The 100 Mile Diet: A story of collaboration?

Does getting the job done closer to home align with collaborative best practice?  That’s the question I’m asking myself after reading The 100 Mile Diet – A Year of Local Eating by Alisa Smith and J.B. Mackinnon.  Published in 2007, this book became a bestseller, and inspiration for many around the world.  These folks are local heroes.  I live within their 100 mile adventure boundary.

I think The 100 Mile Diet story offers up some interesting thoughts around collaboration, and the role that proximity plays in addressing our needs.  Here are a few 100-mile concepts, along with a few of my own, associated thoughts:

• We have what we need right here. We may have to look a bit harder for it (as exemplified in my local Safeway food store!).  In our work, do we really need to fly that consultant in to address our business needs?

• If we don’t have it, do we really need it? With food, I’m thinking of things like salt, cocoa, coffee.  Those foods aren’t grown where I live.  Could I do without? Could I substitute?  Some of them? All of them?  And what about that SaaS (Software as a Service) license I just renewed.  The server is nowhere near me.  Now maybe I could do without cocoa could I still effectively serve my clients using local server resources?

• Fresher tastes better. Living in the moment; being present. These are qualities compatible with people effectively engaged be it eating freshly picked blueberries or conversing with a co-worker.

• Fresher is healthier. Just as chemicals to maintain appearance are de rigour for far-flung produce distribution, so too are conversations authentic when they are heartfelt, natural, unmasked of ulterior motives.

• Reduce your cost. It would seem there is a ROI for buying local.  Yet, then again, maybe the cost of going organic (if that’s the path) is higher?

• Systems approach. The 100 mile diet has a lot to do with how we interact with our environment; of our connections to external places and events far removed from us.  Systems thinking; of being aware of the big picture, is a hallmark of good collaborators.

• Be connected to the people. If relationships are the currency of collaboration, how strong is my relationship to that Ethiopian farmer whose coffee I like to drink?

• Be connected to the place. Similarly; how connected am I to that banana plantation in Ecuador?  Do I need to think beyond just buying Fair Trade?

• It’s the right thing to do. My intuition tells me that eating locally-grown food is the right thing to do.  Trusting one’s intuition seems like a reasonable approach given the complex pros/cons for eating locally!

I’m still early in my own journey of buying locally-grown food.  How about you?  Have you lived the 100-mile diet?  What has it taught you about being in proximity to others we depend on?  Of collaboration?

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Photo credit: sponselli