The true cost

http://truecostmovie.com/


hi lovely readers!!!!

Last week end I watched the above documentary...  It made me cry my face off...  It was really just so sad... And it got me really upset!!!

To be honest, it has been on my list on Netflix for a few weeks now but I was avoiding looking at it...  because I kind of knew what was in it.... and I preferred avoiding it! I knew that my life would never bee the same after...  and as an ex-shopaholic who sometimes has week moments, I suspected this would not make my life easier.... I was being selfish.

Well, after watching this, I can say that it was ALL I suspected.... and much much more!!!

It opened my eyes even more on that industry.... the superficiality and selfishness of it... and of us consumers! In general.

In resume, it brought me to think about the impact my $ spent have around me...

I am at this point where I am becoming more aware of the impact each and every one of my move has on our capitalist system...  and most of the time, they are not a positive impact!

I am not quite sure what impact the viewing of that documentary will have in my life... but I am thinking about a few options and one big challenge...  I need to refine details but you will soon find out!

What I know is that I cannot tolerate and be blind to the conditions the textile workers in Bangladesh and other countries are working in... I cannot pretend I do not know the impact all that pesticide laden cotton fields have as an impact to the workers and surrounding citizens - here and elsewhere on the planet...  I cannot pretend I do not know that all those heavy dyes and pesticides applications are not hurting kids in India with cancers and mental illnesses... I can't ignore the chemicals cheap leather worker have to endure...

Our behavior as a consumer in America has an impact on pretty much the whole planet...

Because:

-of pesticides used to grow cotton - impact on the land and people
-of chemicals use to dye fabrics
-of chemical use to treat leather
-of horrible working conditions textile worker have to endure (did you know that some of them got beaten because they tried to get a union in to protect themselves?)
-of throw away fashion that is not biodegradable and ends up in third world countries land fields...
-of polluted water source in India to mention only one place....
- death of workers working in really bad shape manufactures

and I could go on and on... but you could watch it for yourselves...

Our cheap-throw-away-after-a-season-clothes are actually tinted with blood.... the blood of those who loose their life so that we can have a pair of jeans at 20$ and a t-shirt at 7$ in some very well known stores...

But how did we get to that point?  Well someone somewhere...  probably more then just one person...  figure out that if they could provide us with cheap clothes, we would be more likely to buy them.... and change them more often.... and hence they would make more money! In the same line of thoughts, instead of having 4 collection a year, some store now have 6 to 7 collections per years... and one well known store even has new stock coming in weekly!!!

And us, as consumers...  did not realize what we got ourselves into...  we bought and bought and it slowly got us hooked...  and we didn't even see it coming...  advertisement is such a wonderful thing!!!

It makes us believe that as we change our clothes, we are following trends...  and making friends... and being loved...  and looking young... and sexy...  and pretty... and it also gives us the illusion that if we change our clothes more often we are RICH! Rich people do not wear the same things over and over again... so we believe!

However, if this was the case, if we were rich because we could afford to change our clothes at such a fast pace, how is it that we are more and more in debt???  Look at your credit card bill, bank statement..  how much $ do you put in a fashion industry while still feeling that you can't keep up with trends and that you have nothing to wear?  How much time do you spend at the stores every week?  How much time spent in front of your closet every day trying to figure out what to wear?

We are not rich... we are in debt.. with closet full of nothing to wear...  because we do not know what our style is... we are so often bombarded with images of what we should look like that we forget (or did not even find yet) what we want to look like!

Our clothes are suppose to tell a story about ourselves... our lives...  who we are... they are the outside image of what is inside...

Well, if this the case, I can say is that most people are just the same as they are all dress alike! But I know this is not true... we are all different... and is no one-size-fit-all fashion!  Despite what we are lead to believe!

Don't get me wrong.... I have been guilty of that for years too!  I use to spend hundreds of dollars on clothes every week!  New stuff would come into my home every other day or so... I had a humongous wardrobe... but still needed more... I was in debt... and stress... and sick...  I worked on this for years...  slowing and then controlling my shopping addiction...  but I am not out-of-the-woods!  I still have a weakness for "fashion" and "trends"...  but I have worked hard on figuring out who I am and what I love and what I want people to get from me when they see me walking down the street...

I went from a fashion victim to a stylish person...  is my style fashionable?  not at all...  but it is mine and it speaks of who I am...

All that said, I will now have to look into how I spend my $ on clothes...  and figure out what I can do to minimize my impact on those poor people... and our planet!

As I said earlier, I am giving myself a few more weeks to come up with something... some sort of a challenge to make things interesting...

Be who you are... DREAM your life... LIVE your dream...
namaste

love&peace,
chloe
xox
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