Quote Originally Posted by Crankin View Post
We have had black bears running through people's yards in the summer, though not a huge amount. There were some seen on the trails in Estabrook Woods a few summers ago, which necessitated some of the local schools to change their training routes for the x country running teams.
It would be really hard for me to eat totally local in the winter, in terms of fruits and veggies. I eat a ton of fruit, out of season fruit, and I am not going to stop. I always have said it benefits my health and i would rather pay the prices than pay for medical bills. However, I know the carbon footprint aspect of it isn't good, but... as soon as the many local farms start selling their stuff, I only buy from them, and I guess that lasts about 5 months of the year. Been going to a winter farmer's market, but there isn't actually much there, in terms of veggies, except kale and potatoes. The other foods are unhealthy!
I'm not totally sold on the local concept. I heard a really interesting thing on NPR the other day that was talking about some of the nuances of localvorism. One example that was given was that it takes more of a carbon footprint to bring locally grown product into Manhattan, than it does to bring it it from farther away on more efficient transport than small trucks. Granted, that is a really narrow example but I thought it was a good one.