Welcome to the October 2012 Natural Living Blog Carnival: Ethical Shopping Choices
This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Natural Living Blog Carnival hosted by Happy Mothering and The Pistachio Project through the Green Moms Network. This month our members have written posts about how they make purchasing choices.
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When I think about this months blog carnival theme “Ethical Shopping Choices”, the first question that came to mind was:
How do you choose to spend your money?
What we spend our money on says a lot about us, as well as sends a message to the rest of the world about what we value. There are many things to consider when you purchase something.
Where is the product made?
Do you ever check the label of the products you purchase? A label can tell you many things: where the product is made and what the product is made out of. Many companies have outsourced to China. This means less jobs left in the USA and possibly unfair wages and treatment of workers in these companies to create cheaper products! This is not always the case, but most companies moved overseas in order to pay employees less than “minimum wage”. By purchasing these products we support these companies and their decision to outsource jobs and pay people less than they should. {I do have to mention that some of these jobs are necessary for other parts of the country. Not every product made outside the US is made unethically. There are many companies that pay their workers well, thus supporting that worker and their family and stimulating their economy.}
Sustainability is the capacity to endure through renewal, maintenance, and sustenance, or nourishment, in contrast to durability, the capacity to endure through unchanging resistance to change. {Definition from Wikipedia}
Is the product made with sustainable resources?
When you make a purchase, you need to remember that products are made with resources, some of which are sustainable and others that are not. Resources like wood and bamboo can be sustainable if they are planted and harvested equally. Things like oil and minerals that are found in the earth are non-sustainable, meaning that once they are gone, they are gone.
Do you really need this product?
Consumerism is powerful here in America. We are told through the media that we need the next best thing as soon as it comes out and that we need a lot of it. There is nothing wrong with having a lot of stuff…but what does your spending say about you? Can your money be better spent elsewhere?
There are so many things that that could be addressed about ethical shopping choices, but I just want to get one thing across:
THINK BEFORE YOU PURCHASE!
Ask some questions…yes talk to yourself! Support companies that make their products in the US. Buy products made from sustainable resources. Spend your money wisely! I have listed some companies that I have worked with that make their products in the USA. Check out the list HERE.
My husband and I once tried to buy things that were not made in China! Do you know how hard that is? It didn’t take long for us to realize that this wasn’t going to work. We accepted the fact that we would just have to make informed decisions on how we spent our money. Another way that we think about how we spend our money is fairly traded products. We love that companies can now be Fair Trade certified! It shows that they care where they got their ingredients. We have realized that there are some companies that don’t have the certification, but that they have personal relationships with farmers/growers and therefore ethically acquire these ingredients.
It just takes a little research to find out what companies are doing. I encourage you to look into the products you buy and ask yourself all these questions.
Do you ever question what you buy?
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Visit Happy Mothering and The Pistachio Project to learn more about participating in next month’s Natural Living Blog Carnival!
Please take some time to enjoy the posts our other carnival participants have contributed:
Twitter: HappyMothering
says:
I do ask myself these questions all the time! We also tried the “don’t buy products made in China” bit. Oh my gosh – impossible! Sometimes you have to sacrifice your ideals, but being informed is key.
Chrystal recently posted..Celebrate Fair Trade Month with Goodies From Fair Trade USA {#FairTradeHop Sponsor}
Twitter: PistachioProjec
says:
Always good to ask questions and sadly we all too often forget to stop and ask questions in our busy life. I’m always amazed at the people who do not buy anything from China. I’m sure it can be done but man it would be so ridiculously hard!
Brittany recently posted..Ethical Choices on a Tight Budget
Twitter: kjworthington
says:
It’s amazing how many of the problems can be alleviated by just buying made in usa/canada items. Unfortunately, we can’t always find what we need! Hopefully that changes in the near future.
Kylie recently posted..Mindful Consumption – Making Ethical Shopping Choices
Twitter: madeinusablog
says:
I am so thrilled that you highlighting buying American made, which is my passion. For me, buying locally made wraps up everything I am trying to do to be a conscious consumer. Buying made in USA helps the economy, the environment, human rights and safety issues.
Sarah recently posted..GreenCupboards Eco-friendly Products Made in USA Giveaway
Twitter: cr
says:
Great points to raise! I definitely need to be better about buying merchandise made in the USA.
Becky recently posted..TV Free Friday Shall Return
Twitter: fairforallguide
says:
I try to be conscious of every purchase I make. I actually created a fair trade shopping guide (http://www.fairforallguide.com) to try to help people more easily find ethically-made and fair trade products. We have plans to maybe add a Made in the USA section in the future, so thanks for sharing your list of Made in the USA companies!
Julia recently posted..Amazon Gets Into the Ethical Shopping Game