Did I Just Really Buy That?

These past two months have been exhilerating for me in different ways. At first, I wasn’t sure what would come from it or even what I was doing! I thought that maybe I would go and find you guys products and labels, which would make your consumer lives easier. However, that’s not exactly how things turned out. I found out that it wasn’t about the labels or the products that you buy, but how they were created, processed, and consumed. This included all the different aspects of environmentalism, social justice, and fairness in all rights.

In the end, I found that it was more important to know and understand the different kinds of production and products that there are and why they’re better than others. That’s why I chose to develope some different arguments that would help and allow one to think and analyze what the best options and methods there are. I went over Fair Trade vs. Buying Directly; Local vs. Global; Organic vs. Non-Organic; Quality vs. Quantity; and Raw vs. Processed.

All of these arguments were an adventure for me in different ways. I learned amazing things about all of these subjects and came to some different conclusions on a lot of them. I realized that I wasn’t quite happy with buying directly and not fairly or fairly but never directly, which caused me to develop my own ideas about what was ethical and fair, instead of only being happy with what was being presented to me in the market. I learned that one had to think for themselves on what they wanted to consume. I learned that it was up to each individual to decide what kinds of methods, processes, productions, and products would fit into their ideal way of life.

Some of the books that we read in our class helped me through this process of understanding consumerism as a way of activism; as a way to change our world; as way to make things better. These books took it to a personal level and experimented in the different kinds of ‘consumerism activism’ that all people should be aware. “The Future Will Not Be Microwaved” by Sandor Katz was an intresting adventure on many different levels, and of course introduced me to the different eating lifestyles that one can have. “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” by Barbara Kingsolver was a truly enlightening reading experience of the personal challenge that a family can take together to make a change both locally and globally within their world. In conjunction this class and my classmates have really made me think on many different levels that I might not have sought out if I had done this by myself. To you all, I am thankful.

While writing my blogs throughout these past two months, I have come to realize what a huge part consumerism plays. Consumerism isn’t just a word that portrays buying and selling or using, eating, and producing. It also portrays a lifestyle that defines one’s awareness and participation in both positive and negative production and consumption. This awareness is vital in understanding just how important the part that we play is.

It is hard to relay the severity of the impact that one’s lifestyle can have on the world and others. We can all make a difference, by taking those extra seconds to make the better decision on what we consume. We can fight against injustice by refusing to buy products that allow exploitation of labor and people’s lives. We can fight environmentally destructive production methods by refusing to buy the products that were made with those methods. We can fight for our health and the health of our loved ones by buying products that are healthier, and refusing the ones that are not.

It is truly amazing how much power a person holds when they take those few seconds deciding on what to buy. Those that have this privilege, hold the power to make a significant change in the world. It can be either positive, neutral (in some ways), or negative. Those decisions are forever impacting people around the world. Those decisions for a child in south east Asia are sometimes the difference between being forced to work at a sweatshop, so that their family can eat, or being able to go to school to become a teacher, farmer, lawyer, doctor, or scientist.

Too often we forget about how the product we are buying got to that exact location or how it was created. We don’t seem to think about the amount of resources that went into making it and bringing to our exact location. The labor, water, soil, pesticides, hormones, the list goes on and on into what went into making transporting that product. An overusage of resources that our environment cannot sustain. The choices that the privilege make when buying these products can decide the fate of our world. A world of death or life. It’s our decision. We all know that our environment cannot survive with the amount of exploitation that we occuring onto right now. With the amount of fossil fuels used for transportation, and the release of detrimental chemicals into the water and earth is killing and destroying our current environment. Not to even mention that it is the minorities that are suffering the most from this.

If we are not interested in the ‘external’ affairs of the world, we should at least be worried about ourselves and our loved ones. We should be worried about ours/theirs health and happiness… Right? If it’s true. Then why hasn’t the whole world exiled products that are hurting us then? Is it because it’s cheaper? Is it because we’ve just slowly forgotten to think about what we have in our hand at the checkout desk? Is it because this information is being taken away from us?
Why aren’t we fighting for it, if it is!?!
I think we have forgotten how to think in more ways than just one, and it is up to us and only us (the world) to change it.

With what I (and hopefully you also) have learned from these blogs, I have realized one of the true meanings to awareness and conciousness. When we are concious of what is actually happening (not just fooled into believing crock), we change our ideas and thoughts about things quite quickly.

It’s hard to believe that there is someone out there that really wouldn’t be affected if a 5 year old child was dying right in front of them, because of malnutrition. It’s hard to believe that someone wouldn’t care if they saw the earth slowly being poisoned. It’s hard to believe that a mother would want her child to suffer because of the unhealthy food that she was feeding them.

