12.02.2008 - 11:59pm ET

The critique of shopping from big-boxes that mistreat workers, outsource production to overseas sweatshops, wreak havoc on the environment, and undermine local economies added a tragic new dimension on Black Friday at Green Acres Mall in Long Island when a stampede of bargain shoppers trampled a Wal-Mart temp worker to death and caused a pregnant woman to miscarry. Is human life now the cost of everyday low prices? The event highlights the value of alternative models for honoring the season of giving in ways that sustain life.

The first week of December marks the sixth annual Shop Local Week, an initiative of the Local First movement to promote "local living economies." San Francisco-based BALLE (Business Alliance for Local Living Economies) coordinates Local First business networks in 65 communities in the US and Canada. For example, Pioneer Valley Local First here in Western Massachusetts where CSRwire is based promotes sustainable community economic development based on local ownership of community assets such as sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, green building, zero-waste manufacturing, community capital, and independent retail.

BALLE finds that Local First campaigns work. Local independent retailers in cities with such campaigns experienced a 2 percent bump in 2007 holiday season sales over 2006, compared to less than 0.5 percent gains for cities without Local First campaigns. Even incremental steps support local living economies - diverting just 10 percent of purchases from national chains to locally owned businesses would create 1,300 new jobs and yield nearly $200 million in incremental economic activity annually, according to a study of consumer purchasing behavior in San Francisco.

Organizations such as United for a Fair Economy and Class Action, national non-profits based in Massachusetts, are rolling up their sleeves to lay the groundwork for "building a local sustainable economy that works for all." That's the name of a workshop the two groups hosted here last month to identify how to set a foundation of social justice necessary for sustaining a local green economy. And the workshop model is replicable elsewhere, so they can "export" the workshop to host it in other communities, according to Class Action Founding President Felice Yeskel and United for a Fair Economy Board Chair Prakash Laufer in a Corporate Watchdog Radio interview.

In neighboring Holyoke, where half the school-aged kids live below the poverty line, Nuestras Raices has been planting the seeds for a local sustainable economy since 1992, when Corporate Watchdog Radio co-host/producer Francesca Rheannon co-founded the Latino community organization. At the root of the vision she shared with the predominantly Puerto Rican community were community gardens to nurture healthy self-sustenance, and from those have blossomed 25 businesses incubated by Nuestras Raices, such as the El Jardin bakery and the Mi Plaza restaurant. Nuestras Raices, led by Ashoka Social Entrepreneur Fellow Daniel Ross since 1994, continues to grow a local sustainable economy through the RootsUp Green Jobs program, which will train 15 young people for jobs in the green industry this winter - who will breath life into the local sustainable economy.

CSRwire contributing writer Bill Baue co-hosts/produces Corporate Watchdog Radio, and attended the Building a Local Sustainable Economy that Works for All workshop.

CSRwire's Multimedia Picks of the Week

One of our favorite videos this week comes from Meet the Bloggers and features Michael Whitney of American Rights at Work. Whitney discusses the incredible disparity between workers and CEOs. Among some of his frightening statistics is that the average CEO is doing 365 times better than the average American worker!

Business and Human Rights guru John Ruggie presents a ground-breaking policy framework at the Carnegie Council that consists of three core principles: the principle of the state's duty to protect against human rights abuses by third parties, including business; corporate responsibility to respect human rights; and the need for greater access by victims to remedy, both judicial and nonjudicial.


This video from Fortune, details IKEA's cutting-edge sustainability strategy. With the help of a team of environmental experts, Ikea is transforming the way its products are manufactured, transported, and assembled.

We are currently featuring the first ever U.S. Army Sustainability Report in our research section. The report is an important milestone as it is the first from any major federal government agency using the Global Reporting Initiative's (GRI) sustainability reporting framework.

In a Corporate Watchdog broadcast this week Co-hosts Bill Baue and Francesca Rheannon chat with Bloomberg Columnist Jonathan Weil and his criticism of President-Elect Barack Obama's appointments to the Transition Economic Advisory Board.

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