Friday 14 November 2014
Public health partners in stores?
When governments shirk a responsibility as
basic as public health, as in this period of rabid anti-tax anti-government neoliberalism what can we do?
We have been exposed to many toxins
throughout our lives that effect our health in a negative way. These toxins are
in the air we breathe, the water we drink and the products we buy, including
our food. Therefore it makes sense for stores to educate the public about harmful effects of many
products.
We finally have stores in Mississauga that
get this. Our own locally grown Good ness Me Market just opened its doors in
the heart of Britannia Village (at Mavis and Bristol).
This is the fourth of the Goodness Me
supermarkets (after 2 in the Hamilton-Burlington area)> Started by Janet
Jackes from Hamilton, Good ness Me has proved that so-called suburbia does not
have to be either a food desert or a home for mega-stores filled with mostly
imported ”in-organic” processed foods.
This store is supported by local farm-friendly staff and offers prices
lower than those in surrounding supermarkets.
It may be surprising to some that a
progressive supermarket like Goodness Me is appearing in traditionally unfashionable
suburban locations, but as communications have brought us increasingly closer
in recent years it is truer than ever
that we live in one world and none are more privileged than others in making it
better. Less important than where improvements come from is that they come. Because it reaches those
like supermarket shoppers, who may be outside the reach of policy messaging,
market embedded social economy initiatives have a role to play that cannot be
ignored.
Quality, affordability and public health:
it can be done. There is still much to do but Goodness Me makes the point.
# posted by Niicola Copernicus @ 1:52 pm 
