Not much to say about the Nica life, just letting everyone know I'm alive. I'm working on a different project now, a solar food dryer, and I could go into details but I won't.
Also, I'm visiting the community where the other UD students live, and one of the boys there calls me Chente (short for Vicente, and the Spanish equivalent of the Italian Chenzo). I think I like it :)
I also think I can see a marked improvement in my Spanish, it's definitely improved since I've arrived.
Finally, yesterday marks the halfway point, exactly five weeks left; which seems like barely enough time to finish what I need...
To leave all of you with something to do, since I don't have any good Nicaraguan stories, I think I'll open for discussion a small debate we had between us volunteers lately. Obviously we're all here working on renewable energy projects, and most of us plan to return to a career in a related field. At group lunches yesterday we got on the topic of environmentally and socially responsible businesses, and how and why they do (or do not) exist.
Weather or not you believe in global warming or you shop at wal-mart, when it comes down to it business make decisions every day that directly and severely affect the lives of workers, their families, and the environment (which lead eventually to the health of those same people). Sweatshops are on the rise in Nicaragua (and exist all over the world); pesticides, weather or not they hurt the earth (or you), in the long run, can have very negative affects on the farmers who use them; and food prices, trade regulations, and the economic situation of many farmers put people in a poverty cycle that they do not have the ability to get out of.
So, what's a human to do? On one side of the argument is that you should shop sweatshop free, buy organic, buy fair trade, buy locally produced foods, encourage companies to be socially responsible, and act accordingly and mindfully in your own business or career. If enough people do this, the market will demand more responsible business practices. I feel that's on the idealistic end of the spectrum.
On the other side is the practical side, that in the end people make decisions based on their bottom line. Even if one person does those things, in order to make a significant difference you have to make it economical to make good decisions - through laws, taxes, tax credits, and policies. This is more on the practical side of things. The problem with this is that government is slow, and this mindset gives people the excuse to get away with as much as they can as long as it's legal, and to let the government decide what is right or wrong.
So, what do you all think? The last time you bought a banana, it probably cost less than $0.50 because the farmers who picked it were paid next to nothing. Their kids can not get a student loan to go to school, and they have almost no chance at a better life. We have fair trade coffee, and England has fair trade bananas, but for the banana lover in the US, what are you going to do? Wait for policies to improve? Tell your friends not to eat bananas at the risk of sounding like a jerk (disclaimer: if anyone thinks your a jerk for that don't be their friend)? Eat the banana because you feel useless? Or is it too distant a problem to even worry or care, when you're worried about keeping your own family healthy?
In your job, if your company is morally or ethically unacceptable, some people feel they don't have the option to quit; they have to worry first how to provide for their own family, but the loss in your quality of life would still put you leagues above MOST of the world - in terms of living conditions, career opportunities, and health - so what do you do?
Acting as an example (as small as your impact may be) or blaming the system (but pushing for a better one): what do you think, readers? Leave comments!
-Vince
P.S. I like bananas too...
EDIT:
As for me, I'm going to (try to) do both.
Sabana Grande and the Question of the Day
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Nicaragua,
Question of the Day
by:
Vince Romanin
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4 comments:
Now, just to get this clear, are you asking what should these workers in sweat shops do? In which case, I'm going to take a stab at it. If I however am not answering the right question, feel free to call me an idiot and direct me in the way of the proper question.
Well, as sad as it may be, these workers don't have much choice when it comes to choosing whether to work in a sweatshop or not. Sweatshops, which exist in mainly third world countries, offer these people some form of a career, since their options are very limited. Also, since a lot of these people don't have the proper education or worldly knowledge that you and I take for granted, what reason would they have to even question their current way of life. So really, there isn't much these people can do in a sense of changing things.
I mean it sucks, but they don't have the knowledge that we have or the luxury of choice that we have. In most countries that have sweatshops, the alternatives are actually usually worse then the sweatshops themselves, such as scavenging through trash, prostitution, crime, or even starvation. In actuality a lot of these people in these countries make average, or above average income, compared to the rest of the populous of said country. So I think this is why a lot of these workers will deal with the harsh conditions that they have present, because their better off this way. You have to look at the big picture here, and take into consideration their way of life, what their country has to offer these people.
I hope that answered your question, I didn't intend for it to end up into a rant and go off on a tangent here but sometimes I can't help myself. But I just don't think that you can ask what would you do in a situation like this, unless you were ACTUALLY in the situation that these people are in, which is rather shitty. Of course I'm not condoning buying products made by sweatshop workers or anything like that, my argument was more that these people aren't given much choice here, and sweatshops are actually better then the alternatives.
I apologize for the length!
:D /end rant
Good points Ian, but I was actually asking what WE should do, for example, when you buy clothes do you try to find clothes that were made under humane conditions. Fair Trade cotton is an example, and it works just like Fair Trade coffee or chocolate. If the company meets minimum requirements in terms of the condition and pay of their workers, they get to put a fair trade logo on their tag, and us americans get to buy away our guilt by paying $5 more for a T-shirt, knowing that whoever made that shirt has a slightly better lifestyle than he/she would have otherwise.
Ok, gotcha.
Well, I'll try this again then! I think given our circumstances the best thing to do is to do what you said, buy fair trade items. That makes us feel all warm inside at least, and hey maybe it throws someone a bone somewhere. Also, people have had success by getting together and confronting these companies that buy products that come from sweatshops. I mean, if a company gets a lot of complaints from people and it gets the word out about how the products they buy come from sweatshops, well, that's a pretty negative view that they don't want to have.
So I guess my answer is both then? But if we're talking what I would do, well, I'm fucking lazy and don't pay attention to a lot of things. So I mean, I'll try! but no promises!!!
i've been dying to post on this conversation, but allas, (did i spell that word correctly?) due to the fact that i have been running some stuff at work that keeps me from a computer, i was unable to comment untill now. so, now it's late, but we all have to remember that there is power in numbers. we as consumers carry alot more wieght than we tend to realize. if we were not so spoiled on getting what we want, when we want it, we could sway alot of the powers that be by the way we purchase. i have been interrupted yet again as i type this, (i'm at work) so i'll just end with the fact that we need to buy stuff like we care. if we purchase with conscience, it does make a difference. sorry if this is choppy. no time to go back and read what i've written