

If the household had consumed <average, the researcher drew a

If the household had consumed >average, the researcher drew a

TerrorPersuasion“Fear campaigns”Norms

Schultz, P. W., Nolan, J. M., Cialdini, R. B., Goldstein, N. J., & Griskevicius, V. (2007). The constructive, destructive, and reconstructive power of social norms. Psychological Science, 18(5), 429-434.

“Social change does not depend on correct analysis. It depends on motivation.”

“moral compass”Integrity

Responsibility

Forgiveness

Compassion

Change

PressurePressure

hi

lo

“He stood up again and again in front of big audiences and told them that pretty much everything they knew, learned, and were doing was destroying the earth. He meant every word he spoke…”Ray Anderson, Interface

Flooring

Attraction

Attraction

hi

hi

lo

Potentially pull towards change

“... the future may well be decided by the images of the future with the greatest power to capture our imaginations and draw us to them, becoming self-fulfilling prophecies."

“The rise and fall of images of the future precedes or accompanies the rise and fall of cultures.”Polak, (1973) Image of the future.

Attraction

Changehi

lo

What do we desire that can pull us towards a positive and pro-environmental change?

?How do we move from where we are now to the desired future?

Given what we know, how do we help develop new visions, and then provide ourselves and others with the tools to begin to enact those visions?

Images

that

moti

vate

for

change

Believable—The image of the future cannot be dismissed as an impossible fantasy…Highly Positive—The image has a visionary, inspirational quality that attracts people and motivates them to act to make the future like the image…Open Ended—The image of the future is not rigid or static; it points in new directions but invites further elaboration.Responsive—The image addresses specific challenges facing the society; it revises the most obsolete aspects of the society's previously dominant images of the future.Integrative—The image helps revitalize the society's sense of meaning and purpose by providing individuals with a comprehensive story of "what is happening" and "what could be.”

Olson, R. L. (1995). Sustainability as a social vision. Journal of Social Issues, 51(4), 15-35.

So where do we go?Pressure

Attraction

Resistance

Change

hi

hi

HI

lo

lo

Change

lo

LO

Push

PullHold on

“I have a dream….

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.“

‘‘Dreamers dream about things being different. Visionaries envision themselves making the

difference.’’

å‘‘The best strategy is a vision, not a plan’’ (Henry Mintzberg )

“If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea” (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)