I often feel sheepish — as author of a book, column and Web site dubbed The Virtuous Consumer — that I’m promoting consumption. In truth, I simply recognize that sometimes the path to a better, healthier, more just world takes us through the mall. However, a recent article in the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper by former Sierra Club U.S. president Adam Werbach, puts it better than I ever have:
“While this movement will have many faces, it will use a platform that is a daily practice for most of us – shopping. While political activism is at best a biannual pursuit, shopping is a regular activity for most people on the planet, and if trends continue, for virtually everyone… I’m not calling for you to get off the farm and into the mall. Engaging people as consumers, as people who shop, allows us the possibility of building a billion-person movement. People don’t need to join a listserv or pay a membership fee to join. They won’t get a newsletter or a membership card that they need to stuff into their wallet. And no wall calendars. But how do we bring our aspirations for the world into what we buy? This is the billion-person question.
Every product you buy should be a gateway to a personal sustainability practice. The first step is developing your own personal practices. The second step is asking the stores where you shop to start carrying products that support your practice. And the third step is sharing your practice with you friends. It all starts with you.”
To read the entire article, visit: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/09/EDJ7102JMK.DTL