Conscious Savings

A habit is a choice made normal.

This past Sunday I enjoyed a talk from a Reverend Hutchinson regarding Fair Trade, the WTO and related topics, as you may know this is an issue where I’ve completed a fair amount of research and performed a tiny bit of action. He did an excellent job of uncovering the surface in a short time which is difficult to do in this topic area. I’m interested in who would like to further the discussion via the internet, email for now though I could setup a mailing list / web-site if the group grows large enough.

If you are interested please reply with a brief introduction regarding your background, what your first exposure to the need for social justice & environmental reform, what you would like to contribute and what you would like to receive from the group? If you would like more information without sharing your email address with others please let me know and I’ll be sure to Blind Carbon Copy you on future emails.

As for me, my mother is a science teacher and I grew up with a significant amount of information just on the edge of my awareness. Though my true wakeup call came around September 11, 2001 when I saw a great number of things that just didn’t quite add up, long story short I read a book called the Emperor Wear’s No Clothes which discusses the history of Hemp and it’s potential for sustainable development, then joined an activist group seeking Drug Law reform and began to see the interconnectedness of a great variety of groups and ideas. I like many others began feeling angry and betrayed, only to recognize that in my ignorance I was helping to fuel the growth of a movement that supported and was largely based upon exploitation at every available level. My favorite title for this movement thus far is “Fundamentalist Free Market Capitalism”.

I must say that I also believe that Free Market Capitalism has the potential for tremendous good, and over the years have come to recognize myself as a capitalist. The distinction in my mind is the externalization of costs, big phrase that in a nutshell means forcing cost onto the shoulders of others. Another way to think of this is to look at the difference between the “price” of something and the “cost” of something. For example, a $0.50 bar of chocolate from the grocery store checkout line has a much lower price than a $2.00 Organic Fair Trade bar of chocolate. Yet the $2.00 bar of chocolate may cost less, it is organic and thus does not use pesticides in it’s production, so it is less likely to cause you future dis-ease, less likely to contribute to local fresh water supplies becoming poisoned. It is fair trade so it is less likely to have been planted and harvested by children under the age of 12 and probably was grown by a farmer who is able to support their family and have enough income left over to invest in improving their farm and their community. That is just one example, though it does set the stage for the idea that price does not reflect cost.

This is obviously not a simple cut and dry issue else it would not be an issue, many who are most aware of these issues are those in relatively low income brackets. I was the stereotype of a broke activist living on a couch when many of my seeds were being planted and fed with great soil. The side effect of this is that when you do not think you can afford to pay the extra price for organic and/or fair trade then you are more likely to put up some blinders and perhaps decide that you are powerless to do anything and simply move toward the herd of low prices at any cost.

So I’ve rambled on enough for this morning, suffice to say that I hope this group grows large enough to splinter off other groups exponentially. I look forward to hearing any additional thoughts, comments, feedback, complaints, criticisms, etc… So long as you are thinking and preferably cultivating your own consciousness.