Persuasive Speech on Buying Local

According to Ronnie Cummings of In Motion Magazine, after several dozen consumers in Colorado were poisoned by E-coli feces in their burgers, 25 million pounds of hamburger meat had to be recalled from the Hudson Foods Corporation. Much of the E. coli found in meat appears to be a product of feedlot life of cattle getting a feedlot diet and living in their own manure. The feedlot lifestyle is a common practice of corporate manufactured meat. With that point in mind, I hope to persuade you all to research and buy local. Most food found in the grocery store is highly processed.

Not just the ramen noodles or fruit loops, but the actual produce. Corporations use hormones, pesticides and antibiotics and genetic modification, which refer to a crop that is created for consumption using molecular biology techniques. According to the Food and Agriculture of the United Nations, GMOs can make us more resistant to antibiotics, is related to our increased allergies and can even cause mutation within our genes. Also, According to Michael Pollan, the author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, when the average American sits down to eat each ingredient has travelled at least 1,500 miles from farm to plate.

Global climate change and war over resources are a few of the things resulting from all this shipping. Also, this travel requires the food to be “gassed” which stimulates the ripening process because the produce has been picked so prematurely causing the nutrients and quality to disintegrate. Now that I’ve discussed just a few of the reasons mass produced food isn’t ideal, here are some of the reasons to buy local and some options to implement. First of all buying locally helps reduce the impact we have on the environment.

According to sustainable connections. com, buying locally helps to reduce the environmental impact. This generally means contributing less to sprawl, congestion, habitat loss and pollution. We also help to keep the local economy healthy and thriving. Matt Embrey of green upgrader reports that when you purchase at locally owned businesses rather than nationally owned, more money is kept in the community because locally-owned businesses often purchase from other local businesses, service providers and farms.

Purchasing local helps grow other businesses as well as the local tax base. And as far as the health impact, buying your meat certified humane and local, ensures your purchasing meat that has a nutritious diet without antibiotics, or hormones, animals raised with shelter, resting areas, sufficient space and the ability to engage in natural behaviors according to eat wild. com There are many websites you can look up with directories of local owned business that implement healthy practices and keep things local.

You can also participate in local co-ops which grow their own produce and share within the group. So now you know some of the ways buying locally benefits us all, as well as some of the ways to implement the solutions. Now let’s talk about what to expect from carrying these out. If we all took the time to do the easy research to buy local and support our community, we can visualize a healthy community both economically and physically. Less traffic and allergies and more fresh produce! According to greenupgrader. om one of the top reasons to buy local is because small local businesses are the largest employers nationally. Plus the more jobs you have in your local community the less people are going to have to commute which means more time and less traffic and pollution. Another benefit of buying local is Competition and diversity leads to more consumer choices. A marketplace of thousands of small businesses is the best way to ensure innovation and low prices over the long-term According to Michael Shuman of the book, Going Local, “Going local does not mean walling off the outside world.

It means nurturing locally owned businesses which use local resources sustainably, employ local workers at decent wages and serve primarily local consumers. It means becoming more self-sufficient and less dependent on imports. Control moves from the boardrooms of distant corporations and back into the community where it belongs. ” These are just a few of the reasons I encourage all of us to research and support our local community.