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| <back | home How to Use Our Dollars for Changing the World by Bob Banner Some progressives spend lots of money on things; while others are frugal, sometimes dependent on the amount of money coming in and what they can budget. One woman told me she will only buy something if another item can be removed due to space limitations. Some will shop at Wal-Mart believing that cheap is better so they can devote more time and energy to their activism. Some simply shop at the corporate stores for convenience and price. Some are more purists and purchase only products that are either “green,” genuinely local, fair-trade, organic or of non-sweat-shop origin or all the above. And yet there are Republicans who believe passionately in natural building and renewable energy and will spend their dollars accordingly. There is such diversity in how we spend our dollars. And perhaps a majority of us do the best we can with what we have and what knowledge we have acquired about boycotts, certain gas stations, whether something is really local or not, etc. This short essay is not about a litany of judgments. I will leave that to the various fundamentalists (enviro fundamentalists included). We are all in this together and we all have our different levels of awareness, income and commitment. Also, we all have different experiences of what is urgent, what are the priorities of the current situation. Some couldn’t care less about global warming and/or peak oil and are simply eking out an existence while working 2-3 jobs. Some may not even own computers to access all the enlightened information on the internet and some perhaps don’t even have the time to read the various freebie publications that circulate through the various libraries, cafes and churches throughout towns. What I feel compelled to ask is for the people who spend money: Where do you shop and why? Of course local is good since the money goes back to the local economy. But if local means that all the shoes at a “local” store are made from sweat shops in Malaysia, then perhaps we need to delve more deeply into what makes a local business. Local usually connotes something actually produced locally. The easiest way to discover what’s local is in the food we eat. What’s best is to have a grower’s name and face connected to those locally grown vegetables. But when it comes to toothpaste, soap, detergent, meat, clothes and shoes, it often becomes one long headache if you are interested in purchasing it with green and socially just practices in mind. Some restaurants include locally grown food and they ought to be supported. “Local” stores that sell no real local products ought to say so. Since I don’t often find local businesses dealing with green and socially just practices, I often go online for them. I certainly don’t have the energy or persistence to walk up and down State Street or 4th Street or Marsh Street or Telegraph to research all the products until my conscience is clear, before I put down my hard earned dollars. For convenience, I recently purchased socks, a hat, a pair of shoes, a scarf and some T-shirts from NoSweat online. Their products are either union-made in the US or union-made in Indonesia (whose workers have an insurance health plan much better than my friends and I have!). We have had the ad for NoSweat running in HopeDance for more than a year. We are an affiliate of NoSweat, which means if people go to their website via HopeDance’s website and make purchases, we earn a percentage. It’s win-win; and affiliate programs are revolutionizing the web industry. But after more than a year of advertising both online and in print, we have received two checks totaling $8.34 (which basically comes from my purchases). This is pitiful, especially at a time when people are allegedly clamoring to do good in the world; to spend money in the right direction, to use their dollars to change the world. What I cannot comprehend is that most of the discussions I encounter with people speaking about changing the world, I feel their heartfelt desire to do something; to act responsibly, to play their part with their money. So I feel disappointed that I sense I’m working at creating an alternative, a solution by which they can do something, and then not much happens. If you think the products at NoSweat are perhaps expensive; no way! I purchased a pair of vegan hemp high top tennis shoes for $52. You might pay more at a chain store that pays its workers sweat shop wages. Yet my money, even though it went to a foreign country (especially since only 5% of the clothing industry resides in the US), went to pay a fair wage to an insured union worker. Granted some products are more difficult to locate, but my response to that is to look on the web. If you cannot find a place locally, then find someplace else and let people know about it. Here at HopeDance we wish to continue our affiliate links with businesses we support. We are going to pursue this more diligently in the near future. We wish to call it the Wholly Green Store or something like that; so people can go directly to the HopeDance website and purchase products they can feel good about, know the company is socially just and earth friendly. If you find any among your searches, please let us know so we can eventually be a cool portal for green consumers to browse and purchase. We already have affiliates with three film clubs, as well as NoSweat, and are educating green businesses about the affiliate programs so we can work together to create a win-win situation for all participants. Also, there are more and more products available locally. Look at the advertising in HopeDance. Guyaki is local (soon to move to Sebastopol), Sweet Earth’s fair traded organic chocolate is here in San Luis. Patagonia is in Ventura, local bookstores still reside in the four counties. Fair trade coffee is now everywhere. At one time they were insignificant, but because of organizations like LaDonna Coffees, Thanksgiving Coffee and Equal Exchange, and people like you who have bought from them — fair-trade is becoming a household name. Let’s keep at it. Find the places, the products, the farmer, the craftsman, shoemaker, green builder, find the eggs, the organic beef/chicken/turkey, and tell us about it so we can support them. That’s what HopeDance is all about. Bob Banner publishes HopeDance and screens films. He can be reached at info@hopedance.org. <back | top^ |