There are so many things that we can do to change the world. Awareness in Consumerism is one of them. Making a difference by choosing choices that will allow a positive movement and impact to occur in our societies, environment, and ourselves is another. And though it might not seem that big or powerful when you’re buying a bar of Nestle chocolate… Think again.

I really hope that you learned and was affected as much as I have been from this. Good Luck on your adventures in Consumerism.

Did I Just Really Buy That?

I’m sorry about this blog being so late everyone. I’ve been being abused by other work lately. Ack!!

So, since this has been being addressed in class, I decided this would be a great subject on produce to cover in my blog. Raw versus Processed…. Ooooh… I wonder who will win..

So what is raw?

Raw foods are un-cooked, un-processed, or heated above the 118 degrees. So, pretty much, raw foods do not undergo any kind of process that has changed it’s chemical or DNA structure, especially in a way that harms or depletes the enzymes and nutritions that it has. … Wow… (Sounds really healthy, doesn’t it.. *hint* *hint*…)

So what is processed?

Processed foods are foods that have undergone alteration of their original/natural state for ‘saftey’ and convenience. This includes, but is not confined to, pasteurization, irradiation canning, freezing, etc… Using these methods of processing foods are meant to destroy ‘harmful’ and ‘disease ridden’ bacteria, but also kills a huge amout of the nutritions and enzymes, which help prevent these diseases and also keep us at the peak of our health…. (Makes you think why we eat..)

The Debate:

Raw food is what is what all life forms consume. It is natural. We are dependent on these foods, which provide the nutrition and enzymes that keep us alive. Whithout these nutritions and enzymes, food loses its value in perpetuating our survival.

Processed foods have recently, in the past couple of hundred years, become rather popular and is now become the ‘acceptable’ method in which to provide ‘healthy’ foods. However, its methods kill and deplete the nutrition and enzymes that humans need to survive.

Even though it is claimed that by processing foods, we are eliminating ‘dangerous’ and ‘hazardous’ bacteria or components in our food, it seems to have been disproven by the increase in the outbreaks of diseases, which could have been prevented if the components in raw foods had been present. This means, that basis of the reason why foods are being processed more and more lately (and even mandated by laws )is actually being worked against by using these processing methods. Raw foods are more likely to all disease to occur than processed foods because of how its genetic make-up keeps everything in balance.

Nowadays, we really don’t think about how much of the food we consume is processed. In fact, we probably don’t even realize it’s processed. Before reading “The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved,” I seriously thought that pasteurization involved cows being in happy open areas of pasture, where they were able to graze to their haerts’ content…. Thankfully and sadly, that image has left me, and has been replace with what pasteurization actually means. According to Katz, pasteurization is when food is heated to at least about 162F… Killing ‘bacteria’ and also important enzymes, including the lactase in milk, which helps break down the latose in milk. (Which means that a lot people who are ‘lactose’ intolerant can actually drink raw milk… Damn..)

And the winner is.. (drumroll please!)…. RAW FOODS!! YAY!

Sadly, a lot of raw foods are illegal or regulated, in ways that processed foods are not. It seems to go unnoticed by the government and the majority of people, that processed foods are harming us and the environment because of it’s degradation of nutritions and enzymes. This means that we are missing the vital compontents and elements of our diets, and that we have to consume more. <<< (EVIL!!!)

These regulated laws on raw foods have caused many people underground methods to acquire raw foods. These people are prosecuted by the government and health officals when they are found out. This shows an injustice to the freedom of trade, and also to small farmers who produce these raw foods.

When we think about it, exactly how many resources do we use to process food? How much money, that could be used in developing smaller farmers and alleviating poverty stricken people, is actually used on these processing methods? If we stopped processing foods, how many local small farmers would return to the market? How much of the usage of environmental resources would be reduced?…

I could see a lot of positive side effects to switching our world from “Processed” to “Raw”, both socially and environmentally, not to mention economically!

Raw Recipes:

For some more great ‘raw’ recipes you can try “Living in the Raw” and “Dining in the Raw.”

“Living in the Raw” by Rose Lee Calabro. Rose Publishing, 1998.
“Dining in the Raw” by Rita Romano. Kensington Publishing Corp. 1992.

Sources:
http://images.teamsugar.com/files/upl1/1/12981/27_2008/veggies.jpg
“The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved: Inside America’s Underground Movement” by Sandor Ellix Katz. Chelsea Green Publishing. 2006.

Did I Just Really Buy That?

So, as you’ve noticed, I’ve been addressing what ‘kinds’ of products you should buy. But what about the amount of products you buy? Shouldn’t we also address Quantity vs Quality? This debate also plays a big part on product buying and consumption. To make things simpler, (and because you can’t really survive with out it for long periods of time) I’m going to focus on food in this debate.

