Changing the way we consume.

My family has been very conscious of the footprint we are leaving on this planet. We have been making changes slowly over the past several years. This year we decided that we were not going to buy anything made in China and Bangladesh. We will expand our limits later, but this is where we began.

We decided only purchase from companies that we know deal ethically with workers, and research companies that do. We are adamently opposed to buying things from countries where there exsists blatant human rights violations. Anyway, this turned out being harder than we ever imagined, but has been a great lesson in mindfullness for us and the childrren.

Whether or not you aspire to lessen your footprint, or whether or not you care about these issues, I challeneg you to be mindful of where each and everything you consume is coming from. I think you will be surprised. We were surprised to find that some of our favorite foods are processed and shipped here from China. We were surprised that some of our favorite clothing stores have their clothes made in Bangladesh, where child forced labor is rampant.

I just wanted to share with other what we have been involved in with our family and see what other families are doing.

Blessings this Yule Season.
Lady Seren

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Greyorra on December 19, 2007 at 8:46pm: This is a wonderful ideal to post. Thank you.

I too am on board with lightening the "foot prints" my family and I leave on this earth.

My focus has been on Factory Farming and the Dairy industry. This is very close to home if not right in your own backyard.

The practices are dirty, immoral, and toxic to the environment. Factory farms process hundreds of thousands of cattle, chickens, pigs, etc. each day. The bio waste from these farms is allowed to flow into nearby water sources. Live animals are place in plastic bags like garbage and more!! It is a grotesque industry that has kept its practices secret for many years. The practices and ideal that Factory Farmers hold true are putting our environment and our health at risk.

“Factory farming is an attitude that regards animals and the natural world merely as commodities to be exploited for profit. In animal agriculture, this attitude has led to institutionalized animal cruelty, massive environmental destruction and resource depletion…” www.factoryfarming.com

There is a wealth of information on the internet and several groups out there dedicated to educating the public on this horrible industry.

Americans don’t need to consume pounds of meat everyday. There are alternatives, including delicious sources of protein that are not animal. Through eating less meat everyday, we as a country can help millions of animals live better. Through eating less meat, we as a country can unite and lessen the discomfort of illness and disease. Even the smallest steps make a difference.

For some reason Vegetarians and Vegans are hated and feared for their ideals on consuming animal products. Many see us as being stuck up or prudish. Whatever people may think it does not matter to me. I cannot in good conscious eat meat, and I am coming closer and closer to not eating dairy or eggs. I in no way feel that eating meat is wrong. However, I do feel that when we treat the foods we consume improperly the moral fiber has been torn and we are at fault. This food sustains us. It helps our children grow. It helps keep us healthy. So why would we treat the very thing that keeps us a live poorly?

The ideal is to be a better person than you were yesterday, last week… and last year for that matter. This is the purpose of a spiritual path.

I see my dedication to the welfare of our planet and the living creatures on this planet as part of my personal spiritual journey.

If you are interested on reading more about Factory Farming here is a link that will give you some details:
http://www.farmsanctuary.org/campaign/standards_booklet_FINAL.pdf

www.goveg.com

http://www.foe.org/factoryfarms/

Thank you for opening my eyes to another area where I need to have concern.
Brightest Blessings,
Brandy; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Lady Seren, The Country Witch on December 19, 2007 at 9:18pm: Thank you so much for your post. I totally agree with this. My family buys very little meat, and when we do it is from local family farmers. My sons and husband are hunters and we fill our freezer with Elk, and deer. Thank you for the links. I will check them out. We also have a local bison range, and we purchase Bison meat when it is available. They trim the herd to keep it healthy since there are no natural predators left.
I do not purchase eggs, even organic ones as chickens are kept in deplorable conditions. We have free range chickens here on our farm. It is kind of a fun process as they do not lay in nesting boxes, so we have a "treasure hunt to find our eggs. It causes us to pay attention as they cluck when they lay and we are mindful of where that is , so we can find the eggs. The kids love it!

I love that you are dedicated to the welfare of our planet and it's creatures and see it as a spiritual journey. I view it the same way. I think that mindfulness is the first step. I encourage peopl eto begin taking little steps adn over time these make big changes.

Thank you so much for sharing your ideas.
Lady Seren; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Lady Seren, The Country Witch on December 20, 2007 at 10:05am: Here are some websites I have found in regards to shopping online for USA producst. I have not thoroughyl investigated each site, so please do so.

http://www.stillmadeinusa.com/ gives a list of stores under each type of heading such as clothing, home decor, appliances, etc.

http://www.madeinusa.org/

http://www.americansworking.com/

http://www.americansworking.com/coffee.html coffee that is grown in the USA...I had no idea!

http://www.madeinusaforchristmas.com/madeinusa.html toys!

There are many many more.
Blessings
Seren; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Arwen Windwalker™ on December 20, 2007 at 7:15am: I thank you for writting this interesting blog,

Well,I remember Wal-Mart years ago,"We buy American as much as we can,so you can too" now just about everything I see there is from China,what happened?they buy things so cheap from other places and with people on tight budgets,many people cant go anywhere else,so that makes it hard.
But do go to these sites,and see if you agree,
www.walmartwatch.com
www.wakeupwalmart.com
www.walmartmovie.com
www.walmart-blows.com
reclaimdemocracy.org/walmart/links.php
www.hel-mart.com/links.php

Even youtube has their anti wal-mart videos on there.If there is a place where there are things made in the USA,please contact me,I not only that,I'll be sure to look at lbels more closely.Thanks everyone for taking the time to read this,but I had to add my 2 cents in.

Happy Yule and Blessed Be.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Greyorra on December 20, 2007 at 9:11am: Oh yes... The Evil Wal-Mart. I will not shop there.

Thank you for the links. I will sheck them out!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Lady Seren, The Country Witch on December 20, 2007 at 9:47am: Wow. Thanks for the videos. It is getting harder and harder to find places to shop where things are American made. In the last eight years many US businesses have shut down due to outsourcing. I have begun to do a lot of online shopping by typing in Made in the USA and such. Thanks for the great info.
Lady Seren; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Lady Serenity, The Witch In The City on December 20, 2007 at 2:10pm: Thank you so much for posting these links! The way Wal-Mart operates and especially the shabby and shameful way they treat their employees is why I try my best to boycott them and avoid using them at every given opportunity.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Macha on December 20, 2007 at 4:52pm: This is a wonderful idea and a great commitment. What I can do to lessen a negative impact on the Earth and its inhabitants is one of the reasons I decided to become a vegetarian. I invite everyone to see how becoming a vegetarian can lessen negative impact on the Earth. If we all new the statistics of what it takes to feed us meat and the pressure it puts on our Earth... we would all lessen our meat intake. Plus, it's good for us!

Cheers to all who can do any part in leaving a positive footprint on the Earth.

Bright Blessings, Macha; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Kaellanna on December 20, 2007 at 4:54pm: My family takes public transportation or walks darn near everywhere we need to go--the only reason I am getting my drivers license and a car is for my schooling (my anticipated grad school is not on the bus line). We have a fine collection of resuable shopping bags that we use. Extremely limited means force us to choose the cheapest option for food--but even there we buy local and organic when we can. Living in the city there is not much I can grow on my own Most of our clothing comes from the thrift store. We use energy efficient light bulbs and rechargeable batteries in most of our electronics.

Kael; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Lady Seren, The Country Witch on December 20, 2007 at 5:34pm: All of this is so great. I love how everyone is making a difference in their own way!
Seren; ▶ Reply to This