Comments on: Purchase with… Prudence http://www.continentaldrift.net/2008/07/05/productred/ Sat, 26 Jun 2010 00:16:51 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: Barak http://www.continentaldrift.net/2008/07/05/productred/comment-page-1/#comment-2442 Barak Sat, 05 Jul 2008 07:00:55 +0000 http://www.continentaldrift.net/2008/07/05/productred/#comment-2442 <p>Interestingly, American companies are now careful about saying their stuff isn't made in sweat-shops, but honestly, third world factories are nothing to be proud of - rural families are torn apart as young girls leave home at age 15 to live in a slum in the city and every morning they are packed in like cows in large flat-bed trucks to work 12 hour days in hot factories for 15 to 50 cents an hour (average monthly wage of a garment factory worker in Cambodia is $63). Your Target jeans and Wal-Mart t-shirt are part of that great cycle of consumer goods. Don't ask me how you get around that - I wear them too b/c it's hard to find clothing that's actually made in the USA. To me what is important is understanding that buying a product to help someone when the product itself is part of the problem is like... </p> <p>it's like wanting to do something to save the spotted owl so you trust some charity who's marketing stationary products and 5% of the profits go to a spotted owl conservation organization - but what you don't realize is that the stationary was made from paper pulp cut from forest trees the spotted owl was living in, and beyond that, the conservation group the profits supported didn't actually have expertise in conservation and so their owl relocation efforts ended up with 80% of the relocated birds dying. But you walked away feeling good about your new stationary purchase and all the owls you were helping. </p> <p>It's one thing to buy something made in China or Thailand and be frustrated that there aren't any options and look for ways to get around the problem. It's another thing to just buy something without even thinking about the real global impacts of your actions. </p> <p>And I have to acknowledge my own hypocrisy in this - I'm certainly guilty about not assessing the ramifications of my actions - on many levels. Just ask my wife. But I'm working on it.</p> Interestingly, American companies are now careful about saying their stuff isn’t made in sweat-shops, but honestly, third world factories are nothing to be proud of – rural families are torn apart as young girls leave home at age 15 to live in a slum in the city and every morning they are packed in like cows in large flat-bed trucks to work 12 hour days in hot factories for 15 to 50 cents an hour (average monthly wage of a garment factory worker in Cambodia is $63). Your Target jeans and Wal-Mart t-shirt are part of that great cycle of consumer goods. Don’t ask me how you get around that – I wear them too b/c it’s hard to find clothing that’s actually made in the USA. To me what is important is understanding that buying a product to help someone when the product itself is part of the problem is like…

it’s like wanting to do something to save the spotted owl so you trust some charity who’s marketing stationary products and 5% of the profits go to a spotted owl conservation organization – but what you don’t realize is that the stationary was made from paper pulp cut from forest trees the spotted owl was living in, and beyond that, the conservation group the profits supported didn’t actually have expertise in conservation and so their owl relocation efforts ended up with 80% of the relocated birds dying. But you walked away feeling good about your new stationary purchase and all the owls you were helping.

It’s one thing to buy something made in China or Thailand and be frustrated that there aren’t any options and look for ways to get around the problem. It’s another thing to just buy something without even thinking about the real global impacts of your actions.

And I have to acknowledge my own hypocrisy in this – I’m certainly guilty about not assessing the ramifications of my actions – on many levels. Just ask my wife. But I’m working on it.

]]>