Why do we eat?
We eat to survive, right? RIGHT!?!?!
As of lately, when people feel hungry, they ask themselves what they ‘want’ to eat. Shouldn’t they be asking themselves what they should be eating, and what nutrients their body might need at that time instead of what they want? They would pick the apple instead of the soda… Right?!

Quantity:

So what do we think when we hear the word ‘Quantity?’ We usually might think of amounts and numbers. We think that a lot quantity is a good thing. It means that we are rich, and are not a situation of crisis.

Lately, the focus has been on producing more quantity in products. Factories have been made so that products can be made with more efficiency in the amount of time and labour used on it. Same thing goes for farming. Farmers mostly forced to produce more quantity in their produce, so that they are able to compete and survive against other larger farmers, and the demand for more food made by their communities, governments, etc…

Thus, farmers use methods that are suppose to help cut corners on the amount of time spent on producing their produce, so they are more able to produce larger quantities of produce. This often means that they reduce the amount of space allotted to their produce. Livestock are placed in closer quarters, which allows disease to breed more easily among them, and it also causes inhumane conditions that are barely survivable. Plants are placed unnaturally closer together, which means that there is a struggle for the nutrients in the soil they are forced to share.

A lot of energy is spent on making sure that the livestock are able to survive in these cramped conditions. Antibiotics are used in dangerous amounts; beaks are cut off of chickens; tails are cut of off pigs; male livestock are neutered; the list goes on forever…

Quality:

So, what is quality? Usually, we think of quality as something having better characteristics than something else. A pair of shoes that lasts a lifetime. A fruit that gives you energy for a whole day. Products that are quality, help support a better lifestyle. A car that will last 50 years

Often, quality means that something is long-lasting. This means that you don’t have to keep rebuying the same thing over and over again, which also means that you have to continuously use up more resources. Buying one pair of shoes that will last you a lifetime, instead of buying 50 pair of shoes you’re entire lifetime pretty much sums up how the amount of consuming an individual can be cut down.

Quality also means that it’s better for you. Take air for instance. At times, you will hear people say how the quality of air in one country is better than the quality of air in another country. That poorer quality of air country might have harmful pollutants that cause lung cancer in the people that live there. Thus, people want to live in the better cleaner quality of air country. (Class an intergral part of this example.)

Note:

Having quality in the products we buy is something that everyone wants. But quality needs various aspects that allow it to be quality. It needs time. It needs space. It needs labour. It needs the right processes. Some or all of these aspects are often cut out so that quantity can be produced instead. Thus, a sacrifice must be made on which one a consumer wants.)

Scary Facts:

I learned something very scary while I was researching for this blog. Apparently, the present amount of nutriention in our foods (fruits, vegetables, etc…) has dropped drastically from what it was in 1940. According to an article in the Chicago Tribune, studies have shown that in 1991 you would have to have eaten 3 apples to get the same nutriention that you would have gotten from an apple in 1940. <<< (THAT'S SCARY!!!!!)

Do you want to know why this is? Apparently, since crops have been changed in the structure to produce more ‘quantity,’ the nutriention that an apple would get from in one of this closely cramply spaced orchards would be less of that in an orchard that was smaller and more widely spaced.

A personal experience with this that I have, is when I was taking care of a peach tree with my mother. I got confused when she started to pick some of the peach buds off. Stupidly, I asked her, “Why are you picking off those buds? Shouldn’t we be trying to be getting as many peaches as we can?” << (BAD BAD SQUIRRELHUGGER!!) This is how she replied to my question, "We're picking of these smaller buds, because there are too many. If we don't pick them off the tree won't be able to give the amount of nutrients, resources, and energy that each of the peaches need to properly grow. Hence, we need to pick off the excess buds to make sure that the other buds will be able to properly grow."

Which One Should We Support and Buy?!

SO, given this information. I think it’s pretty evident that Quality is something that we should always try to take over Quantity. We can already see by the information given that the extreme direction of creating major quantities, instead of quality is having a detrimental effect in all areas.
The resources of our world are exploited to the point that producers have to find other substitutes and methods to keep to demands. Livestock are kept in horribly inhumane conditions. Plants are kept from dying by using harmful chemicals that are detrimental to all living beings. (At least that I know of.) We have to eat 3 times more to get the same amount of nutrients that we did 60 years ago!

With all of this, wouldn’t you agree that focusing on bringing Quality back into the product would be better than having 5 crappy versions of that one product? Cut down on Quantity and focus yourself on Quality. You’ll consume less. You’ll feel healthier. Life become more lively and happier.

I wouldn’t be able to tell you all the positive things that would happen if the focused switched back to quality. However, I’ll say this. Think about our world resources. If we have have too much quantity, it would go into chaos. So if we had less, with better quality, we wouldn’t have to consume so much, which takes a major chuck out of resources on our planet.

(Think about the pictures that were shown in class that one time. Where it showed the different geographically located families, and what they consumed.)

