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Political Activism Gets Popular - TV, Sports and Elite Controllers Lose Ground as Citizenry Awakens - Leland Lehrman

Check It Out: Filmmaking in New Mexico Update - Priscilla Vanik

Congressman Udall Rallies Santa Fe Farmer’s Market Film and Fundraiser - Leland Lehrman

Google Goes Solar, National Energy Policymakers Take Note - Leland Lehrman

Top 14 Reasons to Buy Local

Letter to President Bush from NM State Senator Gerald Ortiz y Pino - Reporting by Stephen Fox

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Darwin Awards: Jet Assisted Take-Off

FDA Announces New Trade Names for Viagra

The Vote

Top 14 Reasons to Buy Local

1. Locally grown or produced food tastes better.
In the week-long (or more) delay from harvest to dinner table, sugars turn to starches, plant cells shrink and produce loses it vitality.

2. Local food preserves genetic diversity.
Local farms grow a huge number of varieties to provide a long season of harvest, an array of eye-catching colors and the best flavors.

3. Local food supports local farm families.
Local farmers who sell direct to customers get full price for their food.

4. Local produce is better for you.
Recent studies show that fresh produce loses nutrients quickly.

5. Local food builds community.
When you buy direct from the farmer, you are re-establishing a time-honored connection between the eater and the grower.

6. Local food preserves open space.
When you buy locally grown food, you are doing something proactive about preserving the agricultural landscape.

7. Local food keeps your taxes in check.
Local, independent farms contribute more in taxes than they require in services.

8. Keep the money in the neighborhood.
For every 100 dollars spent at a locally owned business, $45 goes back into our community—and our tax base. For every $100 spent at a chain store, only $14 comes back.

9. Support community groups.
Non-profits receive an average of 350% more support from local businesses than they do from non-locally owned businesses.

10. Invest in your community.
Local businesses are owned by people who live here, work here, and are more invested in our future.

11. Buy what you want, not what someone else wants you to buy.
A marketplace of tens of thousands of small businesses means fair and sustainable prices over the long-term. Small businesses, choosing products based on what their customers love and need—not a national sales plan—guarantees a more diverse range of product
choices.

12. Local Decision-Making.
Local ownership ensures that important decisions are made locally by people who live in the community and who feel the impacts of those decisions.

13. Jobs and Wages.
Locally owned businesses create more jobs locally and, in some sectors, provide better wages and benefits than chains do.

14. Environmental Sustainability
Local stores help sustain vibrant, compact, [walk able] town centers, which in turn are essential to reducing sprawl, automobile use, habitat loss, and air and water pollution.

Sources: Institute for Local Self-Reliance - www.ilsr.org | Local Food Connection - localfoodconnection.co.uk