by There are all sorts of indicators suggesting a growing preference for things local. It’s part of the long term values shifts we’ve been exploring here, emerging strongly with the postmoderns and continuing with the Integrals – but that’s a whole ‘nother presentation. The key point here is that “buying local” is seen as a good thing – a way to connect with and give back to the community. An example might be to buy from the locally owned and operated hardware store that has been in the neighborhood for years, in which you know the people, and you’re willing to pay a few extra dollars for items that you might get more cheaply by driving to the big chain. The shif t is a recognition that how you spend your money ought to align with your values.
Another interesting indicator of this change is the rise of the B Corporation, which has emerged as a sort of charter or license between a business and community the ensures a give-back to the community. Increasingly, being a good community citizen will be seen as sound business practice.
Perhaps the most exciting long-term enabler for “local” is the rise of 3D printing and its potential for decentralizing production. This technology has been around a long time, but it is taking off, as the range of materials it can work with and the types of goods it can produce are rapidly expanding, going beyond prototypes and toys to even, food, and early experiments with artificial organs. As the scope of 3d printing expands, it calls into question the notion of global supply chains and outsourcing, as it may be cheaper to make it local. Instead of shipping goods, we will “ship” designs and print goods locally.
Another fascinating indicator of local, is the rise of local and alternative currencies and other local economic innovations. Local currencies keep money in the community and basically enable a type of bartering system in which people exchange services using local “bucks.” [see the wonderful site of my colleague and grad student Heather Schlegel for more on this]. We also see co-ops growing, freecycling which encourages people to trade stuff rather than landfill it, and my favorite, couchsurfing, in which people offer their couches to out-of-towners that you find on the internet.
These developments once fit the classification of weak signals, but as more and more of them emerge, it’s fair to say that “localization” ought to be promoted to an “emerging issue:” a collection of signals from disparate sources pointing in the same direction. It is worth noting that local does note replace or exclude global commerce. They are complementary in the sense of some things best done local and others best done global. Perhaps we might revise the old slogan to “Think and Act, Global and Local.” Andy Hine
I’ve never thought of 3D printing being used that way! With all the metadata companies are collecting, they could calculate
how often families in a town buys bananas-for example-how much they buy, and how long it takes before they run out.
Companies could build a model around that system thus creating more efficiency, right? If the banana design is set to an
exact scale, the printer will print it to those specs. This could mean companies could get more from less since bananas
come in different sizes.
If I get a shipment of ten inch bananas and the print scale builds them at 6 inches then I could print more bananas from the
materials being used. They could even print on-demand. I wake up and want to run errands, so my fridge tells me what I’m
low on. If it has a printable items section I can tap them and choose which store I want to print at based on their price/brand.
Someday, maybe even print from home and use the same charging model you suggest in the article.
yep, the possibilities are really intriguing!