How You Can Become a Localist
Looking for ways to incorporate Local First values into your daily life? Consider stopping by one of the 800+ businesses in your community that are Local First members. Engage with the neighborhood and its attempts towards sustainable practices. Invest in the people, the businesses, and the environment that you and your peers enjoy.
nn
Buying from locally owned businesses will reinforce the local economy and allow the community to thrive. A sustainable lifestyle develops from the relationships between neighbors, customers and employees encouraging one another to engage and enhance their physical environment. If you shift spending towards food from West Michigan farmers instead of imported produce, your dollars go much deeper and much further-they support your neighbor, your friend, and your community.
nn
There are hundreds of Local First businesses in your area that can address all of your consumer needs. Some great ways to start Buying Local are to think of the places you currently frequent and shift it to a locally owned business. Some simple, sometimes overlooked shifts are where you get the oil in your car changed, or where you go for computer tune ups, or the shop where you pick up a birthday card. It can be bigger shifts as well, taken in small steps, such as where you purchase your groceries from, or where you bank at. The shift doesn’t have to happen in one swoop, but overtime small steps get you far.
nn
For access to the Local First business directory, click here.
nn
Living like a Local also includes taking care of the neighborhood and environment that you benefit from. Local First defines sustainability as being committed to the Triple Bottom Line of people, profits, and planet. For businesses, this means being dedicated to social, environmental, and economic impact. For you, sustainability can mean recycling or composting waste rather than sending reusable materials to the landfill or choosing to support Local First members dedicated to sustainability. By investing in the environment you are functioning as a Localist preserving local economic and environmental value.
nn
If you’re looking for opportunities to incorporate Local Living into your daily life, check upcoming Local First events and volunteer opportunities!