My concerns for the environment directed me on my path to opening Moonsprout and I am excited to find that the journey continues and owning a business has now lead me to become aware of another movement, social justice and consumer responsibility.

"A Native American taught me that the division between ecology and human rights was an artificial one, that the environmental and social justice movements addressed two sides of a single larger dilemma. The way we harm the Earth effects all people, and how we treat one another is reflected in how we treat the Earth." Paul Hawken "Blessed Unrest".

In this day-n-age where economic consumerism seems to rule our lives we have a right and responsibility to question the entire life cycle of products we purchase. Our impact becomes larger when we own businesses, even larger as multi-level corporations, and outstanding on a governmental basis but that does not mean that as individuals we can pass on that responsibility. The well known title of Al Gore's book on Global Warming "An Inconvenient Truth" is a phrase that sums up our current mind-set as consumers perfectly. It is inconvenient to consider the hands that have been a part in producing our goods or the lack of regulations that make them lighter on our pocket book. Ignorance is bliss but it is still ignorance. What if in addition to our nutrients labels we had social and environmental impact labels? A standard T-shirt label hypothetically would say:

"Grown with the aid of 1 pound of pesticides
May have caused the death of cotton pickers
Sewn in a factory that pays .45 cents a day for those workers who meet daily quotas
Traveled around the world to your local Superstore via tax exempt trade agreements
* this label was brought to you by the non-profit org HCLP: high cost of low prices"

Unfortunately the responsibility of knowing can be overwhelming because there is a daunting degree of devastation occurring today directly related to everyday products we have come to "rely-on". Our current economics must change and the industries it carries on its back will have no choice but to do so as well. Our power as consumers is huge. Hopefully someday we will no longer have to question everything we purchase... we will know that they do not pose a threat to our families health, are not manufactured in "sweatshops", do not support corrupt companies that see no end to the bottom line of unending super growth, do not abuse our worlds natural resources or misuse the irreversible bio dynamics that make the Earth inhabitable. Until then where does that leave us? I hope it will leave us with a notion to care, an itch to know, and a desire to make changes both little and large.

Now not all Moonsprout news will bring you the blues, there are great beautiful changes occurring out there by individuals on a local level all over the world. In Paul Hawken's book Blessed Unrest that I quoted earlier he mentions that over two million organizations are today working towards ecological sustainability and social justice. Hawken says "If you look at the science that describes what is happening on Earth today and aren't pessimistic, you don't have the correct data. If you meet the people in this unnamed movement and aren't optimistic, you haven't got a heart." All over the world community to community there is a common shift in what we envision for our lives and consequently our children's future worldwide.

"The good news is that millions of people in every country and every walk of life have realized the problems inherent in our current social and economic paradigm. The good news is that they are not only inventing technologies, forming associations, agitating on the political level and altering their personal habits, they are also making the deep, philosophical changes we need to create a new way to live." Suzuki & Dressel Good News For A Change

Here are a few resources if you are interested that helped evolve my way of thinking and alter my path in life:

Wal-Mart: High Cost of Low Price, a documentary about superstore methods for low prices
Blue Vinyl, a documentary about PVC, a deadly plastic
The Future of Food, a documentary on Genetically Modified Foods
Natural Capitalism, a book about creating the next industrial revolution, by Hawken & Lovins
Blessed Unrest, a book about the largest movement in the world, by Paul Hawken
Good News For A Change, how everyday people are helping the planet, by Suzuki & Dressel

Mahalo Nui Loa, Geana Miura