Think about how many products you use on a daily basis. Dish soap, laundry detergent, chapstick, make-up, shampoo, and any number of cleaning supplies or cosmetics. The fact is there is very little regulation here. Placing things like "organic" or "natural" on these non-food products has no legal requirements. If you don't feel like taking the time for yourself, think about the loved ones (animals too!) around you who you may be subjecting to harmful things such as petroleum, lead and tar. The bottom line is, the aim of all companies is profit, not your health, so if you don't take the time to look into your products, you are putting faith into companies who do not at all have you, your family or your pets' (or the environment's) interests in mind. Here are a few links to start off.
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/7/21/lead_in_lipstick_coal_tar_in
http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/2010/07/21/2010-07-21_story_of_cosmetics_paints_an_ugly_picture.html
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/07/annie-leonard-story-of-cosmetics.php
This is my short version...since my rambling seemed to have disappeared.
ReplyDeleteI get this post. I really do. However, my question is...how do you (we) get to the people who aren't already on the same page?
I work with many, many people (and live next door to another) who refuse to even recycle. Knoxville doesn't have curbside pickup so it means driving to a center in town to recycle. They don't do it. Because it is "work".
Or how about trying to convince these same people to make environmentally aware purchases. It costs money...a lot if you compare it to Wal-Mart or the like. And near as I can tell there are never any coupons to encourage the switch.
So...my question is...how do you get people on board?
I'm struggling with that myself, which is part of why I want to write more, because the more we discuss these things, the more we get them in the forefront of our minds. I believe that people will, on the whole, remain ignorant until they no longer have access to their bread and butter. That's essentially what happened prior to the first Great Depression too. (I saw some interview recently about this, but I can't remember what/who it was.) People live comfortably and unquestioningly until they are forced to realize that the system has failed. The other tough thing to juggle is how to present your views without being written off as an extremist, because many people will shut down as a result of a view presented too strongly. So... I guess I haven't given an answer to your question because I don't have one. The best way I know how to deal with it is to try my best to keep talking about it, with people who are and are not on board. Like you said before, you can't change a person's acceptance of an idea, all you can do is be yourself, live what you think is right, and try to keep cracking people's shells with the right amount of information and reasoning. Maybe a couple of them might actually open up. I've seen it happen in myself and I've come to the conclusion that the main way to "not care" is to not know. The more you learn about the issues, the more impossible it becomes to ignore them. I've experienced that directly. Maybe someone else will experience that too.
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