Donnelly - Happy go local: the smart moms guide to living the good (and sustainable) life!

Avon, Massachusetts

Copyright 2010 by Linsly Donnelly

All rights reserved.

This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher; exceptions are made for brief excerpts used in published reviews.

Published by

Adams Media, a division of F+W Media, Inc.

57 Littlefield Street, Avon, MA 02322. U.S.A.

www.adamsmedia.com

ISBN 10: 1-4405-0008-8

ISBN 13: 978-1-4405-0008-4

eISBN: 978-1-4405-0682-6

This ebook edition: July 2013

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

is available from the publisher.

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To our children, Cole and Tess.

You are the reason for tomorrow,

And the catalyst to play,

Today.

This page is the most fun to write. Thank you for the indulgence of reading it.

Happy-Go-Local made it into your hands thanks to your interest in making the world a better place. Also, my heartfelt thanks for:

• The love, inspiration, and raw cheerleading sung daily to me by the original Happy-Go-Local Mom, my mom, Ann Fisher Hunt. She is simply The Best. Thank you for seeing all things good in the world and in me.
• The living example of making a creative life work, and the one who got all the talent in the family, my brother, Wide Studios very own Andrew Fisher Hunt.
• The shining example of quality, eco-friendly, and economy well-packed with a grinwho is my mother-in-law, Mary Ellen Donnelly. And the creative thinker, rational planner, and sparkling storyteller who is my father-in-law, Thomas F. Donnelly.
• The yee-haw-hurrahs, soul-dance-glee, and oh-yes-you-cans woven across years and time zones from those known as The GirlsDidi Shines Engel, Crista Gordon Bailey, Sweet Stephanie Bowers, Lisa Kochie Ott, Ann-Marie Helling, Jan Swartz, Julie Junk Duryea, Jocelyn Pants Mangan, Eleanor Cup Carnes, Coco Lovely Jones, Leisle Point Break Bartley, Leslie Smiles Langford, Jill Jalepeno John, Brook BT Kremer, Sums Starling, Schuyler Sly Rideout, Jean Bean Warren, Maria Mia Lile, and Kelly Belle Coberson.
• The ones who taught me how to dance on paperThe Writers Group: Critita, Steph, E, and Joc as well as The Poet Jules.
• The enthusiasm, patience, and interest to read (and gently correct) early book iterations of Eagle Eye Liz Overson.
• The avid expert volunteering to first pressure test all assertions, Tom Donnelly.
• The faith of an avid risk taker and kindness of a fellow author who is most graciously my agent, Maryann Karinch.
• The generous champion, powerful word weaver, patient coach, and marvelous gift of an editor, Meredith OHayre. This book most certainly would never have been without her.
• The creative energy and graphic delights, compliments of Colleen Cunningham and Frank Rivera, as well as the fine-tooth combing patiently tuned by Kate Petrella.
• The daily joy and purpose for local roots alongside healthy longevity, our children, Cole and Tess.
• And, the unwavering hero who is my husbandChristhe instigator... and that made all the difference.

If you think youre too small to have an impact, try going to bed with a mosquito in the room.

Anita Roddick

As is true of most new babies, my sons birth brought a world of change. Playdates replaced double dates. Sleepless nights became the norm instead of a work project or big celebration event. My husband and I gave up hot-spot hopping for Netflix expertise. And, my perspective shifted from Its Mostly about Me to Its All about Him.

As I saw life through my sons eyes, the world began to shrink from wherever my globetrotting friends and family had landed to only where we would be raising our family. The cacophony of local living and sustainability messages hit a newfound personal chord. A hypersensitivity to neighborly awareness replaced our jet-setter sense of global anonymity.

Now two children into the family game, Ive realized that regardless of where weve traveled or where we may one day venture, where we live right now is the place where my family is going to be raised. If I want to impact our childrens quality of life, Id better get intimate with what is working and what isnt in our own backyard. If we like what is working, it is up to us to support it financially or otherwise to ensure it continues. And if it isnt working? Well you can guess who needs to get involved and change it, yes?

Going local or being sustainable is about more than saving our planet. Yes, consuming goods produced closer to your home reduces the pollution released due to mass manufacturing and polluting tire treads. True, choosing organic products refuels your body and the earth much, much better than does buying overly engineered shampoos, tomatoes, and T-shirts. However, shifting your mindset to engage in your local community is about so much more than greenhouse gases and clean living (and, by the way, those things are pretty darn big). Going local is about in a very real, day-to-day, smile at the person you pass on the street kind of way saving ourselves.

We live in a world where we text message across the country while sitting with our family at dinner; where we know hundreds of virtual friends but cant name our next-door neighbors; where we buy closets full of clothes manufactured in towns we cant pronounce, but we couldnt pick our dry cleaner out of a lineup; and where we fervently debate foreign policy, but havent met (or cant even identify) one city council person.

Going local and thinking sustainably require us to recalibrate the scale away from casual global citizenship to committed local residency. As you pay more attention to where your daily goods originate, how your neighbors live, and what businesses fuel your local economy, you cant help but engage in how to make your own backyard a better place. And, by caring more about our own backyards, collectively, we build a better assortment of them to patchwork together as our world.

Transferring your family focus to living with more of a local, sustainable approach touches everything from becoming more eco-friendly and value conscious to gearing down your familys pace and amping up your do-it-yourself mentality. Youll begin to pay attention to who and what makes up your community perhaps even starting with how you define your community. You may find you get personal for the first time and learn your grocers name, map local farmers markets, and meet the school board. You may aggressively pare down and buy less in order to soften your impact on your local environment. Or, you may just find that your family decides to simplify life in order to free up time for exploring your neck of the worlds woods.