The Natural World is in trouble.  All over the Earth, fresh water is degrading.  There are unknown limits to climate change. We grieve the loss to many species as habitat is polluted or consumed. 

These declining conditions are all side effects of industrialized consumer society.  Most of the world pollutes and consumes: but Americans do it in spades.  Its what ordinary Americans buy routinely, that adds up to global eco-disaster.

In addition, the American Consumeristic lifestyle, as it spreads globally, brings declining spirals in many areas of human life.  Human needs for food, safety and cultural development are too often not met.  American wealth could be investing in ways to improve all human life.  Instead American capital is used to set up the means to exploit.

Follow the money

Are you passing the buck?
The bottom line in the economic equation is You, the consumer, co-creator of heaven or hell.

  
I am a US citizen, and not satisfied with the collective behavior of my Nation.  Still I believe in the ideals of the US Bill of Rights, and in human ingenuity.  The power to make positive change is in every one of us, if we elect ourselves important and act. 

I have decided to: identify ways of industry that create declining spirals.  Set the goal to reduce the amounts of dollars spent to companies who practice dysfunctional methods.  For simplicity, group types of expenditures into six categories, integrated into an overview model for global recovery. 

I have named a category, FALSEFOOD: to include genetically engineered items, factory farmed animals products, and food grown with pesticides and herbicides, and food processing methods which contribute to declining spirals in water quality, biodiversity, nutrition, personal health, local self-reliance and community integrity. 

I aim to gain awareness of current spending patterns.  How much do we spend on FALSE FOOD?
global average:
national average:
your average:

 

Consumer addictions are not always easy to quit. It might take something like 12-step support to actually make the change. We give a lot of lip service to sustainable lifestyle but the rubber meets the road in our record of money spent. I take the Pledge to win the Game of Save the Earth.

 

HOMEMAKER'S PLEDGE
The Homemaker's Pledge is the decision to own our own place as co-creators of the world, through our everyday economic involvement. American style consumerism causes problems. To direct our nation toward health, we pick up our power to choose.

The Pledge:
To meet needs without destructive by-products.

There are two parts to the pledge. Reducing destructive spending is not the entire goal. Meeting human need well (without destructive by products) is the entire goal. There are plenty of ways to state the pledge. 

  • To create a set of routines, benevolent and benign. 
  • To establish an economy that does not deplete the source.
  • To do what is easy, to reduce and stop destructive spending.
The Homemaker's Pledge is the equivalant of a fiscal Hippocratic oath: Do No Harm.  To take the driver's seat of our economic lives, we need an instrument panel keeping us on track.  Ready to vote for Life with your dollars?
 

To bring this dream into material action - 
I give substance to my pledge.   I notice and record my Score (how much  ?) destructive spending on FALSE FOODS.

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We manage what we measure.  We can easily measure our support of the industries that do harm.  The continual awareness of our own dollars spent on destructive industry is our lever on taking command of our impact on the world.

 


FALSEFOODS include:
genetically modified items, highly processed foods, synthetic ingredients, factory farmed meats and dairy, produce grown with chemical herbicides, pesticides and synthetic fertilizers.

Solutions are at hand! 
Shop for organic foods.  Read labels and select only natural ingredients.   Join with friends to buy organic in bulk.   Meet your local farmers to acquire authentic animal foods.   Garden at home or join CSA for fresh produce.

Setting the goal to reduce money spent on destructive industry doesn't make sense unless we also set the goal to make sure that all human needs are met.  To complete the assessment of the whole situation, we can ask ourselves the question:
"Are you well fed according to your model of what constitutes good nutrition?"