Shopping is part of daily routine. A tea at the bar, lunch in the canteen or some bread on the way home. Then order a mobile phone holder for your car online at home.
So hardly a day goes by where I don’t buy anything.

What should I be worried about? Many may say: “I buy what I want and what it has to offer. The main thing is cheap.” But is that really the last word in wisdom?

My changed buying behavior
I would like to explain the reasons why my buying behavior has changed in recent years.

Somehow I have always cared where the products came from and how they were made. But that didn’t always have an influence on my purchasing. Most of the time I was too comfortable to go to a more suitable shop or postpone a purchase until I had clarified one or the other. After all, I wanted to hold what I wanted in my hands as quickly as possible. There have been times when some principles had to jump over the blade. But maybe next time. Want an example? The fruits and vegetables in the supermarket were never convincing, neither in quality nor in origin. But it was just around the corner. And an organic market would have been 10 minutes away. Then just take the easy way around the corner.

The more I realize that I am connected to all other living beings in a system and not separated, the more important it becomes to me not to unnecessarily harm or cause suffering to these living beings (humans, animals, plants), the earth, the air and the water. You could call it compassion. I don’t strive for the extreme in my shopping – I have to eat and drink to live. My decisions and actions are based on what I recognize today and what information I have available.
It is quite possible that I do not know anything about a situation and therefore I cannot include it in a decision for or against a purchase. But when I know something, I want to take it into account when shopping. One consequence could be, for example, that I do not make a purchase.

New information changes purchasing behavior
An example on the subject of “Made in China”. About two years ago I learned from investigations which have shown that in China people are systematically imprisoned in order to remove organs from them. That’s when these people get killed. Mostly Falun Gong practitioners (Buddhist meditation practice) but also Uyghur’s, Tibetans and Christians are affected. This financially lucrative, state-run genocide has been going on for almost twenty years and has cost the lives of countless people. It is estimated that approximately 100,000 transplantations are performed each year. That in a country where there exists no organ donation culture. Further information can be found here: www.chinaorganharvest.org.
When I also know that everything in China is controlled and monitored by the Communist Party, I make sure that as little money as possible goes to China. Because it directly or indirectly supports this murderous system and keeps it alive. This is not always possible. But often there are alternatives.
Before I became aware of this situation, I did not give any thought at all to this subject. This example shows how my behavior has been changed by new facts. To do this, however, I need to open myself up to sources of information that are committed to the truth. Unfortunately, the mainstream media are usually not.  For economic and political reasons, such things are not reported in the main media in our “free” world.

It is therefore important to me that other people learn about this state-run genocide and can decide for the good and against the evil.

Shopping-Checklist
How do I specifically question my purchasing behavior?

This checklist helps me shopping:
– Do I really need something? Or is it just satisfying the desire to have more?
– What I buy someone has made (where? under what conditions?)
– The cultivation, manufacture and transport of some of the products have a considerable influence on nature – in other words, our livelihood. What about my desired product?
– What I don’t buy won’t be reproduced to fill the gap on the shelf. Like strawberries in winter.
– With the well-known statement: “I have no influence as a small consumer” I lie to myself. The opposite is true. What I buy as a consumer determines future productions and the entire chain until the product reaches me. Nothing is produced in the long run if nobody buys it. In extreme cases (see above) even a person is killed on demand so that I get a new organ.
– Is my purchase rather a step towards more nature and naturalness or a step away from it?

Everything is connected
Ideally, a product was manufactured in the immediate vicinity where I live without unnecessarily harming the environment and living beings. The proximity of production is important for transport routes. The congested streets today are directly related to our purchasing behavior. If something is made nearby, I may even know the producers and how they work. It also ensures that the know-how on how to produce, process or store something is preserved in my area. When I advocate proximity, it is clear to me that not all products can be manufactured in my vicinity in our technical world. On the other hand, there are also alternatives to the standard that much has to be transported around half the globe before it reaches the consumer.

A society that only knows how to use a computer is not viable in the long run. Who still knows how to cultivate vegetables and fruit so that we can feed ourselves? And where is the soil for that gone? Or where are the experienced craftsmen who can build houses or make clothes, for example? Many people in the West believe that this is inferior work and that it is best outsourced or has to be done by cheap laborers. The consequences are fatal: removal and alienation from nature with its cycles, loss of know-how and survival skills, dependence on often poisoned products and food produced far away, and loss of time-honored traditions and values.

These facts should encourage us to wake up and change direction instead of burying our heads in the sand and closing our eyes.

Summary
Since I am responsible for my actions, this also applies to my purchasing decisions. It matters what I buy, where and under what conditions it was produced and how far and how it was transported to me. I realize that I have a free choice and I am grateful for that.
The aim is not to turn everything upside down overnight. But that I open myself up to a change in my behavior and information that will support me. Allowing more compassion for other living beings and our livelihoods promotes this process.

In upcoming blog posts I will report on my experiences in finding clever, practical, durable, ecological and thus sustainable products.