Miriam's video about Black Friday at Wal-Mart

A classmate of mine woke up at 4am on Black Friday this year in order to videotape the horde of shoppers at Walmart. While not the insane stampede of previous years, it was still a pretty bizarre experience. (After a Long Island Walmart employee died on Black Friday 2008, this year Walmart decided to stay open Thanksgiving evening through Black Friday, averting having people wait until opening.)

Adding three new links

These should have been on the link list from the beginning, but sometimes you miss what's staring you in the face.

Adbusters- We are a global network of culture jammers and creatives working to change the way information flows, the way corporations wield power, and the way meaning is produced in our society. Also the founders of Buy Nothing Day.

National Geographic's The Green Guide- According to Wikipedia, it has become the most reliable source of environmental information for consumers.

Green America (formerly Co-op America)- Our mission is to harness economic power—the strength of consumers, investors, businesses, and the marketplace—to create a socially just and environmentally sustainable society.

The Uniform Project

Here's an amazing website: The Uniform Project. Sheena Matheiken is pledging to wear just one dress the entire year, using scarves, jewelery and accessories to customize her outfit. (I should mention, there's 7 dresses, but it's only one style and color.) Taking a stand against consumerism and fostering creativity! I should have done this project myself for this semester!

Outfit for November 21, 2009

Thoughts on Buy Nothing day

I’ve been seeing a lot of posts about Friday being “Buy Nothing” day (Friday also being Black Friday, the so-called busiest shopping day of the year.) I like the idea of having a buy nothing day to raise awareness about excess consumerism. People can tend to get a little crazy during the holiday season, having to buy presents for friends and family and teachers and babysitters and hostesses… the list goes on and on. People will also buy gifts just to have them on hand; in case someone surprises them with a gift, they can reciprocate. It’s hard to draw a line when the line gets further and further away each year.

However, I keep thinking about the other repercussions of a Buy Nothing day. What would happen to the economy if a large part of the population actually bought nothing? I have friends who own small retail businesses, and friends who supply those businesses with goods, and the effect on them would be catastrophic. Retail businesses depend on the holiday season to sustain them the rest of the year. Again, there’s a line. On one end are shoppers getting to WalMart at 3 in the morning to be first on line to trample down anyone who gets in the way of their $15 DVD player. On the other end it’s a little trickier. Is it a person who doesn’t celebrate by giving or receiving gifts at all? Or someone who makes gifts out of items around the house and in the woods?

Personally I’d fall closer to the “no gift” end of the line, but I can see why some people would fall to the other side. If I was really poor and wanted to treat my family to some nice things for the holidays, Black Friday might be the only chance I get to stretch my dollars as far as they can go. Even as a conscious consumer, I fall prey to the discounts and deals that the bigger chains are able to offer. I certainly can’t afford to shop exclusively at local indie boutiques (though I would like to.) And as far as children’s clothing and shoes are concerned, why on earth would you spend more than you had to? They’ll grow out of it in a few months!

Like everything else, I think the answer lies in the happy medium. We should be taking some time for reflection and honoring our loved one with experiences and memories, not just gifts. Ethical consumerism, by definition, implies consuming. Something must be purchased. So at this point in history, I think the best we can do is just stop and think before we open our wallets. Shop, but with purpose and meaning. When you’re buying gifts this season, make sure you feel good about your purchasing decisions when you leave the store.

10% Shift

Thanks to Portland- Buy Local's website, I found 10% Shift, an initiative to get people to shift 10% of their spending from big box chain stores to local, independent retailers. Unfortunately it's for the other Portland, in Maine.

It's kind of like the 3/50 project I wrote about a week or two ago.

Make Wealth History

I subscribed to Make Wealth History's feed and have been reading a lot of interesting posts from them. I like their tag line: "Because the earth cannot afford our lifestyle".

As someone living in a modern, first world country, it is hard to remember that most of the world doesn't have the luxury of living like I do. It's something I know, of course, but not something that I fully grok. Because I don't have to see it everyday. I simply can't imagine a world in which resources were scarce. I watched Waterworld last night and while I know that's a fictitious story, I do know that some people in this world live by scavenging.

As Make Wealth History points out, we have a responsibility to start watching what (and how much) we consume. Because the way it is right now, it's not fair.

If everyone on the planet enjoyed the same quality of life as we do, one world would not be enough. If we can't create a fairer world at this level of consumption, then we have to scale back our lifestyles, for the planet and for each other. MakeWealthHistory.org

Well, that's one way to do it

Here's a story from UK's The Guardian about Mark Boyle, a guy who decided to live for a year without spending any money.

