Martie writes in the comments of my purchasing power post:

I think that the current political philosphy in our country is that we are consumers not citizens and therein lies the problems. If our government sees us as only consumers, then they can justify a lot of things that might not be in the best interest of the citizens, in the name of what is good for the economy.

Personally, I feel that the greatest thing we can do for anyone is to educate them.

Consumers/Citizens need to understand and be educated about things that matter. I for one want to see the market economy become good stewards of the environment. That is why I love reading magazines like Plenty and Fast Company. It shows a lot of innovative people and commpanies that are trying to serve their client and do it is a socially responsible way.

The best thing that we as consumer-citizens can do it keep the heat on the market place and demand that they become responsible to not only to their shareholders but to the community that they serve.

I love all that I read on your blog Tara. I often wonder why I find it so facinating but I do. I admire your fight and the people that I've met through this blog. I see that you are truely trying to make a difference.

The thing that I find frustrating though is that a lot of what I read about on your blog seems isolated to a geographic location. Many of the younger generation here in Orlando are so apathetic and seem to only be in touch with their lives as consumers.

They say that everything that happens in California takes ten years to get to the East Coast. I'm sure the Internet makes that less true now days.

I want choices as a consumer and as a citizen. If I am going to purchase an item, I want to know how its impact on the environment. I want to know if it encourages slave labor in China and other place of the Pacific rim. Unfortunately, we as consumers never know where our products that we buy come from. We don't know if they cut down virgin trees and displaced hundreds of aboriginal people in the process.

We don't realize that the one child rule in China has created a back door labor supply for the Western world. Many people in China take their "illegal" child and let it work in factories for pennies a day. But we as a consumer never see the underbelly of the global economy.

What I want are choices. I want to be able to chose between brand x that uses slave labor and brand z who does not. I want to be able to purchase food from brand Q that does not add mercury to the water and causes birth defects vs brand R that does.

But consumers are ignorant and are not allowed to know the truth about the purchases that they make.

That's what I want as a consumer and as a citizen....

What an awesome comment. It's so difficult to know what you are purchasing. Hell. I could only tell you where one item I'm wearing came from today. There is so much choice and to start to think about the implications is totally scary. Have you read Barry Schwartz's Paradox of Choice? There is no choice, then there is too much. Both are tyrannous.

What may help is a site or repository (a wiki?) that exposes all of that information to us, then it being made obvious when it comes to purchase decisions. The Sunlight Foundation is trying to do that with voting and their Pop-up Politicians.

I know your frustration about location...I deal with it from a different angle. Everyone around me takes these things for granted and forgets that the world outside of the Valley doesn't take the time for this stuff. Why should they? Life seems to function just fine for them without it. Heh.

Thanks Martie. I loved your insight. If you have a blog (I couldn't find it in your profile), I'd love to read more.