Live Your Power: Socially Responsible Consumption, Work, and Investment
Julie Matthaei discusses the work of Victoria Cepidia-Moharo as a member of United Students Against Sweatshops. Julie describes the changing character of the fair trade movement, from simply shutting down factories to working with the community to support workers’ demands and push for more social investment.
An audience member describes the Hooze.org project, which allows for grassroots-level public data gathering about the social characteristics of products.
Julie discusses the work of Trish Tchume as a member of Idealist.org. She argues that, besides working for a socially responsible company, those who want to live their values through work can also be social entrepreneurs.
Julie talks about how lack of knowledge about products can sometimes hinder social consumption, and describes a project of Guramylay: Growing the Green Economy to create green-solidarity festivals as alternatives to mall consumption.
An audience member asks a question about how the media hinders information distribution about social consumption, and Julie talks about the consolidated control of media corporations.
An audience member talks about how even socially-responsible consumption is still part of the materialistic mainstream economy. He calls attention to non-consumption movements, and to non-capitalist economies that already exist (like the waste-stream economy).
Another audience member talks about freegan community, and describes dumpster-dumping and squatting as a means of meeting needs.
Julie talks about the range of possibilities for living solidarity values, from non-consumption to working with high-road firms. She also discusses the importance of legal reforms to corporate structure.