When you purchase an item that brings joy to you or the person you are gifting it to, do you wonder what the story is behind that product? Do you wonder if the story before the purchase was a happy one? A fair one? Well you might be surprised by what you learn...
Some of the world's most famous chocolate is sourced from cocoa farms that have some pretty unfair and unjust practices. We don't want to name and shame but we want to raise awareness that there are people out there making a difference for the better, including Fair Trade and by working directly with the farmers - cutting out the middle man and making direct fair deals, this method is called Bean to Bar. This is actually in some ways a better deal than the Fair Trade deal, which in fact involves farmers having to pay to be recognised as Fair Trade... BUT Bean to Bar is another whole topic..
Back onto the topic of 'Conscious Buying' I think the New York Times describes it quite well:
I like to describe it as putting your money where your mouth is and choosing to support, wherever possible, companies and producers that hold values that align with your own. For example, buying products that have sustainable packaging - because we don't want to fill the oceans with plastic. Another example is buying products that don't contain palm oil, because we want orangutans to have a good life and we don't support the lungs of the earth (rainforest) being cut down. So basically if we choose to support these types of products, we support the companies who are trying to do the right thing, which then leads to their growth and drives change for the better.
Other companies start to recognise that consumers are demanding better, so they start to change too. I remember the day I first saw bamboo toilet paper wrapped in paper packaging at Woolworths, I was SO excited! This was change, Kleenex had introduced this new product because they saw others (Who gives a crap) doing well and wanted to get a piece of the pie..
If you think that you are too small to make a difference, think again, in this world where money talks, you choosing to put your money into something better for the planet, will drive change!