by Kirsten Corsaro, The Green Guru, Nexyoo.com, The Revolution of Consumerism ~ Empowering Positive Change

It’s that time of year again where we all celebrate our freedom in the United States: our Independence. And what great fun this is: fireworks and BBQ grills, with fun-filled gatherings of our best friends and family. We’ve been celebrating this since the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. It is awe inspiring to review the last 233 years and how we’ve grown and evolved as a society. We’ve created some amazing technologies and ways of living that are often not found anywhere in the world but in America. We should be proud of our accomplishments.

Unconscious Choices

Or should we? Something has gone awry. Somewhere along the line it’s like we’ve fallen asleep and stopped paying attention to the things that are most important to us in our lives. We’ve become  too dependent upon corporate America and its relentless advertising machine to make our choices for us: Buy this! Do that! Look like this! Be that! Look at us, look at them! Britney is at it again! All of This for Only $1.99! Can’t afford it, charge it! We accept Visa! No Payments for a year! 30 days same as cash!

It is time to say enough is enough. We can see the results of the unconscious choices we made yesterday—they are today’s bleak reality. We destroying our bodies with GMOs and chemically altered foods, we are always “out of time” and filled with stress. Our homes are often toxic from the many plastic and chemically treated items found on sale at the local big-box chain store. Smog reports on television and the radio are more common than rain on the weather channel. And we’ve literally created a new island in the Pacific Ocean, one that none of us want to vacation on because it’s made out of plastic bottles, plastic bags, and other waste materials discarded from society.

Reclaiming Our Independence

We can look at all of this and say how bad we’ve been. We can see all the “wrong” in the world and easily get depressed and sink further into helplessness. Or we can stand up today and reclaim our true independence from those corporate control structures and make better, more conscious choices. Now is the time to declare our independence from corporate America and use the greatest power we have in today’s world: our buying power. We can use our buying power to change the face of how we do business, who we give our power to, and what we want the planet to look like for future generations.

Support local green businesses in your area or, if you are an online shopper, search for environmentally friendly options with every purchase you make. We do have the buying power to effect a change. Read the labels and hold accountable those responsible for pumping us full of toxins by saying no to the products they shovel at us and yes to smaller, organic/eco/trustworthy sources.

A New, Green Economy

The good news is we are already exercising our power. We have chosen a new way. This is why many corporations are now buying up smaller grassroots/eco/organic companies. They know that today we are choosing a better way and they are on the move to own it all. Which is why it is so important for the small, family-owned and -operated green businesses to join together and rise above the corporations and their trendy, not-so-honest “green” marketing endeavors.

The concept of interdependence in economics states that “all markets are affected by other markets.”  By helping each other, we help ourselves, and in turn we help the state of the environment and create healing on all levels. It is our responsibility to effect a change. We can no longer sit back and expect someone else to repair the damage.

If we become conscious consumers, meaning we become conscious about every purchase we make and about where our dollars are going, we will effect a change in the way business is being conducted, not only at the corporate level but more importantly at the local level. If we become conscious business owners and join other like-minded business owners, we will only increase our strength and our voice in this economy. The green economy can be our opportunity to not only empower ourselves through our purchase power but also to change the face of business by joining together as earth-friendly businesses.

© 2009 Kirsten Corsaro, the Green Guru

Image by Susan E. Adams, 2009, Creative Commons license.

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