At face value, the concept of sustainable living sounds like a great idea.  In some places, it might be.  It could very well provide a lot of answers to rural poverty in the United States.  But I doubt seriously that it will work everywhere, all the time.

Take for example this story I just read; New Yorker pushes limits of the "locavore" life

This kind of sustainable lifestyle is a full time job in itself, and as the article points out, not everyone is capable of providing everything to meet even just one's own needs.

We NEED farmers, we NEED factory workers, we NEED electricians and pharmacists and IT people...heck maybe we even need politicians.

Do I think we can do more to encourage self-sufficiency and sustainability?  Absolutely. 

Even apartment dwellers can have patio gardens or windowsill herb gardens. 

Do I want to have to slaughter my own chickens?  Not really!  No thanks!

Supporting local farmers, that operate small farms and farmers markets is a tradition in America that has been disappearing one by one, what would a community do if it needed the market and there was none.

I remember visting my grandmothers house when I was growing up and the canned fruit, fresh vegatables from her garden, fresh eggs from the neighbor (she got eggs delievered everday in exchange for her canned and baked goods), we ate well, they farmed a small 25 acre farm and generated a good portion of both their income and the food they ate from the farm. Other foods they needed they could trade and barter for, my grandfather was a metalsmith, and often traded his skills instead of sold them. I don't remember them ever being hungry, disappointed or unhappy on thier little farm. In fact I remember how sad my grandmother was the day she could no longer work the farm, and how that effected her health, she worked her garden until her late 80's and her back would not give an inch, she died at 93.

Farmers Markets need to make a come back, if for nothing more than the "just in case" implication. In order for that to happen we need to spend our dollars at the market instead of the big box stores. A personal goal of mine, the community we are about to move to has a huge farmers market and I intend to talk my wife into shopping there if I have to be dragged kicking and screaming. (My wife got me started on this so I know the only real question she will have is "where is it?")

It's just one of many things that we can support, build and restore as a group.

We will have to work on the butcher part though, that sounds, well, uck.