Thanks for the post!

For instance, Pa’amonim — an organization that helps families learn how to balance their budgets and get/stay out of debt (obviously a worthy initiative) — recommends, among its many useful savings tips, shopping for food at “big box”-type stores (generally located on the outskirts of localities, meaning that you have to drive to them in your private car), rather than at smaller, presumably more expensive, nearby supermarkets.

Is this a real conflict, or an illusory one? To the smart-growth, anti-urban-sprawl crowd, big box shopping centers are the ultimate in unsustainability. Yet one could probably argue that they offer major savings to families, even after one takes fuel costs into account.

I suspect that in both the locavore and local-shopping instances, the solution lies somewhere in the middle.

Regarding locavorism, one can buy locally-grown food when that food is obviously best grown in the local climate or offers quality/social benefits that one is willing to pay more for, while happily consuming non-local food items whose quality is not affected by the distance factor.

In the case of big box centers, perhaps the best solution is to bring them closer to town, as described in the following Atlantic Cities article.

- The sooner you eat produce after it is picked, the more nutrients it retains.
- Produce that is meant for transport is often picked before it is ripe and is cultivated to be sturdy, not tasty or healthy.
- Eating food that is in season and naturally grows where you live is healthier for your body and a more natural way to live.
- Farmers who are selling directly to consumers at farmers markets have more incentive to sell high quality flavorful produce, rather that just have a high output of quantity.
- People like meeting the people who grow their food, and they feel the food is grown under safer, more sanitary conditions.

There seems to be a consensus these days that residing in compact, walkable urban neighborhoods is greener. However, there is no such consensus specifically regarding highrises. Many urbanists re arguing that you can get equal or better density (as well as better aesthetics) with low and mid-rise dwellings of timeless, traditional design. Here is one article among many on the topic: Density without highrises? .