I know a lot of you live in the dorms and have limited means to cook your own meals, but if you have a hotplate (or live off campus), you should definitely check out the Blacksburg farmers market. It has a brand new pavilion in the same place it was before, at the corner of Roanoke Street and Draper Road, and even now in the depths of winter, you will find farmers with fresh eggs and cheese, pasture-raised meat, honey and jams,. They’ll be out there tomorrow from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m., so if you have half an hour free, head on down and see what they have to offer.
My final reason may not seem relevant now, but I strongly believe it’s the most important. We all need to recognize the power we have as consumers. As college students, we are just beginning to realize our potential as the decision makers of this century.
The power of the dollar is potent — with every purchase decision you make, you support not just the business selling the product or service but also the community in which the business exists, the practices it uses, the philosophy on which it bases its operations, the lifestyle it espouses. The list goes on.
We often make these decisions mindlessly, but it is so important to understand where your money is going and what it is funding. For example, when it comes to food, even though I can get many of the same organic groceries in Kroger, I choose to shop at Annie Kay’s whenever I can because it’s locally owned and supports local farmers. Even though I could spend my money to buy lunch on campus every day, I choose to pack a lunch because then I’m not paying for overpriced, over-processed, Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations-raised hamburger. These are my preferences and I’m certainly not implying they’re somehow superior, but I think you get the idea.
The bottom line here is that educated consumers are better citizens. They are more able to make informed decisions about important issues, and they are more aware of the impact they have on the world around them, both local and global. This includes becoming better informed about the way your lifestyle choices affect yourself.
Remember, you may think your choices don’t affect much in the grand scheme of things, but just imagine if you and everyone you know realized today that your choices do matter. How much of a difference can we all make together?
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