Less is more…

BUY QUALITY, NOT QUANTITY!!!

Social Inequality:

As you know, quality costs money. Quality is the best, going to the rich dominate classes. It reflects the true cost of living a lifestyle that creates a better way of living. That’s why poorer classes and non-dominate classes are left to rot in a substandard way of living. They can’t afford to buy quality. Thus, they don’t have much of a choice on the matter. (Read the Onion..) This means that while we change the way we consume and buy products, we also have to change inequality so that everyone will be able to support this change and be able to enjoy a better quality of life as well.

Sources:
http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/features_julieshealthclub/2008/02/more-food-fewer.html
http://www.earthsave.ca/articles/ethics/wc_know.html
http://www.holy-spirit-led-christian.com/images/fruit-of-the-holy-spirit-1.jpg

Iffy Source:
http://www.geocities.com/northstarzone/BEEF.html

For Sadistic Humor on this Subject:
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/27883

Did I Just Really Buy That?

Hey Everyone! Happy Spring Break!

So I know I touched on this in one of my earlier blogs, but I never really explored it. The debate between Organic and Non-organic. Which of these products are better than the other? Is one of them even better than the other or just the same with a different name? Is organic just a fancy name, which allows the producers to sell it for a higher price? Why are people so intrigued and into buying organic now? These are many questions that you might have asked yourself, and I hope with the definitions and debates that I present in this blog will help you!

So what is Organic?

Pretty much in a simple way of stating it, Organic means that the product was produced with methods that excluded using harmful chemicals and adopted more natural holistic ways producing the product. No genetic engineering on animals. Recycling animal manure and organic materials.

This means that these producers don’t use pesticides, herbicides, or unnatural fertilizers on their products or use products that have this background. The producers do not use or release any harmful chemicals into the air, water, or ground. Instead they adopt more natural methods like crop-rotation, natural compost, biological pest control (using pests predators), etc…

In fact, to become organically certified, farmers have to go through a 3 year process of transforming their land into a sustainable land that can be continued to be used in organic ways and methods.

‘Horizon Organic’ alone prevented 17 million pounds of pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers from being used in 2007. I don’t know about you, but that is A LOT of harmful chemicals that were prevented from being released into our environment. (Think about it. Usually farmers are poor and live in rural communities. Those harmful chemicals flows into their environment, which of course means that people in those areas are largely affected by it, not to mention the people that have to work on those lands everyday. Also big corporate farms use cheap labor, which might be illegal immmigrants, who suffer from health problems created by the chemicals used on the crops and products.) Horizan Organic also have a holistic way of treating their herds. They don’t feed them growth hormones or antibiotics, which greatly harms people.

In fact, did you know that it was concluded that the mad-cow disease epidemic (aka Bovine Spongiform encephalopathy, which can be passed onto humans by consumption of certain parts of the cow) occured because cows were being fed the remains of other cows in the form of meat and bone meal? (Messing with natural processes backfires!!)

In the USA, there are three levels of organic. Products that are made with only organic materials and methods are considered and labeled as 100% Organic. Products that are made with at least 95% organic ingredients can have use the word organic in the labeling of the product. Then for the last organic catergory, the product has to have at least 70% of its ingredients organic before it can be labeled as being made with organic ingredients. If the organic ingredients are below 70%, the product can only mention these ingredients in it’s ingredient label statement.

Sadly, not many studies have been done on humans to see the positive effects of having a organic diet versus a non-organic diet. Though from the small amount of data that has been taken from humans and the data from animals, one can conclude that having an organic diet actually improves the person’s health and life.

So what is Non-organic?

Non-organic producers use scientific methods to produce ‘better’ quality and quantity in their products. This means that those producers resort to using harmful and sometimes deadly chemicals on their products.
It gets to the point where small amounts of arsenic is fed to chickens to increase their appetites. Ammonia is used on crops to keep the pests away. All of these chemicals quite detrimental to health for humans, animals, and nature.

In fact, to make things easier, you could just say what is not organic is non-organic. This means that the natural and holistic methods that are used for organic are not used in non-organic products. This also means that some of the healthy attributes in organic products are not in non-organic products.

So why do people grow non-organic if it’s so detrimental to humans, nature, and animals?

It’s no lie that organic is more expensive both for the producers and consumer. The main reason why non-organic producers use their methods is because it is easier and cheaper most of the time and it creates more of a profit at times. Capitalism in or economy really provides a reason for producers to use non-organic methods, and since a large portion of people are in poverty it is almost gauranteed that they don’t run out of costumers. Unless, of course, the prices of organic and non-organic become the same or laws are made that only organic products can be produced.

So which one is better than the other?

This isn’t even a contest really. I can’t even provide you with a two-sided debate on this one. ORGANIC WINS!

