hi merle, and everyone... i'd like to respond to the questions you asked. as your post is now buried behind many other posts, ill reprint it here -
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"Jessica,
I'd like to know what clothes you wear, where they are made, and by whom. Who makes your shoes, and does a machine put them together, or are they handmade? Does the company make your shoes for a profit? Do any of these companies that make the things you need produce carbon? And if so, can you quantify it?
Where do you get your food, and how did it get to that place? Was carbon put into the atmosphere during the transportation of the food?
Something you people fail to realize is that people have to be taken care of. We can't live in caves, we need warmth, food, clothes. We need to work. How in the world can you do all this for so many people? What are your specific answers? "
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well, you make many valid points. i don't claim to be perfect. i think the question of how to feed and shelter a huge, overpopulated planet is extremely complicated, and i appreciate you bringing up these issues. i don't claim to have the answers for a planet as large as we currently are. but i do know of some positive pieces of the puzzle.
as for my personal purchasing, my clothes are 99.9% second hand, or found. once every few years i may purchase something new if it's made with organic cotton or other natural materials. (as for certain undergarments, which i dont buy used, sometimes i buy organic cotton underwear, sometimes i dont, and i have lots of old socks and bras i continue to wear.) while i agree that we do need things to be produced in order to live, i see such an overabundance of clothing in the wastestream, and i think most of us have far more clothes than we can justify as "needs", myself included. and cotton is an incredibly toxic crop. true, my clothes are made with cotton, and in sweatshops most likely, but i do see a difference when an item is already in existence versus plucking it new from the planet. my cell phone was bought second hand as well, which is the only piece of technology i own. i may get a camera and / or laptop at some point, but not new.
ahh, shoes. until several years ago, shoes were included in my buying everything used plan. developing heel spurs after much walking in 9 year old sneakers was a humble awakening to the fact that only do shoes need to be comfortable, they must actually have some cushion to support the feet. shoes for me have one purpose, support of my body, and i buy one pair, new, every year. and i have two pairs of second hand rainboots. if i was truly dedicated in every way, i would have taken time to research the various options in footware made by companies which operate as sustainably as they can, finding shoes just as supportive as the sneakers ive gotten attached to for helping those heel spurs recover. i get new balance sneakers, made in the u.s.a. out of goodness knows what.
i eat mostly organic, keeping an eye out for local, and less packaged. despite the exaggerated rantings of those who think its something to make fun of, the farmers market makes a lot of sense, and i go there often but not always. but yes, there is carbon produced in food production and transport. i dont own a car, i usually am in places with abundant public transport (id ride a bike more if i felt safer on the streets), but as you know, there is carbon use involved in most anything.
i dont claim to have all the answers, but this is a network i deeply respect, and i encourage you and all readers to look at this site -
http://www.coopamerica.org/ . from the nature of this list and tone of the conversations here, i suppose anyone can find something to insult within a second of looking. ( "they mention e-waste! but they have a website! what hypocrites! they're conspiring to turn everyone against technology and they even have a website! and you can place orders for products thru the site! they take credit cards! theyre evil! as dark as dick cheney, look they're selling things!" )
sorry, sorry, i'm really trying to maintain balance here, but damn it's difficult given what this organizing tool? discussion board seems to have descended into ....
point being, those who pose the questions how can i be protesting greed and pollution and corruption and be advocating a business / product site, please allow yourself to look at coopamerica with an open mind. the info and companies there show that it's very possible to produce things and services while considering one's impact on the planet, as well as how the workers are treated.
(see also - bill mckibben, zero waste initiatives, paul hawken, etc ..)
about capitalism - i emphatically dislike how capitalism, as its structured here and as it always seems to be, puts profit above all. when workers are exploited on all sides of the world and the elements we rely on for life (not to mention have their own inherent value) are poisoned to make more and more and more, it makes me angry. i hate shopping malls, advertising - i really, really, hate the advertising pollution of the mental environment, and the way many companies string us along for our insecurities so we can give them green pieces of paper.
but -- the problems, to me, seem to be more the greed, the pollution, the unconsciousness. or, the calculated manipulation. some say these things cannot be separated from capitalism. if i knew another way that i felt would work for as many people as there are, i may consider myself "anti-capitalist". but i dont know another way that can instantly be put in place for the massive numbers of humans as there are now. not to say i know for sure another way wouldnt work, but there are alot of us here. we do need to keep warm and eat and some of us need medical equipment / tests / even dare i say it, prescription drugs, while i know that they are criminally overprescribed and misrepresented. so, i dont advocate capitalism nor do i say i am flat out against it. i look at the whole picture, i condemn the pollution, waste, greed, and corruption, while at the same time recognize value in things that are working for a better world, that have integrity, that consider honesty, life, values important. does that make sense?
also, i have seen other ways of living work, and i have seen others live much lower footprint than myself. but as ive only seen this in certain pockets, in relatively small numbers, i cant yet say with certainty that we can all do this. but there are those who know the answers to where everything they use comes from, and i deeply respect that. barter, chickens and eggs, bicycles, natural medicines and making tinctures and soaps and wool, sharing healing, knowledge, vegetables, childcare, permaculture, cobb building, acoustic entertainment, solar ovens, stories instead of television, etc. etc... that is the world i want to live in. but, i must admit, merle, i dont have the knowledge to be sure we can all be sustained in this way. there are alot of us. so, while we still are so many, and until i am able to make a shift and live in a place where food is grown on the land and other things are bartered, i believe that "conscious capitalism" does have a place. there are businesses that produce things and use carbon and are trying, really trying, to be as close to zero waste as possible. there are businesses that make things with a triple bottom line way. doesnt mean i want to rush out to a mall and shop my way to revolution. but i see sustainable purchasing, along with reducing consumption, as part of it. but there is greenwashing - like mcdonalds posing as caring because theyre pushing salads or giving the chickens a few extra inches in their tiny cages. i believe in being discerning about everything. especially what we put in our bodies... "read the ingredients" ...
i think we need to drastically curb our consumption. according to jane goodall and many others, if everyone consumed like americans, we would need four planets. the online video "the story of stuff" -
http://www.storyofstuff.com/ explains that because of "planned obsolescence" 99% of the stuff we buy is not in use in 6 months. *please understand, that just because im considering capitalism in a wholistic way of viewing things, does not mean i think that is ok!!
continuing to consume useless stuff we dont need, whether its made more sustainably or not, is wasteful. but we can think more about everything we do and buy, or even 80% of it. thinking do we need this? where does it come from?
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about the rnc - the acts committed by the "leadership" of this country far exceed the damage of a pair of new balance sneakers, or for that matter the frantic shopping sprees of a thousand christmases. depleted uranium. disgustingly bloated military budget at the expense of taking care of basic needs at home. outright lying. project for a new american century. appointing industry insiders to protect the public from the exploitation of same industries. stolen elections. hiring scientists to make false statements about the "safety" of toxins that are profitable, and to downplay the dangers of climate change. etc, etc, etc ...
there are many reasons people are going to protest the rnc, and make it clear that this is not the world we want. if not all of us are 100% perfect in all we do, that doesn't make us hypocrites. i am not trying to protest the purchase of one pair of shoes, the fact that the delegates don't all grow their own food, or even the fact that they and many of us, self included, are using a lot of carbon to get there by airplane. i am going to protest crimes of such a huge level that it is amazing cheney and bush have not been impeached. i am going to protest a candidate who wants to keep us in a spiral of war, and who is feeding on fear of change to keep this country heading in a very dismal direction. theres more to say as always, but must go for now.
thanks for taking the time to read this. respectful feedback welcome.
