Meditation on a Mug: The Future Is Less and Local.

This week, I bought a one of a kind handmade mug from what may be North Dakota's most incredible ceramicist: Prairie Fire Pottery here in Beach, ND. As a gift to my wife, at fifty dollars, it is an expensive mug, since I can buy a half dozen generic mugs at Walmart for that price. Yet, no two mugs are alike, and they are unique and of high quality. As I get older, I appreciate the one-of-a-kind over the cheap. I could buy six or more mugs at Walmart for the same price, but I can only drink out of one at a time. Why would I ever need six mugs? The future is about us using less in a better way.

Being locally sourced instead of from some sketchy, far-off factory, I am assured that it is safely and ethically made. I am assured that its production doesn't pollute the environment with obscure chemicals or abuse low-wage labor. When I buy it, I know it is going to support my local community and not some far-off place. When I buy it, I can be assured that some future tests will not reveal something toxic in the coatings impacting my health or bringing death to some far off community where it is made. I pick it up on my way home from work, right from the source, instead of it being shipped on some carbon-heavy route across the ocean. The future is more localized.

I think the same way about my favorite socks. Getting older means that I need to choose better clothing. Anytime I walk or hike, I wear twenty-five-dollar merino wool socks made by the Darn Tough Socks factory in Vermont. As a rare U.S. sock company, they make a quality product that proves worthwhile when I walk miles and have feet that still feel good. The natural merino wool is comfortable and doesn't smell or feel nasty, even after several days of wear. They also come with a lifetime guarantee, and I can return them for a new pair. To hike with a cheap, off-the-shelf pair of socks means to have sore feet.

 Like the mug, for the price, I could buy a dozen or more pairs of made of cheap cotton or synthetic fabrics. In addition to not being comfortable, their manufacturing, environmental impact, and worker and product safety are open questions in our opaque global marketplace. Whether they harbor toxic chemicals or abuse labor are questions not so easy to find answers to. Whether the dyes are polluting far off watersheds and whether production of synthetic and natural fibers are creating human and environmental damage somewhere far away is hard to know. Conversely, I could travel and visit Darn Tough's Vermont factory and visit with employees. Again, I can only wear one pair of socks at a time. 

The above local eggs are much sought after at the local store. They are grown on a local ranch just north of town. Though the price went up, it didn't go up by as much as eggs from the large and distant operations that take advantage of market fluctuations due to bird flu. The local eggs are not beholden to the opaque machinations of a global food economy that seeks to exploit any reason in the market to raise prices. In addition, in this age of food scandals and companies lying, exploiting low wage labor, polluting waterways and using industrial practices not conducive to environmental sustainability, the people that sell these eggs are known and trusted by locals. With increasing climate related shocks like failed harvests spiking the price of goods from far off locations, local sources become more important, not only for affordability, but access. We have lived in an unprecedented age of plenty that may be coming to an end, so creating more local food, products and resilience is more important than ever. I like to buy these as much as possible.

The future is less, the future is higher quality, and the future is local.