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I was in shop with my son Jonah and they had “Happy Christmas (War is Over)” playing: So this is Christmas, This commonly conjures up images of John Lennon and Yoko Ono protesting hippie-style for world peace and an end to starvation. As I looked around the store it made me think how our daily purchasing decisions shape the world we live. Much more so than protesting or making charitable donations. Money talks – and we talk with our money every day. Thanks to oil we are able to have people in far away sweat shops labour away to provide us with cheap consumer goods: Electronics from communist China and clothes, coffee, fruit and chocolate from the impoverished fields of South America. Developed nations spend so little on the basic necessities of life – no less the “unnecessary” necessities. Partly because others work at unfair wages to provide for us. And partly because we have sacrificed quantity for quality. People rather buy genetically modified, chemically sprayed produce from factory farms than locally grown, in-season, organic food. North Americans rather buy tons of cheap plastic toys for our kid from the slums of Beijing than a beautifully handcrafted toy from a local artisan. There are so many repercussions to all of our buying decisions. Buying less while enjoying more high quality products from fair trade and environmentally sound sources will probably do a lot more to cripple the greedy elite (who are behind most wars and famines). While giving to charities is great, I think more attention needs to be put towards living a lifestyle that prevents the need for charities. If developed nations had to pay fair prices for all their stuff (from food to clothes to TVs) what a different world we would live in. Wishing you a very Merry Christmas! John C. A. Manley P.S. A great company for purchasing fair trade, organically grown clothing is Gaiam. Check out their website at the following link… http://metaphysicalsf.com/recommends/gaiam
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