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BLoC is a national campaign promoting the importance
of buying local produce from independent retailers in order to
strengthen local economies and help communities preserve their
culture and identity.
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Matt shaking hands with
Prince Charles
at Cullompton Farmers Market. |
Introduction
BLoC, the campaign to buy local produce, is gathering momentum
and buying locally is something everyone is starting to feel
more strongly about. Not having been able to find a national
Buy Local campaign to join ourselves, we have decided to start
one.
We realise there are many projects and institutions all over
the country doing their bit to promote the need to buy local
and we commend them for their efforts and hope they all do well
and succeed. However, the problem is they are all disassociated
from one another.
Ordinary people living ordinary lives with incomes to find and
families to keep, need things to be made as simple and easy as
possible. So for us, BLoC simply requires that we think locally
first and as local as possible (made locally, sold locally, sold
by an independent retailer). If you buy your goods from a supermarket
the profit they make will leave the county. If you are a gardener,
think of never putting any compost or fertilizer back into your
garden but keep throwing away cuttings and pruning. Your garden
would slowly but surely turn into a desert. On top of that, there
is less pollution buying locally and your food will be fresher
and healthier. Plus we will start to regain some of our lost
culture, independence and individuality.
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The Buy Local logo. |
Two things are needed immediately, to get the ball rolling.
1. A common banner that can be easily recognised by all, so
retailers and institutions can show their support for buying
locally and the general buying public know where to shop in order
to buy locally sourced produce. The BLoC logo will fulfil this
need when it is displayed on market stalls, shop windows and
web sites. Please
use the logo.
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| The Buy Local forum. |
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2. A common forum for retailers, organisations and of course,
the general buying public, to express their opinions and share
ideas about how to improve national awareness and support and
to produce a 'best practise' approach to buying locally.
Register
with the forum, the more numbers we have, the greater BLoC's
power will be. Under no circumstances will we ever give any
of your personal details to any other party whatsoever without
gaining your expressed permission first.
If you can express your opion too, by making a post or even starting
a new forum, please do so. Your opinion counts and needs to be
heard, please don't keep your comments to yourself!
Help make the ethos of buying locally as commonly known as the
Keep Britain Tidy campaign (probably not a good example as it
seems these days not everyone cares much about disposing of their
rubbish properly but I'm sure you know what we mean).
Want to comment on this article in the forum?
Click
here and then look for: The Buy Local Campaign - Start
here! < Why do we need BLoC? |
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