That's a huge undertaking. He did it, but I don't think it's possible for everyone to pull it off. For one, he started with some resources, like his laptop and the solar panels he bought to power it. And had he not donated 3 days of his time per week, he wouldn't have had a physical place to set up shop. In today's society, it's really not possible to live completely free. You cannot sustain yourself by yourself. But he got his point across: all his materials came from places like Freecycle, and he bartered or traded or scrounged for the rest.

I admire the effort, and I think it goes to show how little we actually need. But to modern society, his way of living is unsustainable. If companies stopped manufacturing goods, people would have to scrounge for the materials already out there. Eventually resources would be so scarce that people would fight over any scrap. There must exist somewhere a balance of recycling and reusing and reducing... and consuming.

Textile Library and Earth Pledge

Wow... I stumbled onto an amazing resource a few days ago: Textile Library. I originally read about it on Eco Fashion World, then followed the link. The Textile Library is a source for information on all eco conscious fabrics. The amount of information there is staggering. They cover different types of sustainable fibers and techniques, and list the available certifications. My favorite part of the website was the "Questions to Ask Textile Suppliers." They consider not just environmental impact, but social as well. For example: Is your product being responsibly and ethically produced (i.e. how much are workers paid, do they benefit from incentives such as a pay-by-piece program, are child labor laws being respected)?

This website is a great primer for anyone working in the fashion or textile business.

screen shot from the sustainable fabrics section

beginning of the certification chart

After perusing through, I decided to check out what exactly Earth Pledge was, and was blown away again. From their website: Earth Pledge partners with businesses, communities and government to accelerate the adoption of sustainable practices. They have a consulting business, but the website is so much more than that. They have sections for fashion (which is where the Textile Library is) as well as climate change, waste, green roofs and agriculture. And to top it off, the website is beautifully designed. I recommend you take a look.

The 3/50 Project

I think this website is pretty cool... It encourages people to think of 3 local businesses that they like, then try to spend $50 a month there. This keeps money in the local economy and helps small businesses stay afloat.

Facing Unsustainable Levels of Consumption

Great post today on Bonnie's RRRethink blog. Some wonderful quotes dealing with consumerism and it's effects on the U.S.

The possibility of environmental catastrophe has led many leaders, scholars and average citizens to reconsider an economy based on constant growth. It is becoming clear that people, especially in the United States, will need to consume less in the way of natural resources to avoid planetary peril. The million-dollar question, of course, is how the U.S. can move to a sustainable, zero-growth economy without losing more jobs... The whole economy collapses if we don’t consume enough, and we’ve got to change. (John Talberth, president for the Center for Sustainable Economy, Source)

We've based our entire society on consuming things, and that's a hard habit to break. Part of being an ethical consumer is REDUCING the amount of stuff you have. But currently it's easier to buy something new than to make or fix something. And with high fashion and social stigmas surrounding appearance, it's going to be pretty difficult for America to kick the habit. Not to mention that going cold turkey would result in a collapse of the economy. Damned if you do, damned if you don't?

The Seven Sins of Greenwashing

I thought this website was kind of neat... Details what exactly it is about "greenwashing" (see definition below) that makes it so hard to be an ethical consumer.

Green-wash (green’wash’, -wôsh’) – verb: the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service.

Video intro to this blog

Made by yours truly...

Do you want it or do you need it?

I just found this video on YouTube. It's an interview with Australian Julian Lee, author of Clean Living in a Dirty World. As a journalist, he was assigned to do a story on consuming ethically, and for two days he had to consider every single purchase he bought. Two days, as he says, was "long enough to realize that there was something there, but not nearly long enough to uncover it."

The focus of the interview was helpful in that Lee acknowledges that it's difficult at first, but once you learn to question purchases it becomes like a second nature. Because right now, consuming ethically is hard. There are few regulations for marketing, which allows companies to take advantage of consumers who want to do the right thing. The message a company puts out does not necessarily reflect their actual values. Part of purchasing ethically is reading the label, but you also have to decide if you can trust that company.

At this point in time, aligning your purchasing with your moral values also (for the most part) costs more money. Society is not yet at the point where "eco" is mainstream, so to truly buy a green product is often times more expensive. The manufacturing world has not caught up yet to the demand for ethically made materials. So it is hard for businesses to source enough variety of eco options to sell, thus they may end up offering items that may not be as ethically sound. And as responsible as anyone wants to be, we are all still so used to low prices, convenience and variety to give that up.

Words to own.

As I attempt to update my Assignments page, I came across as assignment that I thought I covered, but don't see any proof of it. I think it was just in my head and on various scraps of paper and Word documents. I also kind of addressed it in my first post, but I think I can expand.

Pick a name for your blog that fits your topic and your personal brand. Investigate keywords, keyword pairs, and keyword phrases that you want your blog to "own".

