Reply #58: Well, I agree to a point but not to your extreme. Running a freezer

[lindisfarne]

uses energy too, not to mention the energy used to produce it and deliver to the store, then to your house. Even a chest freezer won't store enough vegetables and fruit to get a family through a winter. And frankly, I don't like frozen or canned fruit. Canning and freezing destroys some nutrients as well. I'm happy I can buy bananas year round. Certain things I don't buy year round -apples for example, because they taste horrible about 5-6 months after being picked. And other things aren't worth it if they're not local: organic strawberries, for example.

I'm not a member of the coop because it's 15 miles away and it's a waste of time and gas and too much pollution to drive that far for groceries, especially 2-3 times a week (I don't stock up for a week - too much gets thrown away that way). If they're selling bananas and pineapples -which they do - I know it's not local. Some produce is, some isn't; in the winter, less is fresh. Every co-op I know of brings in non-local produce, although they generally favor local providers when they have a choice. So I don't think "buy only local" is something even most extreme folks follow.