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holiday shopping via sweatshops
Submitted by katott November 8th, 2008. It has been commented on ( 3 ) times and has been pushed ( 4 ) times. -
Whooo-Whooo Knew?
i recently read an article in relevant magazine pertaining to the issues of human trafficking, slave labor and sweatshops. the holidays are on there way, and are all anticipating holiday shopping to some degree i am sure. so here it is, what i learned that is causing me to lose sleep at night...in no particular order (gathered again from an article in Relevant magazine, which i highly recommend)
- 12.3 million people in the world are FORCED into slave labor..yep slavery is not just something you read about in middle school history...its still alive today folks
- the "industry" for lack of a better term generates $32 billion dollars a year in profit
- 1/2 of the 12.3 billion slaves are under the age of 18....yeah, just KIDS
- companies anywhere from Wal-Mart , Prada, Nike, Gap and even Disney are guilty of selling products that were made in sweatshops
- if these people even get paid, it is somewhere around $4 an hour, and they work 12 hour days... some of these people living on less than $2 a day and still don't have enough food to eat.
- the Ivory Coast is responsible for 40% of the worlds supply of chocolate...CHILD trafficing is a huge problem on these cocoa farms...they are forced into hard labor and never even paid. 12 hour days, little food, little rest, little kids....working with machetes, unprotected against the pesticides they use..so that we can have chocolate...a luxury..not a need. the worst part about this one is, the farmers admit to using children. but are quick to remind us that, the west sets the price for cocoa, and when the price the farmer is getting is too low, he can not afford to employ adults. let alone pay or care for the children that work these farms...so we, in a round about way, are who is enslaving these children, for what??? something we can certainly live without.
First Step
i know i ranted on...and the article is far more detailed about these things than my rant.... going into numerous other issues concerning trafficking and slavery. i just wanted to give some insight as we approach the gift giving season. we may not know where our new shoes or shirt have come from, it is nearly impossible to know where they were made. but we can try to buy thing that are labeled fair trade. we can try to buy things locally made. we could perhaps, and i know this is a stretch for many, but perhaps become less of consumers. how much do we really need?? how much time are we spending in a day looking for ways to reach out and help those who are in need, enslaved even? it's just stuff...people, small children are dying every day to fulfill our "need for things. so we should do all we can to try and save them, being that it is us who are enslaving and killing them really.
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Comments
Etsy is great site. There are also a lot of great websites where proceeds from the purchases you make go towards charities. Lucky magazine has a list of some sites - www.luckymag.com/shopping/2008/12/webcharity?currentPage=1 . My favorite that I have seen so far is www.thehungersite.com/ - they have different tabs for child hunger, literacy, breast cancer, animal rescue and rainforest so you can choose which charity you would like to see your money go to. They have a wide range products that also include fairtrade and eco friendly products. Another idea is to support your local businesses whether its for holiday or anytime shopping. Happy shopping!
I ran across a funny website that relates to holiday shopping. http://www.xmasresistance.org/. It's a bit overboard but I like the basic idea behind it; Curbing consumption and channeling that into just spending time with your family or helping someone less fortunate at Christmas time instead of filling other people's wallets. Even better, spend that energy celebrating the birth of a Savior and the money loving His people. I'm sure He'd prefer that on his birthday over buying your little one yet another barbie she's gonna lose under the bed.
For those concerned with these types of issues, that still want to give nice gifts, check out www.etsy.com. Etsy provides a place for artists, craftspeople, etc. to network, buy, sell and trade their handmade goods. You always know who made the items that you buy. It really removes the grey area from consumerism, plus you can find some really great, unique items that you won't find in chain stores.
Also check out Tom's shoes. For every item that you buy from Tom's, they provide a pair of shoes for a needy child somewhere in the world.
Social responsible consumerism is possible. You just have to look a little harder to find it.