From the Board President: Exercise Your Right…Vote!

With political candidates frantically darting across our region these days, my thoughts inescapably turn to the concept of voting, and the power it has. Certainly the vote is important to cooperatives, as I’ve written about before. Yet the power of voting is significant if we think about all the ways we can vote. If we consider voting restricted to what we do on caucus night or for the school board elections, then voting has limited powers. We need to think about voting in a greater context.

While food writer and longstanding food documentary interviewee Michael Pollan didn’t invent the phrase, “Voting with Your Fork,” it did became a foodie rallying cry with Pollan’s 2006 New York Times blog post:

Whatever your politics, there are activities your tax money supports that I’m sure you find troublesome, if not deplorable. But you can’t do anything about those activities — you can’t withdraw your support — unless you’re prepared to go the jail. Food is different. You can simply stop participating in a system that abuses animals or poisons the water or squanders jet fuel flying asparagus around the world. You can vote with your fork, in other words, and you can do it three times a day.

He’s right. By filling your grocery cart with organics or dining at a 100% vegetarian restaurant, you are making more than a statement about food you support, you are investing in that food system. Every dollar, it is argued, that is switched from being spent on foods that are heavy in pesticides or that are shipped from South America to foods labeled “heirloom” or “cage free” are a way to vote for more sustainable practices. Making the switch from conventionally grown strawberries to organic strawberries is a vote for healthy choices for the planet and a vote against, well, unhealthy choices. The more people who vote with their fork this way, the more likely this system becomes the predominate way we produce, ship, package, serve and eat food.

The Cedar Falls Food Co-op encourages consumers in our region — even before we open our store — to consider all choices when purchasing food. Like Pollan says, we get to vote three times a day. Or do we?

It’s no surprise that “voting with your fork” has become “voting with your wallet.” Indeed, when we think about all the purchases we make, above and beyond the food we consume, we find ourselves voting many more than three times a day. With each swipe of a credit card (or click of a mouse), we make a statement about the types of businesses we want to support. How different is the choice between an online purchase vs our local retailer than the choice between a tomato from Chile vs one grown locally? In both scenarios, we are voting with how we spend our dollars. A vote to support local businesses is also a way to keep your money invested locally. One of my favorite stores in the area has a sign out front that reads “Buy local …. or bye bye local.” How you vote shapes your community. 

So next time you make a purchase, think about that act as casting your vote. With each vote, you can help shape our future. As Pollan says, “Increasing numbers of Americans aren’t waiting: they’re changing now. This desire for something better — something safer, something more sustainable, something more humane and something tastier.” 

In cooperation,

Tom Wickersham

PS: Consider checking out this video about how co-ops can shape the local economy. 

According to a 2013 study by Cone Communications and Echo Research of more than 10,000 people in 10 countries, 91% of people said they’re likely to switch brands in order to buy from a company associated with a good cause, when price and quality are held equal. About 87% said they consider a company’s social and environmental commitments when deciding what to buy or shop. Nine in 10 people said they would boycott products from companies with conflicting views compared to their own values, and 55% reported they had refused to buy a product for that reason in the past year.

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