Global Amen - Realms of Responsibility

INFORMATION

What Are We Really Buying?

what is responsible shopping?
the realms of responsibility

responsible shopping-
    shop by company name
      shop by product type
        shop by responsibility realm

research-
    research a company or product
      finding a responsible company
       spotting an irresponsible company

Each time we purchase a product, we inadvertantly tell the company that made it that we like the way they do business.
But do we?
It's time to ask ourselves a question:
When we purchase a product, what impact does that have on the people and regions of the earth that were involved in its creation?

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What Are You Really Buying?

Each time we purchase an item from a store, we are showing that we support the store from which we bought it. Whether we want to or not, we indirectly tell the company that we like the way they are running business. Stores aimed at making profit will base how they change their business according to how consumers react to their company.
Although all companies do have certain standards for the quality of their products, they obviously want to make money too, and so will do things as cheaply as possible without going beneath their standards (hopefully). Until consumers make a fuss, the company will usually continue to make their product in that way, as it allows them to keep their customers, while operating at minimum expense.
So what are companies sacrificing at the expense of making money? The answer is different for each individual company. Things that are sometimes sacrificed by companies include:

Workers' Rights
A Healthy Earth
Animals' Well-Being

Before we buy, we need to think about what it is that we are actually buying, and what we are supporting by doing so. After putting on our "Amen Goggles" we might find that attached to that "perfect black dress" are some things we didn't see before: A young girl working 16 hour shifts, 6 days a week . . . greedy (or unthinking) owners who spend the money that could have raised her paycheck at least to living-wage standards on expensive cars . . . diseased birds which ingested the pesticides used to grow the cotton for the dress. . . streams polluted with chemical fertilizers. Are these the sorts of events we want to occur? By buying that black dress we are saying that we do. Before we shop, we need to ask ourselves what we are really buying.