Have Your Come Across 100 Mile Diet?

Thomas L Friedman is a famous columnist in New York Times and best known for his books on globalization, ‘The Lexus and the Olive Tree’ and the more recent ‘World is Flat’. In the latter, he has identified three phases in the evolution of globalization. The first one dates from 1492, the year when Columbus set sail to discover India until around 1800 and the dynamic force behind integration centered on physical power like muscle and steam. The second phase begins from 1800 to 2000 during which the focus shifted from countries to companies and the fall in transport cost and later telecommunication costs leading to diffusion of PC and internet was the prime dynamic force behind global integration. This made shrinking world to go from medium to small. The third phase which begins from 2000 is more momentous one. The internet revolution has not only made the world tiny but also flat meaning there is a level playing field for everyone- be it an individual, a company or a country. This enables an individual to compete and collaborate globally through internet and e-commerce.

Mr. Thomas L Friedman may have been right in articulating from the standpoint of business process out sourcing (BPO) economy. But there is also a powerful resistance to globalization. Indeed the drive for localization will also equally thrive so long as the bulk of the population gets marginalized and devastated by those segments profiting by globalization. I remember a Malayalam movie seen long ago wherein a boy would go to a water tank lorry and take water in an empty Coca Cola tin and proudly say, “This is pure water. It won’t spoil your health”.

As if to challenge the sophisticated nuances of globalization articulated by Thomas L Friedman, I saw a news item yesterday stemming from Seattle, the place synonymous with IT revolution as also anti-globalization demonstrations. It is all about the commitment of some 80 local residents of Seattle to eat only what is grown 100 miles from home. This Seattle project is in a way a repeat of an experiment by ‘Vancouver, B.C., couple who for a year eat food from no farther than 100 miles away’.

Those of us who are away from our home for work would realize how valuable the good food is even while we work in air conditioned cities like Bangalore. Seattle project reminds all of us that the local farmer and local business will get immense benefits if the residents resist buying goods which shipped cross countries or internationally. No one can challenge that the food coming from radius of 100 miles would be fresher, healthier and better tasting.