Thoughts on Consumerism and Trafficking

I've never been big on spending a lot of money for something if I could get it (or something approximating it) somewhere else either used or new for less money. I've had to be this way to raise ten children and pay for all of their clothes, schooling (we homeschool), food, etc. Now we just have five at home and things have loosened up a bit - but just a bit and I am still really good at sniffing out bargains on all kinds of things, but my way of thinking about spending money is changing. I've been thinking a lot more over the last few years about how my purchases effect others - including whether I am supporting trafficking and forced labor with the choices I make as a consumer. I've come to believe that if we are really serious about wanting to end slavery we need to be willing to "vote" with our dollars. If we were to live more simply - buying good quality items and paying fairly for everything we buy and insisting that the goods we buy are slavery free we could end slavery in some sectors. I've actually done a fair amount of research although I'm still not satisfied with all the answers I have gotten. Below is a list of goods and what I've found out through research.

Coffee - buy organic, fair trade seal or a product that says it is fairly traded. My personal favorite is Larry's Beans www.larrysbeans.com. We owned a coffee shop for a time and I'm very particular about my coffee - no over roasted bitterness for me.

Sugar - buy fair trade. Whole Foods has a fair trade sugar that is great for every day use.

Tea - Tea can be found with a fair trade seal and also from companies that say they have a relationship with the farmers or a co-op.

Chocolate - more and more options are available. There are companies that use fair trade certification and companies that say they are use fairly traded beans. Buying South American single origin chocolate usually means that the company is buying from the farmers directly. For more on Chocolate check out my former post on chocolate. There is a list of companies and links at the end of that blog entry.

Citrus products - buying organic or from small groves usually means that labor is checked more closely. Citrus growers are becoming more aware of the problem of forced labor and some are moving to do something about contractors who run labor gangs.

Tomatoes - Same as citrus. Buy locally from small farmers when possible.

Buying locally produced produce of all kinds supports smaller farmers who are more likely to know who picks the fruit and vegetables that they produce - many times it's the farmer and their families. I could go on about other virtues of locally produced food but here's a resource that you can looks at to tell you more. www.localharvest.org

Clothing
This is a hard one. Some of the cotton produced by India, Pakistan and Indonesia is produced using slave labor. Clothing from companies that are very careful about the source of their cotton is very expensive - way to expensive for my budget. Another consideration is whether a company that produces the clothing has good labor practices and insists that the workers making their goods are paid a fair wage. I've started checking out corporate statements on web sites and also looking at companies I'm interested in - sometimes you can tell they have put thought and care into crafting a labor policy. Emailing your favorite companies and asking the source of their cotton and whether their clothing is produced in factories using good labor practices is another way to get info and also to make a point. I'm hoping that sometime soon we will have a guide of products that are produced slavery, forced and child labor free to check out on the web before we buy. As I've tooled around the web over the last few years doing research I've found people talking about it. It would be wonderful to actually see one up and going.
I have found a wonderful alternative for children's clothing - buying most of it from thrift and consignment shops. You can easily find clothing that is barely worn, sometimes at a tenth of the price of the full retail. I regularly find very nice clothing for my teens and grandchildren this way. I've also shopped for adult clothing in consignment and thrift stores.

Carpet - make sure any wool or cotton imported carpets you buy have a label on them that certify they were not produced using child and child slave labor.

Diamonds - Ask about the source of your diamonds, conflict or blood free diamonds are available.

Making a Difference

I've been thinking lately about how many times we discount our ability to make a difference in the world. Somehow we think it takes some kind of special person (which we have disqualified ourselves as being) to make a difference.

There are many "ordinary" people making an impact on trafficking. There are the people who have decided to spend a bit more and buy products they know are fairly traded even if it means cutting their budgets in other places, there are others who have given money to support ministries and organizations that rescue and aid victims of trafficking, there are staff members in the US Department of Justice and law enforcement agencies who have worked for years now preparing reports and doing the background work essential to understanding the issue of trafficking in the US and finding the victims, there are those who recognise that something is not right and make a decision to report something that might be trafficking. And somewhere there are people with a passion to pray diligently that God will bring justice to those who are caught in injustice.

I was looking around on the Internet for some stories of ordinary people making a difference and came across the following report on the US Department of Justice web site titled TIP Report (2008) Heroes. The TIP is the trafficking in persons report that the Justice Department puts out annually. Enjoy.

http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2008/105382.htm