Learning the talk and walking the walk

4/24/09
Astounding… did you know that over 40% of the world’s almonds come from California, and that 50% of the nation’s bees are required to pollenate them? Did you know that migratory beekeepers are responsible for sustaining much of our agricultural system by transporting thousands of bee colonies all around the country to pollenate various crops throughout the growing seasons, but that it’s becoming harder and harder to maintain their profession as more and more bee colonies die off each year from mites, pesticides, transport and a variety of issues that most of us have never have to think about?
Did you know that buying “regular” coffee from one of the major manufacturers often means cheating hard working farmers and their families out of a livable wage, as corporations seek to buy in bulk from these farmers at the lowest possible price (sometimes as low as $.07 per pound!!)? BUT, by buying “fair trade certified” coffee, for a few cents more, ensures that farmers in Costa Rica, Peru, or some other country in which their beans are grown and harvested will receive a fair wage for their labor. Did you also know that, because everything is a cycle that affects everything and everyone else (yes, the old Bell telephone commercials were right; we really are all connected!), this kind of exploitation is a large part of the reason for the issue of so many immigrants coming over the border? If you knew that you couldn’t make a living or hope to support your family where you were because you were not being paid fairly for your work, wouldn’t you abandon it and seek a better life, too? Think about it.
Did you know that by buying a share or half-share of seasonal produce from a local farmer, you are greatly increasing your food’s freshness factor while reducing transport miles WHILE helping to sustain local agriculture! Such a deal! If that farmer grows his or her produce organically, you are also greatly increasing the nutritional value of your food due to healthier growing soil and elimination of toxic pesticides and petroleum-based fertilizers.
Did you know that if we all carried travel mugs with us whenever we purchased coffee and stopped using paper cups with plastic lids, we could save literally millions of trees from being cut down and keep tons of plastic out of yet another landfill? What about a sports water bottle? There’s another couple hundred thousand tons of non-biodegradeable plastic spared from the landfill. How about those reuseable cloth grocery bags? Mine are insulated and carry a ton of stuff (unless I forget to put them in my car, which I still do on occasion). Maybe we can stop adding acreage to those massive garbage swirls in our oceans that, like the dead zones, are growing by leaps and bounds each year and killing vast quantities of fish and other sea life.
There’s no end to the simple, non-sacrificing things each of us can do which, when taken together, add up to make a huge difference. Our choices are NOT irrelevant! Every action we take, every vote we make with our purchasing dollars reverberates somewhere in this connected universe, for better or worse. The more I learn, the more astounded I become at the truth of this – and the more committed I become to try harder, to not fall asleep at the wheel or wait for someone else to come and fix the mess we’ve made, and to do what I can, ALL I can, to ensure that mess is not passed on to the next generation.
I believe if we really wanted to, if we really LIVED the values we say we believe in and stop getting sucked into our small, fear-driven, greedy little egos, we really COULD heal the world, end hunger and poverty, and learn to live in peace with our neighbors. You might say I’m a dreamer… but I’m not the only one.