The recent worldwide disasters (between the wrath of the Gulf, the Pakistani earthquake, and the tsunami from which dozens of countries are still recovering) have left some of the worlds’ poor countries in devastating states, with many lives lost, property demolished, and little to no food, water, or shelter. Although the industrial nations of the world have come together to donate money and relief, it is only temporary and that kind of aid does not solve the devastated peoples’ problems. It is realizations like these, during hard times, that bring out the human desire to help those people in need. But most of us are hard strapped for cash nowadays, and with rising gas prices and tuition rates climbing as well, we can’t spare too much money.
But despair not, because there is an alternative way to help people in other countries while practicing an influential way of changing the world for the better at the same time. That which I speak of is choosing where you shop, which products you buy, and which products you don’t buy. Let me explain. Buying products stimulates the economy for whoever made that product, and helps the makers, or sellers set up their own finances instead of relying on aid and borrowed money to make ends meet. In order to do this, you have to buy fair trade products that will guarantee that the money brings a living wage to the suppliers of the product. Now that’s aid that goes further than just a day’s meal. Now don’t get me wrong, I think that donating whatever we can spare to help save lives is good, but it is something most of us feel we’ll never see the effects of. Most of us, if we had a choice in where to donate, would probably donate to the South, to aid people right here in America, where we would see almost immediate results and hear about them on the news.
Now choosing where you shop and which products you buy is important, and with the aid of websites like www.responsibleshopper.com, you can type in any company or brand name and get all the dirt. Or conversely, praise and compare companies for their record. But your dollar doesn’t stop there. If you really want to change peoples’ overall quality of life, you have to start boycotting the companies that put them where they are in the first place. Big conglomerates who dominate the world’s water supplies, like Halliburton and Nestle, and food companies like Monsanto, sell produce with the terminator seed in them, and bankrupt third world countries far below the poverty line. Halliburton is buying up the worlds’ water supplies right now and is in competition with Nestle, which also owns Calistoga and Alhambra, Deer Park water, Ice mountain water, and Great Spring Waters of America. The privatization of the world’s most natural source has begun and is right now in full swing. If we don’t boycott them, then all the aid and sympathy goes to waste. It’s like knocking someone down with the same fist that feeds them. Instead, buy water from conscientious companies with humanitarian and environmental ethics – green companies- like crystal geyser, which supports rainforests, or Ethos water, which takes the profits and sets up independent water supply systems in poor areas of the world.
For more information on these topics please visit the above named website and check it out, as well as www.greenfestival.com. Click around, check out companies, and make a resolution to be conscious where your money goes and who it supports. Next time, in part two, I’ll discuss the political aspects of “voting with your dollar.”