The Duty of the Consumer

I'm not sure who wrote this originally. I hope whomever that person is, they don't mind that I am posting it here in it's entirety.

Buy local. Have more compassion. Be aware.

> CONSUMERS DUTIES
>
> Often buyers are only concerned with satisfying their own requirements as
> near as possible and as cheaply as they can. This way of going about the
> business is to shirk one's duties. What are the duties of an effective
> consumer or buyer? When buying an article of everyday use one has to take
> account of the full repercussions of one's transaction.
>
> 1) One should know where the article comes from,
> 2) Who makes the article?
> 3) Under what conditions do the workers live and work?
> 4) What proportions of the final price do they get as wages?
> 5) How is the rest of the money distributed?
> 6) How is the article produced?
> 7) How does the industry fit into the national economy?
> 8) What relation has it to the other nations?
>
> DISCRIMINATE BUYING
>
> If the buyer has to make her influence felt, the further afield she goes
> for her goods, the less will be the power of her influence at such distance,
> the less the chances of her information on various points raised being
> accurate, and the less will be her personal interest. If the goods come from
> a source which may be tainted with exploitation, either of sweat labor or of
> the political, financial or economic hold over other nations, or classes, or
> races, then the buyer of such goods will be a party to such exploitation,
> just as a person who buys stolen articles from a "chore bazar" creates a
> market for stolen goods and thus will be encouraging the art of stealing.
> Therefore, any one who buys goods indiscriminately is not discharging her
> full responsibility when the sole criterion of her buying is merely the low
> price or the good quality of the goods. Hence, we should buy good only from
> sources from which full information is readily available and which source
> can be brought under our influence; otherwise we shall have to shoulder a
> share of the blame for sweat labour, political slavery, or economic
> stranglehold. We cannot absolve ourselves of the all blame by merely
> pleading ignorance in regard to the source.
>
> If the raw materials for making cocoa are obtained from plantations on the
> West coast of Africa which use some form of forced native labour, are
> carried by vessels on sea routes monopolized or controlled by violence,
> manufactured in England with sweated labour and brought to India under
> favorable customs duties enforced by political power, then a buyer of a tin
> of cocoa patronises the forced labour conditions in the West coast of
> Africa, utilizes the navy and so partakes in violence, gains by the low
> wages or bad conditions of the workers in England and takes advantage of the
> political subjection of India. All this responsibility and more also is put
> into a little tin of cocoa!
>
> Are we prepared to shoulder this grave responsibility and pander to our
> palate or shall we content ourselves with a cup of nutritious milk drawn
> from a well-kept cow at our door? These considerations are not far-fetched
> but actual. Anyone who looks on life seriously and as a trustee cannot
> afford to ignore these far-reaching consequences of her actions.