For this part, I have decided to investigate the conditions under which some of my purchases have been produced. I specifically focused on child labor. This is when any full-time working child is younger than the working-age specified by law. Child labor happens more often in developing countries than in developed countries and for large commercial brands. Child labor will result in a negative effect on the child's mental, physical, social, educational, emotional and spiritual development.
From research, I have learned that the following brands which I would usually make purchases from make use of child labor:
- Gap (clothing)
- Nike (Sports wear & equipment, including Converse All Star)
- Adidas (Sports wear & equipment)
- Zara (clothing)
- McDonalds (fast-food restaurant, specifiaclly their 'HappyMeal' toys)
- Apple/Macintosh (Electronics, specifically iPods)
From this I will know which stores to avoid while shopping. Of course there are other brands that use child labor, however the few listed above still help me when shopping as I would possibly purchase items from their shops if I was not aware of child labor.
I currently do own some products from the brands above, such as a pair of Converse All Star shoes as well as clothing from Zara. Although I cannot turn back and undo my purchase of the products I will know in the future to avoid buying products from those brands again.
A second part of being good with money is to buy fair trade products. This is when the producers in developing countries are treated fairly while working and receive a fair payment for their work. It is important to know about this when spending money, as you can be sure the producers of your desired product have been treated fairly, much like it is important to know about child labor. When shopping for groceries/food goods, I have leaned there will often be a label on the package telling me if it is fair trade. This helps me decide weather or not to buy the product because if there is no label there is a large chance the product has been manufactured under poor working conditions.
However, it is also possible a product with no fair trade label has been imported from a developed country in which you may assume it has been produced under fair conditions. While knowing this, it is also important to consider how much energy it took for the product to arrive from another country and how much pollution it has caused. In Bali, many foods have been imported from countries such as Australia, New Zealand, America, etc. and because Bali is an island with people from so many different countries, some people will import products from where they come from for their own businesses. By buying products from far away countries, such as America, you support the shipping, which has a huge effect on the environment. For example, if something has been imported by sea, the ocean is being polluted and the contaminated water will affect the ecosystems in it. It is therefore important to buy local products as often as possible, making sure they are fair trade.
The amount of energy and the resources that have been used to create the product is also an important aspect to take into account. For example, according to the Discovery magazine, it takes 37 gallons of water to produce one cup of coffee and 4,400 gallons to produce a pair of leather shoes! This is a very big waste of water, which is a resource we need to preserve.
Animal testing is when products, often cosmetics, are tested on animals to see if they could have any negative impacts on the body. This is very bad as the animal is often abused when being kept in the testing labs, and secondly, the animals will often turn out with a disease or die as a result of the chemical being tested. It is thought that 115 million animals are killed due to animal testing annually in the United States alone. When products are not tested on animals, there will often be labels on the packages stating that they are against animal cruelty. One of the many companies that are widely known for being animal testing-free is the BodyShop.
In addition to the above, recycling and reusing are important factors of being a responsible spender. When you recycle and reuse you make use of resources that are in good shape after they have already been used. This is a very positive action as you will save money because you are not buying something new which you already have at home and that can be reused. There will also often be discounts on secondhand products in stores. It is also good for the environment. This is because you are not taking new resources from the environment to create something new, you are instead using a resource that you already have and has been taken from the environment in the past, which you can reuse or recycle instead of taking more of that same resource from the environment.
Another important part of ethical shopping is considering if it is really necessary to buy new items or if you can simply repair what you wanted to replace, which relates to reusing.
'Green electricity' is also an important aspect of being environmentally responsible with your money. Green electricity is electricity produced from renewable resources, such as solar energy and wind power, which will not have as bad an effect on the environment as burning coal, gas or using nuclear power for electricity will have.
Being responsible with the amount of electricity used can also reflected in they types of lighting you use, i.e. your light bulbs. You can buy 'Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs' (CFLs) which are light bulbs which use less than 20-40% energy compared to other light bulbs. CFLs also produce more light per watt than an ordinary bulb, they last longer, saving money, and they generate less heat than usual bulbs. This is a large help in limiting green house gasses.
It is also believed that if every American home replaced just one light with a CFL bulb, we would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes for a year and prevent 9 billion pounds of greenhouse gas emissions per year- equivalent to the emissions of about 800,000 cars.
All of the above are important aspects to consider when shopping, as they are a large part of your eco-footprint.
After learning about all the resources involved in producing specific products, I am careful with what I buy and consider if it is really necessary to buy it. I did this recently when shopping with my father. I read from the same magazine as the previous post that it takes more water to produce meat than most vegetables and I therefore took this into account when considering if we should buy meat or vegetables for the pasta sauce we were having that evening. We ended up deciding to have a vegetarian meal.
