I have just come back from a weekend in Daylesford that was wonderful, but would have been so much better without sick children, husband, bucketing rain whilst in our tent... However, I did get to attend a workshop or two, and the one on ethical shopping has stayed with me. It is something I have always been interested in - I have intentionally sought out animal cruelty free products for years - it is now habit. I choose fair trade where possible, and like the idea of organic food. However, the almighty dollar is still the primary decider for most of my purchases.
However, a little peruse of
this site challenges complacency. Ok, maybe it is not so easy for me to pay an extra two or three dollars for an item. But what price is to be placed on the abuse of people, animals, and the environment? If I saw people providing slave labour down the street making products for my latter purchasing pleasure, there is no way that I would buy them. But because it is on the other side of the world, out of my sight, and something I am (or choose to be) largely ignorant of, I don't generally experience much in the way of a crisis of conscience.
Here is an example - sorry for the long quote:
Coca-Cola Company is perhaps the most widely recognized corporate symbol on the planet. The company also leads in the abuse of workers' rights, assassinations, water privatization, and worker discrimination. Between 1989 and 2002, eight union leaders from Coca-Cola bottling plants in Colombia were killed after protesting the company's labor practices. Hundreds of other Coca-Cola workers who have joined or considered joining the Colombian union SINALTRAINAL have been kidnapped, tortured, and detained by paramilitaries who intimidate workers to prevent them from unionizing. In Turkey, 14 Coca-Cola truck drivers and their families were beaten severely by Turkish police hired by the company, while protesting a layoff of 1,000 workers from a local bottling plant in 2005.
In India, Coca-Cola destroys local agriculture by privatizing the country's water resources. In Plachimada, Kerala, Coca-Cola extracted 1.5 million liters of deep well water, which they bottled and sold under the names Dasani and BonAqua. The groundwater was severely depleted, affecting thousands of communities with water shortages and destroying agricultural activity. As a result, the remaining water became contaminated with high chloride and bacteria levels, leading to scabs, eye problems, and stomach aches in the local population. Water shortages have occurred in Varanasi, Thane, and Tamil Nadu as well. The company is also guilty of reselling its plants' industrial waste to farmers as fertilizers, despite its containing hazardous lead and cadmium.
Coca-Cola is one of the most discriminatory employers in the world. In the year 2000, 2,000 African-American employees in the U.S. sued the company for race-based disparities in pay and promotions. In México, Coca-Cola FEMSA, the largest Coca-Cola bottler in Latin America, fired a senior bottling manager for being gay. Finally, by regularly denying health insurance to employees and their families, Coca Cola has failed to help stop the spread of AIDS in Africa. The company is one of the continent's largest private employers, yet only partially covers expensive medicines, while not covering generic medicines at all.
The above violations refer to the Coca Cola Company in America. Phew Aussie Coke is okay. However, the American company owns 30% of Coca Cola South Pacific Pty Ltd and Coca Cola Amatil. So like it or not, some of our coke purchases funds the above atrocities. And if you don't drink Coke, products like Pump (bottled water), Grinders Coffee, and SPC Ardmona, are all owned by Coca Cola Amatil.
So I am now at a crossroads. I can choose to keep spending as I have been without consideration of these issues, or begin to make changes. I went to the supermarket on Tuesday morning and took along the iphone app released by the Ethical Consumer Guide. It took me longer to shop, and some items had no ethical options. Interestingly, I spent less. It marks the beginning of at least being more informed. Change of spending habit, however small, will make a difference. Cadbury's release of a fair trade chocolate bar is a good example of the power of our spending.
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