Christmas Shopping

It's the most wonderful time of the year, right?  I love Christmas time.  I love the decorations, I love the traditions, I love the chopping down of the tree, I love getting together with family.  One thing I do not love however, is shopping.  I am not a big shopper the rest of the year either, but in December, shopping is crazy. Long lines and rushed people make for irritable people to say the least, and sometimes uglier traits come out.
Aside from the cranky people and crowded store and long lines, there is an even darker under belly to the commercialism of the season.  Here is a question for you:   Do you support human slavery?  If you are not careful about your purchases you do with your dollar.  Check out http://slaveryfootprint.org/ to get an idea of how many products slavery is involved in.

As consumers we have the power to make choice that fight slavery in the supply lines.  Supply is a result of demand.  When demand for a particular good or service goes up, supply will go up to meet it.  The inverse is true as well.  Remove the demand, and the supply will diminish as well.   If we remove the demand for items that are produced with raw materials gained by slave labor, then the market for exploiting men, women and children in the supply lines will dwindle.

It is very difficult to find out the history of the items that we buy.  The supply lines are so complex and tracing every item takes a significant amount of time and research.  When I first began examining where our money was really going when I bought an item is was so overwhelming.  I still don't have all perfect choices, but I have the knowledge to make better choices now.  And I will continue to research and advocate until we can have completely slavery free products.  For now here are a couple quick ideas to make more ethical buying decisions.

1.  Buy used.  You are no longer supporting the original supply line.  You are supporting the individual person who is selling the item.

2.  Buy local.  Check out the local craft fairs and small shops.  There is still a chance that the raw materials used in the making of their product have a history, but it is a great opportunity to share with the people who are selling the items about the issue of slavery and encourage them to find out where their materials come from.  Awareness is vital to ending human slavery.

3.  Buy a gift of freedom.  We all have that one person who has everything.  So, every year we buy them some item that they don't really need.  How about you buy a gift of freedom for someone in their honor. https://secure3.convio.net/ijm/site/SPageNavigator/Gifts_of_Freedom_Home.html   The person you are buying for will get a card that tells them what you have given in their name. The cutoff date for getting the cards in the mail by Christmas was December 10, but you could still chose to do this and the recipient will get their card from IJM in the new year, and you can have the opportunity to make a card to give to them on Christmas that shares what you have done.  You can also choose to have an e card delivered to their email.  This is another great opportunity to spread awareness and give a gift that is truly meaningful.

4.  Give time.  Instead of buying more stuff that people don't need, give the gift of your time with them.  If any of my children or my husband are reading this, I would love a certificate that says you will do all the dishes for a month.  :)

5.  Just cut down on the number of presents.  Our family stuck with the 4 present rule this year.  Everyone is getting something they want, something they need, something to wear and something to read.  Going into it with a plan really helped us make ethical choices.

6.  Send an email to the company's whose products you use asking them ...  It only takes a minute and you are sending a message to these manufacturers that you care about where your goods are coming from.  This website from Made in a Free World makes it incredibly easy to do this:  http://madeinafreeworld.com/take_action

Those are just a couple ideas you can do this season, and every season to start to make a difference in regards to human trafficking.

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