Big business is intimidating. With millions of dollars at hand, the power to influence governments, and the ability to create entire markets, they're capable of a lot of good. And a lot of bad. As we've seen over the past few decades, corporations have created some of the largest threats to the environment known today. Coal mining, palm oil sourcing, oil drilling, and the like were all created in the pursuit of one thing: profit. The illustrious wealth brought forth from this profit doesn't always come with a consideration of the consequences though. And, especially now, I think they need a bit of a reminder of the consequences they've caused.
Not "villains"
Obviously, big businesses aren't innately terrible. As much as I'd like to paint them as villains, they've given the majority of us a certain level of comfort that can't be forgotten. The convenience of being able to travel five minutes to a grocery store as opposed to taking months to grow our own food is a privilege that I myself have often taken for granted. But, for the people and areas left behind, the process isn't nearly as convenient. As I've discussed throughout many posts on the topic, these big businesses have almost caused more problems than they've helped to solve. And we have to ask: was there even a problem to be solved in the first place?
At our core, we've sacrificed caring for convenience. In our pursuit to make more efficient, better functioning systems, we've allowed businesses to rise to power. And, while having a business in power may be beneficial for the economy, it's much less so for our Earth. Millions of acres of land have been lost to logging, construction, and production, all to make life a little more convenient. However, I want to stress: convenience isn't innately evil; we're not horrible people for wanting an easier lifestyle. Instead, I think we've gone about achieving this convenience the wrong way. A business' motive tells us all we need to know: they're not out to make the world a better, more convenient place, they're out to turn a profit.
Our responsibility
In a certain sense, we are the ones who have allowed this to happen. As consumers, we're the ones funding these operations. We're the ones giving money to logging, paying for palm oil farm expansion, and supporting desecration of wild lands. Every purchase we make, from the food we eat, to the furniture we sit on, to even the houses we live in, tells some company somewhere that what they're doing is okay. Sometimes, this can be beneficial, and might help to support a company that we really love. But make a thoughtless purchase, and we might just be funding a notorious perpetrator of deforestation. Our wallets have a lot of power when it comes to these companies, and I think it's time we take responsibility for it.
So what is conscious consumerism? Well, to me, it's knowing where your money goes after you make a purchase. This means not only realizing what company you're buying from, but how they make their profit and what they do with it. It's an extremely simple concept, but one that gives us a tremendous amount of power. Nowadays, companies are mostly judged based on the strength of their product. Create something good, market it well, and you're likely to profit. But what if, instead of judging companies solely based on the quality of their product, we look a little bit deeper? Judge them on how they make the product, as well as how good it may or may not be. This might just be the key to reversing some of the huge problems these businesses have caused.
Not just for the environment
This isn't strictly a matter of climate or environmental justice either. For instance, how exactly was your phone made? Do you know? I don't, and I think that's pretty scary. What if it was made in a sweatshop, painstakingly put together by underpaid hands? I sure wouldn't want to be funding that, but the only way we can tell is by paying more attention to what we're really buying. By doing so, we're working not only to protect the environment, but maybe even humans as well.
Doesn't work?
But can you or me really do anything to change the intentions of multi-million dollar corporations? Well, the truth is, we've already seen changes begin. First, let's think it through logically: Let's say you really love Kitkats, and buy them from Nestle four times every week. That's a lot, but replace Kitkats with the food you eat most often, and chances are it might be pretty close. Anyway, Kitkats (a normal size bar) retail for about a dollar. Multiply that by four times a week (or if you buy four bars at once) and you've got a total of $208 dollars spent on Kitkats in a year. Now, what's $208 dollars to a corporation like Nestle? Nothing, but that's $200 dollars that could go towards funding a better company, rather than a harmful palm oil operation.
And that's just one person. Multiple that by five to ten people, and we're talking serious numbers. One hundred? Even better. I'm sure we all know at least a dozen people we could talk to about this. The truth is, we've already seen changes like this happen, on a much larger scale. Companies weren't always making organic produce, but after people started realizing what chemicals they were putting into foods, they cut their purchases. As a result, many of the companies started changing. Same with the Non-GMO, No Artificial Growth Hormone, and Preservative Free titles we see touted on so many products these days. Bottom line, companies need to please us to make a profit. If they're not doing that, then something has to change.
Conclusion
We have all the tools we need. With a resource as boundless as the internet, it's not hard to find information on the companies we buy from. And with apps like PalmSmart, and certifications like Fair Trade, Marine Stewardship, Green Seal, Energy Star, Forest Stewardship, LEED, Rainforest Alliance, and much more, it has never been easier to make good, healthy decisions. Businesses have been profiting off of apathy for years, and it's time we let them know that we won't tolerate poor decision making any longer. They will NEVER make this change for us. And in the end, they're trying to please the people, so we should let them know how best to do it. What's even better is that this revolution is already starting: people are outsmarting the plots of big business, and beginning to make more conscious, beneficial decisions. The only question that remains is: will you?
All credit for images used in this post goes to:
https://stream.org/big-business-hate-christians/
http://taxjustice.blogspot.com/2012/04/10-big-businesses-that-barely-pay-taxes.html
https://www.thekitchn.com/what-happened-when-i-walked-into-a-wegmans-for-the-first-time-204782
https://www.businessinfusion.co/come_blog_with_us/business-revenue-vs-profit-approach
https://helpsavenature.com/what-contributes-to-tropical-deforestation
http://www.quazoo.com/q/grocery_store
http://www.awdnews.com/political/shocking-report-1-in-3-israeli-children-lives-in-poverty
https://jacquelinedevito.wordpress.com/2012/10/26/kitkatsforhaloween/
http://www.realfoodgirlunmodified.com/what-is-gmo-3/gmo-free-living/
https://www.ifaw.org/united-states/news/endangered-species-day-call-champion-animals
Credit for certifications used above:
https://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2011/04/30/what-you-can-do-to-protect-biodiversity/
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