So why does organic beat non-organic? Let’s take what we learned.

1. Organic: Doesn’t use harmful and non-natural chemicals. Uses healthy and natural processes and methods to produce products.
Non-organic: Does use these kinds of chemicals, and uses more scientific and ‘modern’ methods to produce products.

2. Organic: Uses holistic methods in treating livestock and animals. Feeding them organically and treating them in humane ways.
Non-organic: Doesn’t use these methods. Instead feeding the animals large amounts of antibiotics, which have a detrimental affect later on, and not to mention that these same animals are kept in horrible conditions.

3. Organic: Though there have not been many studies, it has been shown that consuming products that are organic is actually healthier than consuming non-organic products.
Non-organic: This method of producing products have shown to have detrimental effects on humans, animals, plants, and the environment.

Conclusion:

If we want to have a healthier meaning for life in all aspects, there is a need for us to use only organic products and to end the usage of methods that are non-organic. Methods of non-organic production should be banned in all areas considering the negative effects it has all around.
However, this cannot happen until the economy changes in a way that allows everyone to buy organic. I know several people who are lower-class that wished that they could afford organic products, but instead (for survival) they have to down-grade their expectations for satisfactory products and buy non-organic products.
This also shows that those from the upper-class are much more able to have a healthy and long life than those of the lower class, because they are able to afford organic products. (Makes you want to scream doesn’t it.)

*(Notice how I say that the economy needs to change, instead of saying that prices for organic products need to be lowered. This is because when you pay for organic products, you are usually paying the ‘real’ price for the product. You’re paying for the work and the resources that went into making that product, and also sustaining the producers who made the product.)

Sources:
http://www.horizonorganic.com/health/whatis.html
http://www.organic.org/articles/showarticle/article-206
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bovine_spongiform_encephalopathy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_food
http://www.organicfoodcorner.com/resources/organic-food-vs.-non-organic-which-is-better.php

Did I Just Really Buy That?

This was rather an interesting blog to research for… I tried to find equal information on both sides of what I wanted to show you in this blog, but, apparently, it was not that way in the case. I’m going to be presenting you with some information and an argument about Global versus Local Products.

So what is a Local product? A local product is a product that has been produced/made locally. This means that products like vegetables and fruits are planted/grown/harvested in an area that is considered local for the consumer!

But wait.. What is local then? The meaning of local can be vague at times, since the definition of Local changes with each person you talk to about it. It could range from being within the borders of a ‘nation/country or state or town/city’ to within a ’150, 100, 50 mile radius’. This is rather confusing at times, considering that you could think about the size of Russia vs. Germany..

What’s so great about local though?:

1.) The amount of energy used to transport the products is dramatically reduced.
2.) It helps cut out the middlemen, which helps out the producer immensely. Since about only 18 percent of the money, that the consumer uses to buy the product, goes to the producer, while 82 percent goes to the middlemen involved in the process.
3.) The product (perishable items) is usually has better quality since the time and hassle of transporting the item is cut down.
4.) It allows for there to be better economic growth within the community, since the money is being put back into the community instead of large (international) corporations.

What are some of the drawbacks of Local?

1.) You aren’t able to get needed products that cannot be produced in your local area. (Such as different kinds of medicines, material, etc.)
2.) There is a large dependency on local producers/products, which might be hazardous if the producers/products are wiped out or reduced for different reasons.
3.) The larger a city/town is, the harder it is for local producers to supply those consumers.

So what are Global products?

It means that the products come from all over the world. Also, it could mean that those products weren’t produced locally. It’s like Kansas getting Vodka from Russia. That Vodka is considered global.

Does it also have some positive attributes?

1.) Consumers are able to get products that they wouldn’t have been able to get locally. These products can range from frivilous to life-saving(toys; medicine).
2.) It can create positive trade, communication, and dependency between nations.
3.) Producers can find a larger number of consumers to buy their products, which can lead to their economic growth.
(It was hard to find positive impacts that global trade/products have.)

So what’s negative about global products?

1.) They can also create negative tension between nations, because of the demand of more for less. (Nations might just be tempted to take the resources of other nations or sell their products for less, which would be detrimintal to the other nation.)
2.) The quality of (perishable) products goes down, because of the time and hassle of transporting the products to other countries/nations.
3.) The money of the consumers goes towards other nations, which can lead to their economy being weakened.
4.) The amount of energy used to transport the products is tremendous.

Now that we see some of the positive and negative effects of both global and local, what kind of products do we decide to buy?

My Suggestion:
We do a hybrid of both kinds. I would suggestion we try as much as we can to buy local products so that our communities can grow more sustainable, and our producers more stable. If we focus on this kind of trade of products, then we will be advocating for a broader range of products to be produced locally, which would mean that out dependency for global products would drop as well.
However, at times, we cannot always buy local products for different reasons, which means we have to buy global products…. But this doesn’t mean we have to go completely global! Remember that you can try to find products that are closer to where you live rather than half across the world if you can!
The less energy and time used to transport products can still help. You can try to look for products made in your country or continent before going straight for the product made on the other half of the world.

