This thought process was further encouraged when we talked about food sovereignty later in the week. We spent some time brainstorming the things that we as future policy makers, scientists, social workers, teachers, and global citizens can do to improve the food situation and fair trade that protects the right to food people ought to have. The many ideas we had were all productive and interactive solutions, however, they require sacrifices of people like us who are from the middle and upper classes. Due to the slighter lifestyle change that would take place for the people from the middle class, as examples to the people of the higher class, it seems like it should be easier for us to change the world a little at a time but many of us seem to play the blame game, just like the students we visited at St. Charles school. How many of us will actually make the sacrifices it takes to live a sustainable, green lifestyle?
It’s hard for me, as a college student, and many others like me to actually bite the bullet and buy things at a rate that fully represents their production value. I have chosen to go to a liberal arts school that is expensive and causes me to always be on the lookout for deals and cheap items like food and clothes from Walmart or Kohls. However, by buying from these places that exploit people and drive up the amount or carbon and other greenhouse gasses that harm people with regard to their water supplies and thereby food self-sufficiency. It would be much more environmentally and economically conscious if I bought from a local market or by making my own clothes, but I live in a state that cannot grow food all year round and I don’t have the resources or time to make my own clothes. How do I, and the people like me, reconcile these differences? I feel that this may be the attitude of many other middle class members of the US and of many people in the same class in India as is displayed in the expressions of the school girls we talked with. The task of sacrificing only a little may seem too overwhelming and this discourages people form taking any action at all. Also, people get all excited and, like with dieting, do super well for a week or two and then go back to their old ways, sometimes worse than they were before.
To combat this discouragement, I think it is important to start off remembering a few things: take full responsibility for your actions, everything in moderation, and change takes time. The first thing I see as a hindrance to people actually taking measures to be socially conscious is that they either do not know what their power is as a consumer or have a self-defeatist attitude, thinking their decisions can’t really make any change. However, I think it is important to realize that if one person is blatant about their consumer choices other people will take notice and start thinking about making a change themselves. It does take more work sometimes to research and find places to buy more ethical goods, however, I think one needs to be honest with themselves about valuing others with their purchases and not just about getting the lowest price because it seems to be the best price with regard to their personal budget.
It is also important to make small changes at a time because, from what I’ve read of dieting, if people start all extreme that is how they often end their efforts. Making one smaller change at a time and adding onto it often creates more than just a change, but a habit and way of thinking that can develop into a lifestyle. It is a different mindset and lifestyle that people should be working toward. From what I have seen and read, it seems that accepting responsibility for helping the world in every way you can by not blaming the problems on everyone else, but actually trying to change yourself and thereby others a little at a time will help people like me and other middle to upper class members to be the positive change we need to be. It is not just the fault of the Multinational Corporations or the governments of poor countries that allow their people to be exploited and made and kept poor, it is also our fault because we choose to shift the blame and not do what we can in the places we inhabit.
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