So, instead of listing those keywords here, I decided to add a page to the sidebar of my blog. That way, I can edit it easily.

The Starbucks conundrum!

This post, from the "Ethical Consumption" area of Just Means, addresses a very specific issue that I always grapple with: Starbucks vs. local coffee shops.

It's common knowledge that Starbucks is a mega-corporate international company.  People think that Starbucks killed mom and pop businesses. Starbucks has bought out and absorbed smaller businesses. In short, Starbucks is evil. In Portland, a world of Stumptown coffee snobs and award winning baristas, admitting that you patronize Starbucks is tantamount to blasphemy.

As someone who prefers tea, I find little on the menu at coffee shops that entice me. However, I adore Tazo Tea Chai. It's sweet, not spicy, and is one of my favorite drinks. I used to work just blocks from the Tazo Tea factory, and could smell the chai brewing when I rode my bike past. But once Starbucks bought Tazo Tea, I could only get my chai at Starbucks. Local coffee and tea shops could only sell Dragonfly Chai, or Oregon Chai, neither of which do much for my taste buds.

The Tazo Tea factory is still there. I know people who work there. So although Starbucks is now a big corporation, they still have a local presence, at least in my life. And as Ruchira Shah points out: "Starbucks was once a small coffee shop itself." 


While I do believe in supporting local businesses, I can't ignore the impact that larger businesses (evil corporations) can have. Starbucks is making efforts at sustainability, and with their network of suppliers and retailers, they have the opportunity to really make a difference. And they're trying: they were the very first company to get approval from the FDA to use recycled content food containers. They have a line of fair trade products. Leftover coffee grounds are available for composting upon request. And there are dozens of other examples of how Starbucks is using their power for good. 


So, is patronizing Starbucks ethically responsible? Is it a moral vote with your dollars? What do you think?

Consume less. Shop locally. Buy used.

It's not enough to just vote with your dollars... There are other ways of being an ethical consumer.

Consume less. Most of the things we buy will ultimately be thrown away. If not by us, then by whoever it was handed down to. Do you really need it?

Shop locally. Spending dollars in your own economy means the money goes to your friends and neighbors. There have been several studies done that show where your money goes when you shop at a local, independent store vs. a national chain. Local businesses keep anywhere between 32-45% of money in their own community, while chains only kept 13-16% in the community where they were located. (sources here here and here.) Local sources are also often willing to barter.

Buy used. Most items you find at the Goodwill, on craigslist and through hand-me-downs has only been gently used. It's still good! You get to save money and save those materials from going into a landfill. And you prevent materials being used to make a new product. It's a win-win.

Four Different Ways of Voting With Your Wallet

In Ethical Consumer magazine, four ways of buying goods ethically are listed. They are as follows:

• Positive Buying
  This means favouring particular ethical products, such as energy saving lightbulbs.
• Negative Purchasing
  This means avoiding products that you disapprove of, such as battery eggs or gas-guzzling cars.
• Company-Based Purchasing
  This means targeting a business as a whole and avoiding all the products made by one company. For example, the Nestle boycott has targeted all its brands and subsidiaries in a bid to get the company to change the way it markets its baby milk formula across the world.
• Fully-Screened Approach
  This means looking both at companies and at products and evaluating which product is the most ethical overall.

It's interesting that "ethical consumerism" is as much about taking action (buying a sustainable product) as it is about inaction (making a point to not purchase unsustainable goods from unsustainable companies.) The first three are tactics that I employ every day. I buy energy saving light bulbs and things made from recycled and recyclable materials. I stay away from "bad" products like plastic utensils and bottled water. I do not patronize businesses if I am aware that they have questionable practices or product ingredients. The fully-screened approach is the hardest. Because really, just the act of consuming something seems unsustainable, at least at the scale we are right now.

Link: Ethical Consumer Magazine

Ethical Consumer is the UK's leading alternative consumer organisation. We research the social and environmental records of companies.

Though Ethical Consumer Magazine is based in the UK, it still contains a wealth of information that is valuable and useful to consumers worldwide. Their website contains buyers' guides, boycott information, consumer reports and tips for shopping ethically.

Welcome!

What is ethical consumerism?

eth·i·cal adj

1.            consistent with agreed principles of correct moral conduct

2.            relating to or involving ethics

syn: Moral. Principled. Right. Fair. Decent. Just.

consumerism (con·sum·er) n

1.            somebody who buys goods or services

2.            somebody or something that consumes something, by eating it, drinking it, or using it up

syn: Consumer. Customer. Shopper. Buyer. User. Purchaser. End user. Punter. Patron. Supporter. Fan. Benefactor. Sponsor. Client. Investor.

This blog seeks to provide information and resources for consumers who have questions about where their money goes.