Typical small village in the highlands. September, 1988
Shopping Web Resources
Books:
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Clothing:
- Ahnu (shoes)
- New Balance (shoes)
- Deva lifewear
- American Apparel
- Lavender's Green
- Revival Clothing
- Wild West Mercantile
- American made clothing from a variety of retail and wholesale outlets
More shopping or commerce-related websites
- The Union Shop. Made in USA and Union Made products.
- Full Moon Rising Blog
- Still Made in USA
- Consumer Reports
- Vietnamese Artwork
- Fair Trade Online Store Global Exchange
- Yunnan Mountain Handicraft Center
- Africa Direct
- Higher Grounds Coffee from Nicaragua
- Fair Trade Federation
I prefer to purchase goods made by ethical companies that practice good corporate citizenship. I don't feel good about buying products produced in countries where workers are not allowed to organize independent unions or speak out against oppressive employers. So, although I'm not boycotting products made in places like China, I do prefer to buy products from North America and Europe. I'd rather buy something from Mongolia, Cambodia, India, or Ghana, and I’d be reluctant to buy anything from Burma (so-called “Myanmar”), Cuba, Iran, or Zimbabwe. Despite my preference for generally free trade, I am in favor of tarrifs on imports from nations that lack adequate protection of workers’ rights, environmental standards, or democracy. It's fine for nations to compete against us on the basis of their lower wages and production costs, but only if those labor and production costs could be influenced by the same concerns for liberty, fairness, workers’ rights, sustainability, and environmental protection that are reflected in our nation and equivalent nations (like Canada, Western Europe, Australia, etc.)