While researching for this blog, I began to realize just how important Local producers and products are. Buying and selling locally makes an amazing positive impact environmentally, socially, and economically for those within that community. I also saw how that the way global trade functions at the moment is quite detrimimental in many sorts of ways. It can create negative tension between countries. (Take the need for Oil) Nations send products to others nations for profit, while all the time it is the people located in that nation that need it most. (Food, wood, cotton, etc…)

I also saw that global and local products are not just black and white, it’s actually quite grey at times, which can make defining the positive and negative attributes even harder. I’ve also began to see that I can’t just tell you what kind of products you should buy, but only suggest and inform you. The reason is because you will have to make the personal choices on what you think will make a positive impact.

When helping with the making of the buyers guide, I’ll try to keep what I’ve learned in this blog in mind.

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_food
http://www.green-trust.org/2007/03/local-food-vs-global-food.html
http://www.auburn.edu/~thomph1/exchratescommodities.pdf
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/LivingEarth/Images/living_earth.jpg

Did I Just Really Buy That?

Alrighty, so after much discussion and confusion, I finally have figured out how my blog is going to work. For each of my blogs I’m going to be presenting different definitions and debates about what kind of products you should buy. Such as fair-trade versus buying directly; Organic versus Local; Quantity versus Quality; and so on. This is most definitely connected to our class, because it presents you with the issues and options of what might be better both environmentally and socially. (Sorry about all the confusion, I really couldn’t figure out how to work this blog before because of the topic of it. I think I finally have it figured out… Let’s hope..)

By the way, to answer the questions of the comments made on my last blog. My partner will be providing the link and information about the products list in their blog, once some bugs are worked out. So, my blog will not be addressing direct products, brands, etc… But the debates of what is the best kind of product that you should buy. I hope I made this a little clearer than my last blog.

Now down to business!

FAIR-TRADE VS. BUYING DIRECTLY:

To facilitate this debate, we’re going to have to define what fair-trade and buying directly is.

FAIR-TRADE:

Fair-Trade involves the product being payed for with a fair price, which means that the amount of work, resources, and time spent on producing this product is actually paid for. Fair trade also guarantees a bottom-line price for producers. This means that even if the market for the product crashes down to a price below that of the guaranteened bottom-line; the producers are still payed the bottom-line price. So this means that the producers will a steady income, even if the the market’s price for it lowers considerablity.

Fair-trade also means that there are fair working conditions in place. This means that the workers are paid living wages. There is no forced child labor, and the working conditions are also safe.

Fair-trade promotes direct trade with the producers, cutting out the unnecessary middlemen. Hooking the producers as directly as possible with the global market.

Fair-trade also means that there is a democratic proccess of what should be done within the producer groups.

Fair-trade also focuses on developing a better community within their communities. Providing funds for schools, hospitals, and better qualities of life for those in the community.

Fair-trade is also environmental by the way it forbids there being harmful chemicals used on the products. This means that the producers live healthier lives, and allows the ecosystems to be preserved.

Fair-trade is also a strong promoter of organic, and is mostly organic within itself. It promotes that the products be produced in a way that is natural and non-harmful to the ecosystems.

As you can see, fair-trade is not only about improving the lives of the producers economically, but also socially and environmentally.

BUY DIRECTLY:

So what is so great about buying directly?

Buying directly mostly means buying locally, which promotes trade and commerce within the community itself. This meaning that instead of having products shipped in and out all over the world. (This kind of transporting alos means using large amounts of shipping. Which I will go into in my debate about Global vs. Local) It allows trade to be facilitated within the community that you live in.

Buying directly also means that the community becomes more sustainable; able to survive off the products produced within the community. Making local producing more attractive, which facilitate the growth of local producers and consumers.

Buying directly also means that dependence on large corporate farms would begin to lower. (This is both good environmentally and economically.) Enough support of local producers would mean that they would be more interested in catering to types of products that the community wants, like organic types of products.

DEBATE:

As we can see both fair-trade and buying directly are wonderful environmentally, economically, and socially for communities world-wide. But which one is better than the other?
This debate can go either way.

1. Fair-trade is better, because it focuses on providing better income for the producers/workers. It doesn’t allow harmful chemicals to be used on products, which is good for both the producer, consumer, and environment. It focuses on improving communities. It also allows there to be democratic processes on how things are done. It does try to buy as directly as possible from the producers.

Buying directly doesn’t mean that the producers will be given a fair price for their products. It doesn’t guarantee that the community will be improved. It doesn’t mean that the producers will provide organic products. It doesn’t mean that there is a democratic process within the producers’ group.

