Consumerism = Voting but even at Walmart?!?

An interesting and arising consciousness on the shopping horizon is our ability to use consumerism as a vote. It is not a new idea as many people have been toting this line for a long time, through several generations starting in the late 60's and early 70's. The interesting part is that it has begun to permeate down into the layers of general consumerism; meaning the consumer who values the mileage of their buck more than anything and will buy anything, regardless of where and how it is made because it's cheap.

I was recently surfing through the web, looking for "local" (read: North American and hopefully British Columbian) sources of organic clothing. I came across an article from WISH magazine with a very comprehensive list of "eco-clothing" available across Canada. To view their complete list, click here. The one tidbit I found of great interest is that, according to WISH magazine, WalMart is quickly becoming one of the largest buyers of organic cotton and that their GEORGE line is beginning to make organic cotton wear for newborns.

Hmmmmm.....mixed feelings about Walmart aside, perhaps it's encouraging to see such a large company involved in the fashion industry jump on the organic band wagon. If this statement is true and Walmart is beginning to offer organic clothing, it's an interesting irony that surely will give many of the hyper-aware consumers something to think about!

Do we celebrate that the largest and most notorious "big box" store has begun to offer organic clothing in their stores, no doubt at a very reasonable price or do we avoid and chastise for their continued "encouragement" of being a consumer by offering continual price roll-backs and all that implies (i.e. capitalism), fueling the mentality of "Who cares, it's cheap!".

A delicate balance to say the least. I will let you be the judge of this one.

Although I personally prefer to support smaller enterprises as much as I can, I must say I am encouraged to read more information on Walmart's website about their actions towards sustainability. They definitely have the consumer podium with approximately 100 million customers a week and if they can put organically sourced clothing into the hands of those consumers who have the "Who cares, it's cheap" mentality, wouldn't that cause an interesting event?

You would no longer have to be a hyper-aware consumer to support the organic movement....you would be doing it almost without even knowing or even having to be connected to the consciousness of being values-based consumer.

Very interesting......

As always, I'm not here to preach. You decide to whom and how far your buck goes. If you are curious to read more on Walmart's sustainability actions or their organics, here are some links for you:
Visit Walmart's page on their sustainable journey
Visit Walmart's page on organic food products they are offering for sale.