How Can Social Responsibility Be Made More Affordable?
Many of us want to save the world in some way. That’s why we volunteer, support causes, donate to charity, fundraise, etc. We make our strongest efforts for the issues that matter most to us.
Social responsibility calls for decisions that benefit society at large, sometimes at the expense of our own best interests. Given the option, we’d prefer to save money on food, clothes, transportation, services, etc. We treat our finances in much the same way a company attempts to satisfy investors: keep costs lows, earnings up, and don’t go belly up.
The cheapest option is often the only choice for many consumers to manage survival in a paycheck-to-paycheck world. It’s unfortunate that most affordable options are often harmful to the environment, workers and even politics.
Take McDonald’s for example. Sales for the chain continue to rise in the U.S. despite recession worries. Now consider food writer Mark Bittman’s attack in the New York Times on the booming growth of meat consumption, highlighting that:
– Livestock production generates more greenhouse gases than transportation.
– The majority of corn and soy grown is used to feed cattle, pigs and chicken, though 800 million people in the world suffer from hunger or malnutrition.
– 30% of earth’s ice-free land is connected to livestock production.
– Livestock waste degrades surrounding water and air quality.
Joe Schmoe with a household median income of $48,451 buys his family a few value meals this week because it’s all that he can afford this month. His purchases help McDonald’s keep another low-wage earner behind the counter employed; another farm has more meat to sell to McDonald’s; and the federal government subsidizes the meat farm to keep producing cost-effective meat. In between all of this, the environment suffers because Joe Schmoe and families like his need a cheap way to eat.
Mr. Schmoe has socially responsible options, but he can’t choose them when demand and prices rise for organic foods, as recent news reports. Short supply is partly at fault, but what about businesses that admit to doubling the price on natural and organic products because they can. Price markups don’t always go to providing better wages to workers. So what’s holding back companies from making social responsibility more affordable to consumers?
I’m asking you dear readers, to educate me and others with limited means. How can social responsibility be made affordable for everyone? Please feel free to share your ideas and solutions.
In this specific example there would be a few options depending on geography. Eating whole foods is often comparable to eating at fast food joints, price-wise.
– Farmer’s markets
– CSAs if you have money up front
– Food co-operatives with work shifts/member discounts
Just because the government condones and subsidizes this food paradigm doesn’t mean there aren’t ways to buy direct from the farmers who often get very little back from the industrialized food industry. Small farms have been so screwed by the system that a lot of them don’t pay the money to be *certified* organic but they are.
I think a lot of green and socially responsible ideas that take some research and a better relationship with your community are usually cost-effective as well. I belong to a ton of PF and green blogs and I can’t tell you how many times I see the same topics on both.
Good points, Jesse. We clearly can’t rely on the government and should look to our local community for ideas.
Even though there’s plenty of discussion on PF and green blogs, the message hasn’t caught on with the general public.
I guess what I’m driving at are answers to:
What are some trusted starting points / sources to learn about affordable and greener options in one’s local community?
How can we best disseminate that information?
How can we influence companies to provide us greener options at more affordable price points?
There’s also letting the business do it for you: instead of McDonald’s go to Chipotle or a small local restaurant (we have a place called Elevation Burger near me, it’s great, and nothing’s a dollar but it’s not expensive).
And, like Jesse said, a lot of socially responsible things are easily frugal: like buying secondhand, decreasing your utility use, and taking public transit or walking instead of driving.
Well, if Jane Shmoe has to work then it’s much harder. Otherwise, she might be able to spend some of her time concentrating on finding inexpensive, healthy organic foods and cooking them herself to save money. Or Jack Schmoe. But for two parent families without much income….I don’t know.
John: I think the key is to start small. At LighterFootstep, Chris Baskind’s Ten First Steps inspires simple and inexpensive ways to move toward a lighter, more sustainable lifestyle.
I would have to agree that families with kids especially have big time crunches but also counter-point Mrs. Micah’s point to some extent. My mother was a working single mother of 2 who was on public assistance when I was born and she thought diet/health was important so she made sure that she made the time to make food. Yes, it’s more difficult – but it can be done and depends on what you value. (And also there’s a difference between eating McDonald’s every day and eating it once a week – cooking every day is almost impossible.) I work full time, manage a nonprofit in my extremely limited free time which is at least an extra 20 hours a week if not more and I can make the time to do batch cooking (and work a food co-op shift once a month). I know that there are niche movements for families in our area such as:
Our state’s WIC program advertises farmers markets:
http://www.health.state.ny.us/prevention/nutrition/fmnp/index.htm
(I’ve seen subway posters for this as well)
Food co-ops taking WIC checks
Nonprofits like Added Value:
http://www.added-value.org/
I think that all of these are excellent steps toward giving resources to people who might want and need them and we definitely need more of them. For those in more median income ranges groups like Just Food have been pushing green markets and CSAs (http://www.justfood.org/jf/index.html). Co-Op America is doing the same nationally with food co-ops: http://www.coopamerica.org/.
I think just people sharing what they do, how they eat, where they get it from — because it’s no longer intuitive to expect for *everyone* to deserve good organic food — helps.
Sorry, this is the food co-op listing nationally (http://www.ncga.coop/); Co-Op America as a broader mission and I always confuse the two because of the names.
And this one, too! Sorry, last post, I promise.
http://www.coopdirectory.org/directory.htm
Thanks Jesse. These are good starting points for a follow up I’d like to write on this subject.