2. Buying directly is better, because in the long run it will promote sustainability within the community. The number of local producers will rise, providing work and income to those having trouble finding work. Commerce and trade would be mostly kept within the community, allowing for better community development.

Fair-trade doesn’t mean that the products are local, which means that local communities outside of the communities that fair-trade organizations focus on might not personally benefit from buying fair-trade. There is the possiblility that communities will lose sustainability by buying fair-trade products that have originated outside of their communities. Work availability within the community would drop from the loss of local demand created by outside fair-trade products.

My Suggestion:
Use your own decisions on the debate to buy products. Try buying fair-trade products that you can’t find in buying directly from local farmers. Buy directly from farmers what you can, and also let them know the processes that make a product attractive to you. Buy in the way you think would benefit you and your community and environment the most. You can also try to find a products that are fair-trade or have characteristics and that you can buy directly and locally.

I hope this has been helpful and informational for you.

Sources:
http://www.localharvest.org/
http://www.transfairusa.org/
http://salemdailyphoto.com/pics/080219_localapples.jpg
My own personal knowledge and past experiences…

Did I Just Really Buy That?

Ok, even though this is really throwing me out of my element of planning and sureness of how to do things…. Plus, this whole project is about learning, and sometimes learning just completely takes a different turn than you thought it would… (I’m really trying to convince myself not to worry about the grade I’ll be getting for throwing this structure off, and to really care about what we’re learning. This social construct is really throwing me off, ack!)

So, here’s the story. My project partner and I went down to People’s Grocery yesterday, and because of schedule conflicts we weren’t able to meet with the manager to ask questions. (We’re shooting for next week instead. So I’m sorry about the sudden schedule change.) However, there was quite enough to occupy our time there. Who ever thinks it is really hard to find something organic or environmentally-friendly has not been to People’s Grocery.

At first, I thought that there would only be a few types of items with only a couple of brand producers. Girl, did I get a surprise! There was everything I needed and more! I couldn’t make up my mind about what I wanted to post up on my blog.

• Degradable Trash Bags
• Menstrual Cups
• Organic Environmentally-Friendly and Fair-Trade Chocolate
• Organic Everything
• Locally (or close to) Developed Products
• AND SO MUCH MORE…

After seeing so many types and brands, I’ve decided on centering my blog not on naming products you should buy, but actually presenting attributes that you should consider when you’re buying products. Like should you buy the certified organic or locally made product? What do you know about the producers that would make a difference? Should you buy from a large chain store or a small family owned/ co-op store? (We will be making a list on products that we found favorable on a different site, so that you can have an easier time locating things that we consider create a healthier relationship between humans and nature.)

You can imagine we were really having trouble deciding what to present in our blogs. When we were looking at two different brands of butter a question occured, because one was certified organic and the other looked like it was from a small local-like farm. Should we present only products USDA approved or should we present products from small local producers?

With that question in mind, I started to wonder what organic ‘really’ meant. So I went to a site called: organic.org (Which is a great source for information on organic if you want to check it out.) There I learned what certified organic is in USDA’s standards and what farmers have to do to become organic. Did you know that farmers have to go through a 3 year conversion plan to become organic? (It involves them making their soil sustainable for organic.) Plus, the amount of resources spent shipping produce is dropped radically when we by locally. So wouldn’t it just be as good to buy locally as buying organic? So this brought up another question for me. What if the small brand local-like product doesn’t have a certified organic label stamped on it, but is actually going through that 3 year conversion plan to become certified? Wouldn’t that be like buying organic AND sustaining small farms if you bought from these farms as they went through the process?

But most of the time, it seems like, we really can’t afford buying organic. It’s just too expensive! It’s true! It’s really hard for people that are just barely scraping buy to buy organically or environmentally friendly products. However, we often fail to look at the bigger picture of what it will cost us in the end. I will be delving into different areas and points of why even though it may seem like we don’t have enough to buy organically or environmentally-friendly products that this isn’t really true for some of us who think that. I’m not saying that everyone is really able to buy environmentally-friendly products, because it’s not true. I’m saying that some of us that think we can’t really can, because it actually is better for us in the end in many different aspects. I know that it just isn’t true for some people. (My father often only lived off of a loaf of bread and a package of baloney that had to last him for a week, because he just couldn’t afford anything more. My mother would sometimes only have a grapefruit a day. One of my sisters sometimes had to go 4 or more days without food at a time, because she didn’t have enough money to buy food.) SO, I’m not saying that all of you are able to buy completely organically, but I am saying that in the end it isn’t just about being ethical. Buying types of products like organic are better for OURSELVES in the end! WE BENEFIT from buying organically. Here’s an example.

