Although I have always been aware of what I have bought, and was brought up and grew up with a very environmentally conscious mindset, the last few years have seen my ethics become a whole lot stricter - in a non-anthropocentric sense. As members of our community that is all nature on this planet, I am convinced that each of us human beings has the duty to do our best to appreciate and respect what nature has gifted us with. This gift is the basic building block of everything, which I believe, in moral terms, is life (and I don't mean only human life).
So the latest opportunity to become more ethical, to align my actions more closely with my principles, arose when we sold our car. What an act of liberation! But soon reality hits you: living in middle class suburbia, this so-called 'loss of mobility' immediately presents you with a challenge. Yes, gone are a gazillion car-related worries (in the UK these consist of: road tax, petrol costs, annual MOT testing, unnecessary repairs, cleaning the car - honestly, I have problems enough cleaning my flat! Who wants to have to clean a car in addition?! -, insurance etc etc.) BUT "hello" to a whole host of different challenges, mainly consisting of: how do I do my household shopping ... without breaking my back? It's even more difficult for me, with my ethical conscience looming over me as big as... well, a very big thing. How do I shop ethically without breaking the bank and without having to spend half my spare time on it (by going to one shop to buy my potatoes, and to another in a different part of town to buy my butter)?
A lot of this is, of course, location dependent. I can tell you that I live in an "organic and local food desert". When the one beautiful organic shop in the area closed down, I was so devastated, I had nightmares about it. This desert situation bothers me so much that I am thinking of upping sticks and moving to a lusher organic foodscape. But that would be evading the challenge, wouldn't it? The alternative is to set up my own local initiative, which I have plenty of ideas and energy for. It's just the green stuff that's a little sparse at the moment - and I don't mean green stuff you put in your salad (...unless you're really weird)! But to get back to the point: there will be other places even in this very same city where people may not understand the challenge I am facing, either because their challenge is even greater than mine, or because they feel they can live according to their ethical principles quite easily - be it due to their principles being rather more environmentally 'unfriendly' shall I say, or due to their access to organic, quality, ethically produced products being good (lucky them!).
So, in the next few posts, I will jot down my thoughts on attempts to shop ethically. It may be an eye-opener for some, it may inspire others to take action as well, and it may make some people think that I am mental (which is not entirely untrue of course). Soooo .... let the challenge begin!
Hallo Ballo!
ReplyDeleteGood luck! Seems like an exciting challenge to undertake!
Wargel!
Colourful shopping cart!!
ReplyDeleteIt makes me think of where it came from ...
Apparently,
"One night, in 1936, Sylvan Goldman (owner of the Piggly Wiggly supermarket chain in Oklahoma!!) sat in his office wondering how customers might move more groceries. He stared idly at a wooden folding chair. Put a basket on the seat, wheels on the legs. . . Wait a minute. Goldman and a mechanic, Fred Young, began tinkering. Their first shopping cart was a metal frame that held two wire baskets. Since they were inspired by the folding chair, Goldman called his carts "folding basket carriers".
.... A device whose concept was simple: make shopping easier for the customer and they’ll visit the store more frequently, and buy more. Unfortunately, the customers didn’t want to use the carts. Young men thought they would appear weak; young women felt the carts were unfashionable; and older people didn’t want to appear helpless. So, Goldman hired models of all ages and both sexes to push the things around the store, pretending they were shopping.
By 1940 shopping carts had found so firm a place in American life .... (that) ... Supermarkets were redesigned to accommodate them. Checkout counter design and the layout of aisles changed."
Originally only one man, one idea - how we miss those carts when they aren't there!
Here's to your adventures, your ideas, your inventions, Vivian!
Looking forward to reading further about them -
Cheers!!!!
<3 Mumbai <3