carbon emissions
ecology
environmentalism
fair trade
global warming
lohas
manufacturing
sustainability
workers rights
"LOHAS" companies not living up to their values
By danaseilhan
@danaseilhan (55)
United States
August 21, 2007 1:15am CST
I can't be the only one who feels this way. LOHAS stands for Lifestyles Of Health And Sustainability. There are a lot of businesses out there now who claim to march under the LOHAS banner. Now, I think that ecological sustainability is very important. Some people think the environmental movement is a scam and I am not one of those and will never be; even if we didn't have problems like human-caused global warming, it's not good to foul our own nest. Even dogs know that, right, and aren't we supposed to be smarter? But I can't see why it's a good thing to pretend to be environmentally conscious when you're not, or to care more about the environment than you do about people.
And I see a lot of these companies being guilty of both. Take Kleen Kanteen for instance. "Oh, buy our stainless-steel water bottles! They don't contain Bisphenol A, which is hazardous to your health! Also, most steel is recycled anymore! Oh... but the bottles are made in China." Whaaat? So buy a reusable bottle from this so-called eco-friendly company but it's made by a nine-year-old in a sweatshop somewhere in a country where they routinely harvest organs from political prisoners and send us dangerous or badly made merchandise... OK. Right. No, I don't think so.
And I can't tell you how many times I've seen gift items from these businesses which are made in Nepal... India... China... places in Africa... all under the banner of "fair trade." Great. How about fairly trading with Americans first? If you specifically want something from a specific ethnic heritage that is one thing, but why do I have to order something from India just to get, say, a beautiful blouse made of embroidered organic cotton when there are moms all over THIS country just dying to find work they can do at home? You've got way too many moms needing to be on welfare in this country but we're gonna buy this stuff from people half a world away and give off I don't know how many carbon dioxide emissions getting those products here, and because the EPA isn't watching them we don't even know that the stuff was made in an eco-friendly way. No. I don't think so.
Is anybody else disgusted by this? Any ideas how to change it?
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