Cheap stuff wreaks havoc on the environment. Organic, fair trade, and recycled goods are better for the environment and for the people, plants and animals who inhabit it. The United States and Canada comprise 5% of the world's population, yet they consume 32% of the world's products. Landfills are overflowing with waste, including plastic, which can last for 500 years. Advertising messages bombard us every day and pressure us to buy more, consume more. Sweat shops in China force teenagers to work long shifts that they can barely remain awake for. 

Pesticides from cotton farms runs off and contaminates our drinking water. Factory farms are intolerable places where animals suffer a great deal, and they are fed antibiotics that make the people that consume them sick. Cell phones and other electronic devices emit dangerous chemicals. Large fast food chains do not pay workers enough to live on. 

Local food tastes better and does not pollute the environment as much as the produce that from large food store chains that travels many miles before it hits the grocery shelves. Corporations will only be socially responsible if consumers demand it. 

Shop at thrift shops.

Buy less stuff.

Buy organic, fair trade, and recycled goods.

Enjoy earth-conscious products.

Reduce, reuse and recycle.

Get Real by Mara Rockliff, 2010

• Mara Rockliff's web site
• Books on consumerism
• Buy Nothing Day
• National Farm to School Network
• Sustainable Table