On Becoming A Conscious Consumer
By: The Conscientious Curator
Tags: Sustainability, Consumerism, Ethical Brands, Social Impact, Lifestyle

Organic, sustainable, plant-based, eco-friendly, zero-waste…words that are thrown at us on a daily basis, but can become so overwhelming it’s tempting to give up before even beginning. As a society we’re becoming aware of the problems that our consumerism has created over the years and what the solutions might be, but is it really possible for an impulse-buyer, who loves convenience, to change? And can one person’s spending habits really make a difference?

Hi, I’m Joanne…or Jo…or whichever you would prefer to call me. I’m a British, thirty-something, semi-crunchy mama of two, navigating adulthood, wifehood, parenthood and all the other kinds of hoods here in the States…Dallas to be exact.

Semi-crunchy because I have all the right intentions but I also love convenience and I don’t have a ton of money to drop on ALL the Organic things. I grew up watching shows like Captain Planet and being told how important it is to care about the environment, and all those things stuck. I’m not a full-on eco warrior, but I do care and I do feel a level of responsibility to at least reduce my own carbon footprint wherever I can.

I’m also a bit of a sustainable development geek. I have a big heart for the third world and would love to see extreme poverty eliminated in my lifetime — they say it’s possible! I’ve travelled to places like India, the Philippines and the Caribbean and seen first-hand the abject poverty that people live in. It’s pretty impossible to be exposed to these environments and not come home changed.

It’s like I know all the things I should do and want to do to make a difference…BUT…I also love convenience and I’ve never had a ton of spare money to put to use. It sucks watching all the documentaries and reading all the books and hearing all the stories and feeling, well, useless.

However, earlier this year my husband took me to the interactive element of the SXSW festival in Austin, TX. I should mention at this point that he is a brilliant film maker and storyteller, a complete tech/gear nerd and avid YouTuber. SXSW is like heaven on earth for him and he wanted me to experience it too. I may not have got all the tech stuff but I did hit up as many development, wellness and beauty sessions as I could. One session that really impacted me was listening to one of the top ponchos from Walmart being interviewed. I was probably a bit judgy to start out with and ready to roll my eyes and tut disapprovingly to whatever she had to say, but I was actually kind of surprised when she talked about how consumer demand has shifted towards cleaner, healthier products and how Walmart have begun to encourage the brands they stock to make changes so that their products are more in line with what the consumer wants. She also mentioned that they had been working with other retail giants, such as Target to bring about change.

It really opened my eyes to the power that we as consumers have to make a difference in the world, just by being thoughtful in what we choose to buy and where we choose to buy it from. This can be hard when you’re like me and tend to make spontaneous purchases or if you haven’t planned far enough ahead and have to make a quick dash out to Target to pick something up last-minute. So I’m not saying I’m perfect, but I guess what I am saying is if all of us made little, gradual changes, then collectively we could make a huge difference.

Consumerism is often considered a dirty word, but the fact of the matter is, we are consumers. Consumerism isn’t going anywhere, but what if our consumerism helped to eliminate poverty? What if our consumerism put the big polluters and unethical companies out of business and we saw greener, sustainable companies rise, companies who actually care about people and the planet. There are so many amazing social-impact companies out there and if you’re like me and don’t often have the extra money to give to charities BUT you chose to buy some of your every day things, like your undies or your coffee from a company who supports artisans in the third world or gives back somehow, you are infact supporting these amazing initiatives.

That is the direction we are trying to move in as a family. We aren’t there yet and it isn’t going to happen overnight but we are making small changes and easy switches whenever we can, and it feels good.

Fortunately there are more and more companies stepping up to the bar every day and finding innovative ways to change the game, which makes switching easier than it’s ever been before. There are so many incredible businesses to choose from, and we live in a wonderful time where the ‘green’ or ‘ethical’ option doesn’t mean compromising on quality. There are numerous eco and organic brands that are as good as, if not better than, many main stream brands, and social media makes them so much more accessible.

I’ve started this blog to highlight the fantatstic ethical brands that are out there, in the hope that it will be a helpful resource to others like me, who have the intention and desire to make changes but don’t quite know where to begin. May we be educated, informed and enlightened, and hopefully we will fall in love with a few (or many) of the brands along the way and find new and wonderful ways to make our purchases count.

“As consumers, we have so much power to change the world by just being careful in what we buy.” — Emma Watson