Last year Part 2: looking at consumption

Last November and December we were taking the bus to the house church because it was too dark in the evening to go by bike. We were searching for an apartment in the neighbourhood.

We were also continuing to pare down on our consumption. There are some great books and documentaries that have influenced the change in our consumption habits.

Dateline on Wal-Mart - This showed a girl from a third world country who's job was to sew stripes on sweatpants sold at Wal-Mart. Dateline brought her to the States, to a Wal-Mart to show her those pants being sold in the store. The price was something like $12. They explained to her the price of those pants compared to the pittance she was paid. The next scene was her weeping in the parking lot.

"The High Cost of Low Prices" - This showed the power Wal-Mart has to push manufacturers to lower their prices. Lower prices means lower wages, either here in the States, or in sweatshops overseas.

"The Future of Food" - Genetic engineering, food monopolies supported by politics.

"What Would Jesus Buy", with the special feature on China - This showed the ridiculous frenzy surrounding Christmas, the consumer culture we live in and how it affects children. It is very sad that this is how we celebrate the birth of Christ, who teaches us: love your neighbour, don't store up treasures on earth, don't make the temple of God a marketplace, and you can't serve God and money. The part that had the biggest impact on me was an extra on the DVD. It was a Chinese girl telling her story. As a Christian in China, her church had been raided by police. She and a friend were taken into custody, stripped and had a shock baton placed in their mouths. Then they were imprisoned and forced to labour making earbud headphones and christmas lights. The quotas were so hight they often stayed up all night working. It kills me to know that we are buying cheap christmas lights made in slave like conditions by prisoners who are imprisoned just for being Christians.

"The Story of Stuff" - This is an excellent short film about the process of how our stuff is made and consumed and disposed of. It's made by exploitation and destruction, consumed in fads, and thrown away to poison the air, ground and water. http://www.storyofstuff.com/

Revelation Study - I have been part of a Bible study on the Book of Revelation. This has greatly impacted my consumption choices. Babylon is about commerce. She prospers on buying and selling of luxuries, and "the bodies and souls of men". Her adulteries are about profit and exploitation, about being "in bed with" powerful players in the market and politics. "Come out from her my people!" Do not participate in her adulteries. The mark of the beast is about commerce. It is about giving your allegiance to a political market system which threatens death to all who will not participate. That is giving over your freedom because all commodities have been bought and sold and wrested until you have to comply or you will not survive. I don't want to give my allegiance or my freedom to a system of exploitation and greed. I want to practice my freedom by not prostituting my funds to companies who produce fad garbage, plastic garbage, junk toys and gadgets, or who destroy the environment and waste resources for their products, and especially I do not want to prostitute my funds to companies who exploit workers, persecute (and sometimes kill) union organizers, and deceive the public to make disproportionate profits manufacturing products to be consumed flippantly in wealthy countries.

"Not Buying It" - One couples attempt to decrease their consumption during one year to necessities only. Very well studied. Many excellent points and angles. She writes about her temptation to keep up with consumer fads. She joins a voluntary simplicity group and comments on their "self-inflicted" haircuts. She sees haircuts as a necessary expense.

"Made in Los Angeles" - Workers in the garment industry in LA stand up for their rights to be paid fairly. They fight for years to finally win the back wages they were owed. Their shop made garments for Forever 21. The store said they are not responsible for the workers who sew their garments because they say contractor is responsible for the labour. But the manufacturers set their prices low and turn-around times short, so that the contractor has to pay the workers less and make them work faster and longer. I have a bag from Forever 21 which has "John 3:16" printed on the bottom of it.

"Slaves to Fashion" - Documents the garment industry worldwide, showing that exploitation and sweatshops are still strong. In some areas the workers are basically indentured servants because they can not pay their way home or get out of debt to the company who supplies their room and board through deducting from their wages. When a country starts to make laws to protect the workers, most companies use financial pressure to keep their place, or they move to another country where they can pay less and get away with more. Garment shops move to countries where the people are not empowered because that's how they keep the biggest profit.

"A Year Without Made in China" - One mom's attempt to get through the year without chinese products. While I understand the struggle of trying to avoid all things made in China, she never really clarified why she was doing it, and especially didn't give her five year old son a good reason for why she wouldn't buy him the toys he wanted. Since her resolve did not seem to be based in strong ethics, she seemed to be trying to maintain her consumer lifestyle, only without chinese goods. Consumption was always a temptation being dangled in front of the whole family, and she entered into the next year relieved to go back to consuming freely.

"No Impact Man" - One couples attempt to eliminate or offset their negative impact on the planet. Excellent film! They went in phases of changing their habits, like a phase with no electricity in their New York apartment. I love this film and what they were trying to do. They switched to cloth diapers, shopped at the farmer's market, learned organic gardening, bought local only, used the steps instead of the elevator, used human powered vehicles, washed laundry in the bathtub, etc. Someone set them up with solar power so they could maintain their laptop power for blogging. The last phase was finding ways to offset their inevitable impact on the environment. The best part to me was the man who taught them about gardening at the community gardens, who pointed out the irony that everything they were doing was great but the wife still worked for a marketing firm. HA!

"China Blue" - A story of typical garment workers in China. Most garment factories will not allow filmmakers into their facilities but this Boss thought the film was about him and his company's success. The workers come mostly from rural farms into the city to live in dorms at the factory. Their room and board is deducted from their wages. They are paid by the piece, not by the hour and high quotas keep them working late hours, up to 17 hour days. They go on little sleep and little time to wash their clothes and do their chores in their dorms. Prices and turn-around times are set by the clothing manufacturer, so the contractor does the work for what they demand rather than what it costs to produce, so the workers wage is not set by their time or labour. They are docked pay as discipline for various things and their checks are often held back. What really disturbed me about this film was the fact than the jeans they were making were made to look worn! Westerners buy new jeans for $35 and up every new season and every new fad. We are paying a company big profits so they can pay workers so little to make new jeans that look worn! What a waste of money, resources, and human spirit!

"Food Inc." - Monsanto continues to sue farmers for patent infringement when their genetically engineered plants cross pollinate with neighboring farms. They sue people who encourage saving your own seeds. Monsanto and Con-agra own most of the means of food production in the States. Support your local organic farmer.


A note on last Christmas: We decided to do a white elephant gift exchange last year. It was one of our best holidays ever. I felt that I talked more with my family than usual, we had fun, no one had to buy a gift, and we didn't fill a huge garbage bag full of gift wrap and plastic packaging. We each took something home that we could enjoy or that we could donate without any sentimental guilt. I was so blessed.