Don't forget about the thermometer give away! Not kidding. This thermometer makes you wish someone was sick in your house so you can use it.
Got the Better World Shopping Guide in the mail last week. I heard about the book on the Trade as One Blog. I love Trade as One. They are doing great work bringing awareness to the plight of the laborer. I'll be referring to their blog a lot. Check them out!
Listen to what Ellis Jones (author of The Better World Shopping Guide) has to say...
THE PROBLEM
"Money is power." Perhaps more than any generation that has come before us, we understand the deeply-rooted reality of this short phrase and its universal meaning for every human being living on this planet.It follows that wherever large amounts of money collect, so also new centers of power form. The latest historical manifestation of this is the modern corporation. As trillions of dollars accumulate in the corporate sphere, we witness the growing power of corporations to shape the world as they see fit.
This power is not limited to controlling the face of our own government through consistent, record-breaking, campaign contributions, but also the faces of millions of people and the planet itself through jobs, resource exploitation, pollution, working conditions, energy consumption, forest destruction and so on.
Make no mistake, these new power centers are not democracies. We don't vote for the CEO's or their policies (unless we are rich enough to be significant shareholders, who are informed enough to know what's going on, and compassionate enough to care about more than just personal profit), yet our destinies are increasingly in their hands.
THE SOLUTION
As these power centers shift, we must shift our own voices if we wish to be heard. As citizens, on average, we might vote once every four years, if at all. As consumers, we vote every single day with the purest form of power...money. The average American family spends around $18,000 every year on goods and services. Think of it as casting 18,000 votes every year for the kind of world you want to live in."
Since I'm a believer, there are a few things I don't agree with in Jones' writing. God is sovereign and in control. We are living under a curse that began in the garden, and even if every single one of us decided to care about the laborers making our products and began to live on less so we can give more away, the fact remains...this world is broken and is moaning for redemption. We could never on our own make a better world. Our broken state shouts of our need for a savior.
However, as a believer it is always a joy to join with Jesus in His work of redeeming all things. Is it crazy to think that God wants to redeem my shopping? I can buy less. I can care about the workers creating our products. I can live out our convictions to be good stewards of our bodies and the earth God created and asked us to care for as His children. I can care about the poor in the way I choose one brand over another. Small steps, but I believe steps in the right direction, imitating God's heart for social justice and stewardship.
This book is a great tool. It goes in your purse. If I wanted to buy granola bars at the store, I could look up energy bars....
Each company is rated on an A-F scale, based on factors such as social responsibility and environmental factors. Environmental factors turn quickly into social responsibility issues when you consider companies like Coca Cola have been criticized for depleting and polluting the water sources of the poorest of the poor in India.
Standing in front of the granola bars I can quickly read that Luna bars get the grade A, Nature Valley and Quaker get B's and Kashi (surprisingly) gets a "C minus".
Want to buy crackers?
Annies, Barbara's and Nature's Path get A's. Nabisco and Kraft crackers...they get "F's."
Clothing?
Did you know that Dillards has NO code of conduct for sweatshops, earning it an F along with Wal-Mart?
I can't recommend this little guide enough.
It's already proven to be extremely helpful.
Now I'm researching these "F" companies. I'll share any of the research I find.
It's exciting to know that we can learn to "vote yes" for things God loves and "no" for things God hates.
4 comments:
How much information does it give you about why a company was given a certain grade? My husband and I like to be intentional in our spending but we may not agree with some things others would consider bad.
While I love supporting companies that give their workers a "living wage" I don't feel bad about supporting those that don't because if an adult (not a child, that is a whole different ball game) makes a decision to work at a company, regardless of how much I think they should be making or whether I think they would be better off elsewhere, they are making the decision to work their because of all the options they have, they think it is the best one for themselves and their family.
I would love a book like this if it gave me the information I needed to see if a company violated my own standards but would probably be frustrated if it told me a letter grade but not why.
Mackenzie,
The "information" you're asking about is definitely lacking in the book. He is very thorough and lists all his sources, but I'm with you and would like exact information for why each company received the grade they received.
Under each category there is a corporate hero section and a corporate villain section that describes why each of those companies are either great or awful.
Even though I wish there was more information for each company, I will say that this book has still been incredibly helpful as we're beginning this journey. It gives us some place to start. I felt totally lost before I got this book in the mail.
It's also helpful to be able to research on my own the corporate villains, reading about them in news stories on the internet.
Even though I don't care as much about animal rights (one of the factors that goes into a company's grade), it's been good to use his information to then do my own research.
As far as what you're saying about livable wage...we can all have our own convictions about those things, but I will say that most of the companies I've researched so far who are not giving livable wages are also doing terrible things like, docking three days pay when an employee is a few minutes late to work. Ridiculous...certainly a picture of neglecting to pay the worker his/her wages.
Heather
Was just wondering if you got this and what you thought..great timing.
I am going to try something with our clothing situation...I'll let you know if it is a bomb or THE bomb.
I'm wondering where you buy your kids clothes. I'm lost without old navy!
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