"Buy Local" Movement

NOW
t r u t h o u t | Programming Note

Airdate: Friday, November 2, 2007, at 8:30 p.m. on PBS
(Check local listings at http://www.pbs.org/now/sched.html.)

You know all about organic food. Now learn about the "buy local" movement. What's a locavore? This time on NOW.

When the federal government ended its 60-plus years of price support to tobacco farmers in 2004, Virginians were hit particularly hard. On Friday, November 2, at 8:30 p.m., NOW travels to the mountainous farmlands of Appalachia to meet farmers who've attempted the difficult switch from tobacco to increasingly popular organic produce. Among those profiled is restaurant owner Steven Hopp, who, along with his wife - acclaimed author Barbara Kingsolver - spent a year living off the land.

Social entrepreneur Anthony Flaccavento founded an Enterprising Idea called "Appalachian Sustainable Development" to help local farmers and markets make the transition not just to organic, but to local organic. Can local farmers change course and crops and still survive in a shifting economy?

Also on the show, David Brancaccio interviews prominent environmentalist Bill McKibben about his "National Day of Climate Action" on November 3, and what we can all do to fight global warming.

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At NOW Online, read an excerpt from Hopp and Kingsolver's new book, and learn ways to become a "locavore" - someone who buys from their own community. Also, find out where your college alma mater ranks on a sustainability report card.

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