Tag: shopping

Breaking the Fast of Asian Goods

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In a few hours, I am heading to the Amtrak station to meet some friends and get on a train to Portland for the weekend for a wedding. This is not just any wedding, though, this wedding includes a costume party, where participants are requested to dress as their favorite mythical animal. For ease, I chose to dress as a fairy, figuring I could just add wings. However, not being able to leave well-enough alone, I bought some additional items as well.

I found that in a costume store, “Made in China” could practically be stamped on the entire store. My wings, lovely, sheer black and sparkly, cost under $10 and came from China. The spinning, “Sailor Moon” style wand that I wanted to purchase, turned out to be broken, but had I purchased it, it would also be from China. The only item that was not made in China, was a mask, which was made in Italy.

Being out the necessary blinky, I went on a quest to find a wand with an LED spinner. I checked out Claires in the mall, which was horrifying, then Toys R Us, which was similarly horrifying — the smell of latex and plastics was nearly overwhelming, and it was desolate, not the overbrimming aisles of my youth. I went up to a woman who was likely in her 50’s, but looked like she was attempting 34. I asked her about the wand, and she didn’t much understand the word “wand,” and I was having even less luck with “Sailor Moon.” Finally, I get up to the register and look for someone helpful, and just as I think, “If only there was a geek around here…” a guy at the register pops into view. I caught myself — I don’t want to be making snap generalizations about people based on their physical appearance. I picked up a recent find while I was at the registers, a very masculine-looking glowy, spinny wand with polygonal casing. I showed it to the gentleman, and asked my question again, and said the magic words, “Sailor Moon” and then aside, “Do you know what I mean?”
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Choose your placebo.

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The Alantic Monthly has a special issue on China for July/August. Unfortunately, the article China Makes, The World Takes is only available for subscribers — but if you have an interest in the issue of American and European companies that have their products made in China, I recommend reading it.

Of course, I have Jon to blame for bringing it to my attention. And how could I not be interested, when I see the cover featuring all of those containers ready for shipping? I see them every day on trucks going up and down I-5 from the Ports of Seattle and Tacoma. The photo on the lead article comes from Shenzhen, but I see so many of those same containers here on the roads, and stacked up in the ports. (btw and slightly off-topic, the second Season of The Wire, which is filmed in Baltimore, feature some of these same containers and the yards.)

The gist of the article, as far as I can tell, is that American companies making goods in China isn’t all bad. Well, crap. That stalls my continuing trek to the polar end of consumerism. This is inevitably what happens to me whenever I start trying to define a position that I’ve shown an interest in taking. I get introduced new data that rounds out my view point, and makes it harder for me to rally on one side of the issue. Maybe it’s my diplomatic nature – or even a Buddha-nature of finding the Middle Way. All choices have their positives and negatives, and when it comes to consuming products the only answer is what to consume, as opposed to not consuming at all.

And then choosing who and what you value the most.
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Toner

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About two years ago I started buying toner to round out my face-washing regimen. I was working in Whole Body at Whole Foods and I got a freebie of Zia toner, and figured it was a good idea. Afterall, it’s supposed to prime your face for moisturizer.

In my recent mood for scaling down consumption (and waste), I started pondering my use of toner. I’ve been using Aveda toner for the past two years, and I like the smell, and it’s a refreshing spritz. However, the ingredients make me wonder just why I bother. Alcohol, essential oils, water, some unpronouncable chemicals that I’m sure are to make me more youthful. Why bother?

Ashes, a human I was acquainted with years ago, had the most lovely hair I could imagine. It was red, curly and long. Ashes told me that s/he didn’t use shampoo and conditioner. Afterall, shampoo just strips your hair of natural oils, and conditioner just replaces them. What a racket! Jon posited that toner sets the stage for moisturizer by further drying your face. Huh, it just kind of makes sense, especially with the alcohol content.

A spritz of toner is refreshing, but is it worth the wasted packaging and the shipping costs of a product that is mostly water?

I’ve decided for now to give up my toner. It’s $20 I save, along with packaging.

In other related news — I’ve found a local mineral make-up company, Terra Firma Cosmetics. I haven’t tried it on my face yet, but it’s something to look into — if I don’t give up make-up altogether. 🙂 I’m also ecstatic to find B & Lu, a plus-sized clothing retailer that lists many clothes, if not all, as being made in the USA. I dig that. I’m also learning to love the hunt for good clothing in thrift stores.

Experiment for a Long Weekend

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For Memorial Day Weekend, I invite you, my two (maybe three) readers to influence your friends (and take upon yourselves) to buy American.

The reason I ask this is to raise consciousness of just how much America is dependent on other countries for every aspect of our daily lives. I’ve been doing this the past couple weeks, primarily with products I was interested in purchasing.

Think about how many miles the ingredients traveled. Think of the energy involved in that transport. Think about the NEED for that product versus the DESIRE. What are the conditions of the workers who manufacture these products? How much of the product is dependent on corn, soy or petroleum for its existence?

Speaking of corn and other fillers — I looked briefly at some drug store make-up that is following the “mineral” make-up trend. The options are at least half the price of the infomercially popular Bare Minerals, but contain talc and corn starch as fillers, along with FD&C colors for pigment.

And in other consumer news: Though I vanpool the total 90 miles to and from work every day, I still fill the gas tank of our car, which requires premium only. I filled the tank on Thursday to the tune of $52.66.

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

You Have Been Consumed

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I try to blog weekly, but last week my project turned out to be a tad too ambitious. I had planned to continue to lay out the horrible truths of how we’ve all been tricked into consuming more of the same thing despite ourselves. It turns out that the horrible truths I was going to shed light on are far too numerous for one blog post.

I have become increasingly aware as to how much we DON’T know about the products we purchase. Hopefully, this would have become apparent last year with the e. coli spinach, or at least this year with the melamine infused cat food from China. The problem is far greater than our food supply. Try doing your normal shopping and ONLY buying products stating “Made in the USA” — food included? Then, see how many of your commonly purchased items come from China and consider what your dollars might be going into, such as prison labor (political prisoners, even!), sweatshop conditions and toxic waste in the Chinese countryside. The whole task gets even more difficult when you’re looking at items that have more than one major ingredient. This is what makes supplements and body care so hard to digest into the two words, “good” and “bad.” It’s not just about the end product, where it’s made or how far it’s shipped. Nor is it as simple as the labels, vegan, biodegradable, not tested on animals, organic and natural.
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