Is a T-shirt from China still a T-shirt from China if it costs almost triple to ship it here?  From the NY Times,The cost of shipping a 40-foot container from Shanghai to the United States has risen to $8,000, compared with $3,000 early in the decade, according to a recent study of transportation costs. Big container ships, the pack mules of the 21st-century economy, have shaved their top speed by nearly 20 percent to save on fuel costs, substantially slowing shipping times.

Indeed, some other discount retailers have realized that it is time to locate their factories closer to the worlds biggest consumer market.  IKEA, for example, just opened a new factory in Virginia to help meet demand from their 36 stores in the US.

It would seem that the economics and environmentally responsible ethos that make sense for the local food movement have quickly found a home in other industries.

Naomi Klein is quoted in the original article,

“If we think about the Wal-Mart model, it is incredibly fuel-intensive at every stage, and at every one of those stages we are now seeing an inflation of the costs for boats, trucks, cars,” said Naomi Klein, the author of “The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism.”

“That is necessarily leading to a rethinking of this emissions-intensive model, whether the increased interest in growing foods locally, producing locally or shopping locally, and I think that’s great.”

News of this nature greatly reinforces the necessity for a re-localization of our consumption.  At a time when our town and county are actively seeking to build affordable housing for workers and attract businesses to the area to employ them, it makes me glad to live in a community of people who are anticipating and responding to the changing times instead of reacting.  What other efforts to localize our lives are going on in this community that people should be aware of?  Share your comments below.

The inspiration for this story was due in large part to this story from Jon Taplin’s Blog.

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