I don't have any real problems with Starbucks but I prefer to buy my coffee drinks from local roasters and give them my business. I don't have a big problem with Apple except that they are proprietary, which can given them license to set their prices where they want them. I don't like proprietary and I think competition is good for the economy, giving us better quality and lower prices. I have done this for years.
With the downturn in the economy the last few years, it's become even more important to vote with your dollars to keep some businesses alive. When you are wanting to eat healthier, like many of my friends and I are trying to do, the importance grows. If you are someone who has a social conscience, it's even more critical because it can have a long-term and global impact.
In Southeast Asia, tropical forests are replaced with Palm plantations to provide Palm oil which is used in foods, cosmetics and many other consumer goods. Why is this not a good thing? Many of those forests were home to primates, like Orangutans. Similar deforestation is happening in South America to provide cattle area. Trees are essential for fresh air and chopping them down has an impact on our atmosphere. Loving animals and feeling the need to breathe fresh air are compelling reasons for me to avoid products with Palm oil and to look for sources of foods or other goods that are not grown or raised at the risk of the environment.
We are seeing more "Fair Trade" labels and I find more people who don't understand what it means. Buying "Fair Trade" goods help aid the "little guys". It provides jobs for people in third world countries so they can provide for their families. It also helps provide safe working conditions at the same time. One other plus of "Fair Trade" is that many of those who claim that label use sustainable, environmentally conscious methods in their products. Coffee, sugar and chocolate are examples of products that offer "Fair Trade" options.
With annual scares from factory farming practices affecting our eggs, meat and vegetables and with consumers becoming aware of food manufacturers using things like "pink slime" in the products they make, many people I know are moving away from processed foods. Finding out that the confectioner's glaze on things like skittles is made from 25-35% "shellac" and then finding out that ingredient is basically ground up beetles was rather disconcerting. I'm sure that the food manufacturers do things they think will make the foods "safe" for us, but are they really?
Learning more about what goes into processed foods or what is done to crops in order to produce more harvestable food, make them resistant to disease and resistant to pesky bugs can be fairly frightening. We're also learning that the ingredients that make foods last longer on the shelf, taste better and look more appealing can add unnecessary calories. But we're also learning that the genetic modification to our foods are having a profound affect on our bodies, and it's not good. While I don't think that Cancer is anything new, I do think that the frequency and diversity of cancers diagnosed lately are a result of decades of putting toxic ingredients in our bodies.
It's not really practical for all of us to buy large pieces of land and raise food animals or grow crops for our food, but there are options. A CSA, or community supported agriculture, is a family farm or a co-op of fairly local farms where consumers can buy "shares" in return for regular delivery of produce and other foods. Some farms that raise cattle allow consumers to buy a portion of a cow for a price and when that animal goes to the butcher, the consumer gets their share of the meat.
With rising gas prices, foods that have to be transported are either going to go up in price or the manufacturer is going to find less expensive ingredients to protect their profit margin.Choosing local and healthy options with our dollars can sustain local business and our lives for generations to come.
Some resources
Local Harvest / Family Farms / CSAs
Eat Wild - Source of Grass-fed meat
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