Catherine asked me to meet her and her girlfriends at Anthropologie. I jumped at her suggestion. It had been a while since she and I had done something fun together. Of course, I could not resist trying things on. I found this really cute green dress, with tassels along the hem. Perfect price, $29.95. I looked at the label: Made in India. For that price, I had to have it. Somebody else would buy it, if I didn’t. On my way home driving back, I thought of my earlier meeting with Christian, and our discussion about doing business projects together, to make the world better and greener. I spoke convincingly of the importance of promoting local goods. That is one of my pet peeves, as a green entrepreneur wannabe. Next time I have a business meeting to present my idea, maybe I will wear the cute green dress Made in India?
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La Marguerite 
I love your musings and perspectives. You have written about things I have never even thought of. Now I too can be a wanna be, truth be told I thought I was maybe on the right track however I have a long way to go. I appreciate your gently prompting
A friend interviewed for a potential high powered job in sales, he shared that manufacturing occurred in china, and then shared that the workers lived along side the plant in card board boxes. It made me feel like I wanted to never ever buy that product again – a hardware commodity used in so many every day applications it’s just sick. I wish I didn’t know about the workers – it’s easier not to know. Now that I do know I have no idea what to do, how to do and yet I bet that workers living in card board boxes is more pervasive than I can possibly imagine. So I don’t imagine because it’s just too scary for me
Mother Earth
http://www.bestwellnessconsultant.com/
Yes, Mother Earth, ignorance is often times bliss. One potential (small) way to address that problem, is to boycott any product made in China or other unfair trade nations. It is not that simple though. What would happen to those workers if they no longer have a job? Will they end up even worse off, having to live in the streets?
Hello,
I see its been a while since anyone has responded on here, but I have something I’d like to say. I am very concerned about exploitation of workers for products that are outsourced. I just bought a few items at Anthropologie the other day and looked at the tag to see where they were made. It seems that almost all clothing, no matter where I get them, are made in underprivilaged countries by workers who are probably badly treated and underpaid. What can one do to initiate change? Like you said, Lamarguerite, it so hard, because boycotting is not necesasrily the right aim to take. Also, it seems that such a marginal amount of people take the direction of boycotting, that it would have little impact anyway. Is this a hopeless situation?
Anthropologie is such a great store, it is hard to resist, isn’t it? And the issue you are bringing up is so complex. One perspective is that workers you are referring to may not even have a job, if not for employers like Anthropologie. If you do believe in fair trade, which I certainly do, nothing prevents you from writing to Anthropologie, and try to start there. I have not really looked into fair trade practices, but I am sure you could find people who could help you in that movement. My primary concern at this point is more about the environmental economics of making all these goods, and the costs to our environment in terms of fuel needed for transportation, and electricity to make the stuff. It’s a bit like the drug trade. If there was not all that demand from us users, there would not be the need for the supply of all these goods. Our consumerist desires are what’ s feeding all the emissions.