tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8905174925057941167.post5875094871232869890..comments2011-06-20T11:21:31.758-07:00Comments on Freedom According to Kendra: End Slave Labor: Buy Used, Buy LocalKendra Romhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08029508956667394834noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8905174925057941167.post-83587469856313999852010-10-30T09:59:04.707-07:002010-10-30T09:59:04.707-07:00Thanks! I will look into it and I will write somet...Thanks! I will look into it and I will write something about it but probably not for a couple of weeks. Let's be honest, probably a month but only because I do want to look deeper into this. <br /><br />Like I said, I think it is extremely important to be a responsible and concsious consumer which would entail what you are saying about sending letters to companies and buying fair trade. As for fair trade companies, it is especially crucial that we remain vigilant and hold them accountable to their stated mission. <br /><br />Thank you very much for your input, I really do appreciate it and will take the time to respond to it in the future. Also, thank you for your individual effort to combat human trafficking.Kendra Romhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08029508956667394834noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8905174925057941167.post-24534997283786269012010-10-30T00:22:03.059-07:002010-10-30T00:22:03.059-07:00All it takes to understand my point is to recogniz...All it takes to understand my point is to recognize that victims of trafficking are for the very vast majority, extremely impoverished people. Keeping your money completely out of their economies is not going to protect trafficking victims, it's going to reduce people's abilities to tap into ways to make a living BEFORE they find themselves or their children enslaved out of financial desperation.<br /><br />http://stanford.edu/class/humbio129s/cgi-bin/blogs/economiclens/2009/05/07/the-economics-of-human-trafficking/<br /><br />http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2009/0617/p02s07-usgn.html<br /><br />(another blogger describing this very topic)<br />http://traffickingproject.blogspot.com/2010/06/welcome-htps-newest-contributor-amanda.html <br />The rest of her blog is devoted to ways of fighting human trafficking through the economics of business http://traffickingproject.blogspot.com/<br /><br /><br />While I agree with you that buying locally and used is ideal environmentally, and I do those things for these reasons, I don't think this is necessarily a way to help combat human trafficking in any meaningful way. Buying fair trade products, writing letters to companies insisting that they take care to make sure their products are slave-labor free, being willing to pay more for fair trade goods recognizing that our conumption of cheap goods is part of the problem as profit margins get too small to pay people fairly. There's lots of ways our buying power can help fight trafficking short of depriving other impoverished countries from sharing in our massive wealth we have here in the priviledged west.SoundHunterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10613626853022264555noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8905174925057941167.post-58860042664932012262010-10-29T17:25:42.391-07:002010-10-29T17:25:42.391-07:00Thank you for your input, I really appreciate it. ...Thank you for your input, I really appreciate it. I will think more on it. Could you please send me your source on that information? I would really like to look into it. For now, I do want you to understand that I'm not saying we should ace out developing and third world nations, but more that we should be responsible and conscious consumers and demand that the corporations that we support be held accountable to labor laws and basic human rights all the way down there production line. Unfortunately at this point in my research, I do not have reliable data to allow me to comfortably support one company over another. I am in the process of investigating that and will be writing about it in the future, among other things, so any direction you may have is welcomed.<br /><br />Other than that, beyond the argument of human trafficking, buying locally is heavily supported from an environmental perspective as well (especially if you ride your bike!) which I'm sure your geography professor should have a thing or two to say about. If not, ask my oceanography professor. Clive Dorman.Kendra Romhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08029508956667394834noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8905174925057941167.post-4860565592334204432010-10-28T17:27:52.535-07:002010-10-28T17:27:52.535-07:00sorry last sentence should read something like &qu...sorry last sentence should read something like "isn't that just keeping them isolated from the inevitable globalization taking place, and therefore preventing them from accessing out of poverty other then selling their women and children?SoundHunterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10613626853022264555noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8905174925057941167.post-4769007255481949262010-10-28T17:25:04.545-07:002010-10-28T17:25:04.545-07:00I'm feeling mixed about this because of what I...I'm feeling mixed about this because of what I've read in my Geography course about how paying work (that's not forced/slavery) actually elevates the status of women in many third world communities, especially when they can then afford to send their sons and daughters to school. How is cutting all opportunities for these people to try and make money by never buying anything from their countries truly helping them, isn't that just keeping them isolated from the inevitable globalization taking place, and therefore offering them ways out of poverty other then selling their women and children?SoundHunterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10613626853022264555noreply@blogger.com