Inspiration

Barbara Kingsolver's book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, describes her family's efforts to eat practically all their food from local sources. The reasons for this are many, but include lowering their carbon emissions, supporting their local economy, and getting to know their community.
That carbon footprint issue is a big one. How can it make sense to move grapes in refrigerated planes and trucks thousands of miles around the world? Or to truck every piece of a salad from California to Maine in refrigeration? Only the temporary availability of cheap petroleum can make this possible. But by now everyone knows that this is contributing to global climate change. Even those who insist on burying their heads in the sand about climate change must accept that in 5-50 years, cheap petroleum must come to an end due to supply and demand.
There is growing awareness of the Peak Oil phenomenon, which implies that oil prices will skyrocket much sooner than the reserves are depleted. Some argue that this is already happening, and $5-10 / gallon gasoline in the USA is just around the corner.
But bigger than the cost issue is the increasing warming of our atmosphere, which is already raising sea temperatures, melting glaciers, and likely contributing to weather changes. Simply put, we can't afford to burn all the oil we've discovered, let alone any more we might discover.
So, inspired by this, our own goal is a simple one: to reduce the amount of gasoline required to produce and transport our food. We took the biggest carbon reduction step years ago, before climate change was even an issue. This was to go vegetarian for environmental reasons. But, whether you're a vegetarian or an omnivore, everyone can take the step of eating local. It keeps money in your own neighborhood, region or town. This means more of your food-raising neighbors have money to spend locally, money to pay school taxes, and improve your community.
We're not ready to go crazy over this and eat 100% locally, nor are we particulary good farmers (my tomato-growing efforts are very sad). But we do know dozens of people who grow or prepare food, and our goal is to buy from them. Our starting goal is 80% locally grown foods. If we reach that goal, we'll shoot for 90%.