the most basic Me
Tuesday, November 16, 2004
China
I was trying to explain to a co-worker yesterday why Greg and I try to avoid products made in China. I think until answering his question, I hadn't even fully thought it through to myself. Greg was the one that started the whole "boycott China" in our house. He re-read the Snow Leopard and got re-insensed about the Chinese take-over of Tibet and that was the genesis. Given how incredibly difficult it is to NOT buy Chinese products, I ignore the boycott a lot of the time.
But why boycott Chinese products?
As I thought more deeply about the subject, I realized that the choices we make in spending our money are truly how we "vote". I complain all the time about how voting in the elections seems so futile, as if you truly aren't represented anyway. But I also talk about how Corporations are taking over the world and politics and that they are the true powers behind our government.
What do Corporations respect? MONEY. How we spend our money is our true vote.
If you bitch about there being no mom-and-pop coffee shops near your house, but drive out of your way to stop at Starbucks, you aren't voting for mom-and-pop coffee shops. If you despair that there are unfair labor practices overseas, but continue buying your clothing without doing any research about how that clothing was made or where it came from--you aren't voting against unfair labor practices. The way we spend our money is our vote.
When products are produced far away from where we live, we are far less likely to care about the effects of that production process. If your neighbor is sending her 10 year old to work in a factory everyday, you are much more likely to be concerned about child labor than if its happening thousands of miles away. When I buy California rice, I know a lot about where that rice comes from, how it was grown, what goes into growing it, storing it, distributing it, selling it--because I drive through those rice fields daily, I process permits to convert cattle ranches to rice land, I see the crop planes flying over distributing pesticides, I used to watch the fields burn in the fall--then watched that practice change and now I see them flooded for waterfowl habitat.
I'll admit--I haven't done a lot of research on the Chinese economy, its environment, or its labor practices. At best, I have little bits of knowledge gleaned here and there--much of it could be unfounded rumors. But in a sense, that doesn't undermine my argument--the very fact that I don't know these things makes me concerned about the fact that it is almost impossible to go shopping and not buy a product made in China.
Let's pick a random list of products from around my office: a plastic giraffe for my daughter, the jeans I'm wearing, a vegan cookbook, my travel mug, a picture frame. Looking at the product labels: giraffe (china), jeans (cambodia), book (printed in the USA, published in my home town of Rocklin--surprise to me!), mug (China), frame (Thailand). I count that as 1 out of 5 items made in the USA (and I have no idea where the paper comes from).
I do not support a ban of import of Chinese products--if a business can go to China, produce a product and bring it here and sell it, I'm not going to stand in their way. I'm not a die hard that won't step foot in Walmart, or never drinks Starbucks, but I prefer to buy things made locally. I prefer to support local, small businesses and that's how I am going to spend my money.
I'd like to think and expand on this whole idea and argument...Have you seen the new website www.changethis.com? this might be an interesting manifesto.
¶ 1:56 PM 0 comments
I was trying to explain to a co-worker yesterday why Greg and I try to avoid products made in China. I think until answering his question, I hadn't even fully thought it through to myself. Greg was the one that started the whole "boycott China" in our house. He re-read the Snow Leopard and got re-insensed about the Chinese take-over of Tibet and that was the genesis. Given how incredibly difficult it is to NOT buy Chinese products, I ignore the boycott a lot of the time.
But why boycott Chinese products?
As I thought more deeply about the subject, I realized that the choices we make in spending our money are truly how we "vote". I complain all the time about how voting in the elections seems so futile, as if you truly aren't represented anyway. But I also talk about how Corporations are taking over the world and politics and that they are the true powers behind our government.
What do Corporations respect? MONEY. How we spend our money is our true vote.
If you bitch about there being no mom-and-pop coffee shops near your house, but drive out of your way to stop at Starbucks, you aren't voting for mom-and-pop coffee shops. If you despair that there are unfair labor practices overseas, but continue buying your clothing without doing any research about how that clothing was made or where it came from--you aren't voting against unfair labor practices. The way we spend our money is our vote.
When products are produced far away from where we live, we are far less likely to care about the effects of that production process. If your neighbor is sending her 10 year old to work in a factory everyday, you are much more likely to be concerned about child labor than if its happening thousands of miles away. When I buy California rice, I know a lot about where that rice comes from, how it was grown, what goes into growing it, storing it, distributing it, selling it--because I drive through those rice fields daily, I process permits to convert cattle ranches to rice land, I see the crop planes flying over distributing pesticides, I used to watch the fields burn in the fall--then watched that practice change and now I see them flooded for waterfowl habitat.
I'll admit--I haven't done a lot of research on the Chinese economy, its environment, or its labor practices. At best, I have little bits of knowledge gleaned here and there--much of it could be unfounded rumors. But in a sense, that doesn't undermine my argument--the very fact that I don't know these things makes me concerned about the fact that it is almost impossible to go shopping and not buy a product made in China.
Let's pick a random list of products from around my office: a plastic giraffe for my daughter, the jeans I'm wearing, a vegan cookbook, my travel mug, a picture frame. Looking at the product labels: giraffe (china), jeans (cambodia), book (printed in the USA, published in my home town of Rocklin--surprise to me!), mug (China), frame (Thailand). I count that as 1 out of 5 items made in the USA (and I have no idea where the paper comes from).
I do not support a ban of import of Chinese products--if a business can go to China, produce a product and bring it here and sell it, I'm not going to stand in their way. I'm not a die hard that won't step foot in Walmart, or never drinks Starbucks, but I prefer to buy things made locally. I prefer to support local, small businesses and that's how I am going to spend my money.
I'd like to think and expand on this whole idea and argument...Have you seen the new website www.changethis.com? this might be an interesting manifesto.
¶ 1:56 PM 0 comments
 | You preferred Kerry's statements 44% of the time
You preferred Bush's statements 56% of the time Voting purely on the issues you should vote Bush Who would you vote for if you voted on the issues? Find out now! |
