WORKINGSWELL and the ENVIRONMENT.

It does seem that at long last there is the beginning of a shift in attitude away from globalization inspired worship of the lowest price possible, regardless of cost and towards an understanding that, when the true costs are calculated and factored in, international mass manufacturing is nothing other than the economies of scale run amok and carried to absurdity.

Mass manufacturing migrates around the globe seeking the most impoverished communities to exploit for the lowest possible labor costs and environmental standards. The pollution generated by shipping raw materials in and finished items out over vast distances is never considered and recognized as a cost to future generations. 

Packaging of even the most prosaic items has developed so that quantities of plastic quadruples volume, prevents genuine inspection causing unnecessary returns but provides unintelligible information in a dozen languages and protection from the criminally insane. The plastic materials are often produced with no consideration of costs to the environment, no accounting for the chemical spills or gases released into the atmosphere. An understanding of the health hazards associated with these plastics "out-gassing" into holds of ships, warehouses and the general environment is only beginning.

The shift I see is most evident on the menus of fine dining, where exotic foods from around the world have been replaced with the freshest, most locally produced ingredients possible. On the grocery shelves too, the shift is apparent. Customer demand for local, fresher and safer food has prompted the expansion of the organic produce shelves that are well stocked and well used with prices that, hopefully, will make conventional, industrial scale, growers green with envy. 

Farmers markets and craft shows featuring locally grown produce and an ever expanding range of items offered by local maker-sellers, are also increasingly available and popular.

Locally made and sold items almost inevitably step with a lighter foot on the environment. Shipping fuel costs in both dollars and environmental damage is saved, packaging is likely to be minimal or recycled and the makers themselves usually work close to or at home and so avoid taking part in a daily grinding commute that causes so much pollution.

By promoting the more benign and sustainable "back to the village economy" of making and selling locally, Workingswell hopes to be part of a much needed solution. Our contributors are obliged to provide an environmental analysis of the opportunity they are offering as part of their Workingswell Critical Questions information and we intend to emphasize the self employment opportunities that are the most environmentally conscious and benign.