Love Your Locals

I love these new posters from Indie Bound, a collaborative of independent bookstores. I've always liked supporting local businesses over the years -- especially my personal weakness, stationery shops and bookstores -- but this year I've noticed a growing number of grass roots efforts are asking people to commit to (or resolve to) buy more things locally, and I'm 100% on board with that.
Acme Coffee in Monterey kind of kicked it off for me. They have free old school "Resist Corporate Coffee" stickers and as soon as I added one to my car, the pressure alone from having that stuck on my butt has prevented me from going to Starbucks for coffee over the last three months. I much prefer Denver's Daz Bog, Ink!, Novo, and Coda coffee brands anyway, but now I seek out their locations or brew my own at home. Additionally when folks ask me to meet for lunch somewhere, I try to always pick local businesses instead of chains (unless the chain has a strong reputation for supporting local communities, as is the case with Target).

To commit to buying more stuff locally (and to learn why), visit http://www.the350project.net or search for "350 project" on Facebook.