You might think that the package of beef that is $5 cheaper than the organic beef is a great deal. But, do you think about why this is? Is it because the more expensive meat is actually healthier for you? The beef that isn’t organic are often cows that are raised on corn and growth hormones, which makes them sick. This means that you’re actually buying sick beef for your family. You can guess that that IS NOT healthy for your family, which means that your family may become really sick. When that happens, you have to visit the doctor that costs a lot of money and also buy the medicine which costs more money! Hell, that family member might be too sick to save, and they’ll die. (This might be overly exagerrated.. But how do we know it isn’t? When we buy so many things that have been harmfully modified so that we can buy them for a cheap price?)
Like the cookie vs. the organic cookie. The ‘cookie’ has corn syrup in it, which could cause serious health problems like diabetes. The ‘organic cookie’ doesn’t and has ingredients that are actually healthy for you and your family.

Here’s a cool site on the debate between differently raised foods: http://www.deathfood.com/index.html
It’ll really put things into perspective on what I was just talking about.
Here is also a video over what makes organic farms, well – organic..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lexXYzLQwDo

After much debating and because of the comments made on my last blog, we’ve decided to try to include Wal-Mart in our store ’round-about’. (If worse comes to worse on timing we’ll try to do a couple of stores a week.) The plan of doing 4 stores has changed a little, because we might think of stores that we should also take a look at. However, I’ll try to give you an idea of what stores we’re going to be trying to do. People’s Grocery, Dillon’s, Ray’s Apple Market, Wal-Mart, Manhattan International Foods.

Another thought also came up in my mind when I was thinking about how we consume. What about restaurants? Which restaurants are more environmentally-friendly than others? Like when you get a doggy bag. Do they give you a styrofoam container or recycled cardboard box? Do they have plastic cups or cardbaord or glass ones? Do they clean with environmentally-friendly materials? Do they buy local foods for their ingredients? If time allots me, I’ll try to bring you some examples on a couple of stores.

I think that this topic is related to our class in an everyday life approach. As people we consume and grow food, use and make products, take away and give back, etc… The choices that we make in everyday life can either be positive or negative. Our class is about bringing a connection between humans and nature back. But this isn’t just about making this connection, we also have to make sure that this relationship is healthy and positive. Since we consume, grow, use, make, take, and give, we have to make sure that we do it in a way that is as healthy as possible for both other humans, animals, and nature. By doing this, we put our knowledge to action!

Did I Just Really Buy That?

It’s the year 2009. Technology is at an all time high and speeding on to make the impossible become possible. The secret to invisibility, teleportation, and mind reading are becoming old news…

Wait a second… Why is it that there are so many incredible discoveries being made in technology, and yet, somehow, I’m still finding it hard to find environmentally friendly products to buy? That’s strange… Have you tried it lately too? You walk down the aisle in the store, and see on one side a plastic package of small individually plastic wrapped compartments for the product. Oh no! What’s on the other side?! Say it ain’t so! Ack! It’s those cleaning supplies that you have to wear gloves and a mask when you clean with it. Not to mention that you can’t just throw it down the drain or you’ll never be able to swim in the neighboring lake again. Sends a shiver down your spine, doesn’t it?

If you’re just as scared out of your wits about how you can’t find something that at least won’t kill that little Jade plant that you just got from Grandma, don’t worry. You came to the right place! My blog will try to seek out environmentally friendly, not to mention fair-trade, products that are located in stores throughout Manhattan, Kansas.

I’m going to dedicate each of my blogs to four different stores in Manhattan. I’m going to personally go to each store and take a look around. I will make a list of the environmentally friendly and fair trade products that I find. I will also try to make an appointment with a manager or employee of that store if possible, and ask them why or why not they have or do not have environmentally friendly and fair-trade products. The first store that I plan to be visiting next week is People’s Grocery.

However, be warned. I WILL NOT EVALUATE WAL-MART. That store may seem like it is environmentally friendly, because of the green products and advertising that it does, but that is far from the truth. The way that their merchandise is shipped and sold is frankly a very terrifying nightmare to me. Their mass/cheap available merchandise also shuts down local stores and takes away the ability of there being local sustainability. Wal-Mart is a deadly plague placed upon the fair-trade and local markets, which have the ability of being fair-trade and environmentally friendly.

Throughout my blogging period I will also be trying to find out the answers to the questions I’m presenting. Why is it so hard to find these environmentally friendly products? Is it because we’re not looking in the right places? Is it that these kinds of products are not widely made available? Is it because there isn’t a publically high demand by consumers for these types of products? Why is it so hard to find produce that has come from small farmers in Kansas?

I might also try look into environmentally friendly and fair-trade product sites, so that our horizons are not so limited. With this additional knowledge, we might be able to find things that might not be available locally to us.

http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff51/Kilberg1/Double%20Takes/products_range.jpg