Reply #10: There is a great organization... [View All]

[TygrBright]

...called the Alliance, of locally-owned and independent businesses and people who want to support them. Many offer membership discounts and other shopping incentives. You can bet I will be supporting them, big time.

But the point (which I understand) made to me by a number of locals on BOTH sides of the divide, is that the sheer effort to "think outside the box" to live sustainably, is an unreasonable expectation.

To a mom trying to hold a home together on an income that barely covers the (EXTREMELY HIGH) cost of housing here, much less food and other basics, the notion of taking time from job & kids to seek out the various thrift shops and comb slowly through the piles for "quality" items that will fit her family AND are "made in USA," is to laugh. She's probably already working at least part-time, plus raising kids and keeping home/family going. She's tired most or all of the time. She looks in the wallet, looks at the pile of bills to be paid, looks at the less than 1/2 tank of gas in the car, and the calculation "drive around to thrift shops and spend a couple of hours sorting through piles to get the right sizes and items" doesn't add up, especially when she knows she can drive to the nearby Wallyworld and get what she needs cheap and fast.

The Alliance is doing their best to market to everyone, but indies just can't afford (yet! Working on it...!) to provide what the economically-marginalized really need-- which is both "cheap" AND "easy.' The tradeoff you make to be an ecologically and economically positive consumer is extra effort in both mindfulness (self-education) and time/energy. It is a long, slow process for anyone who isn't born and raised thinking and caring about these issues to realize their bread-and-butter impact in both short and long term.

Some of the most effective and powerful advocates for intelligent consumption have been people from the economic fringes who "get it," and see exactly how "cheap and easy" dooms them and their to the fuzzy side of the lollipop forever. But it's not an epiphany that the average marginal-income consumer is going to have while trying to hang on teeth and toenails at the bottom levels of Maslow's pyramid. Nor is it reasonable to expect them to, and it's painfully insensitive to demand it. You can't even be effective in helping create the conditions for that epiphany to happen unless you're willing to suspend the judgmental attitude and experience their realities. I'm hoping to find ways to do so, but as an outsider I'm handicapped by a couple of strikes against me already. It won't be a fast process.

The positive experiences of others in similar situations would be very helpful and encouraging, if anyone cares to share them.

hopefully,
Bright