Build A Nonviolent World With These Nonviolent Choices.
Fair Trade. Fair Trade ensures that farmers, artisans and other producers in poor countries get a fair price for their goods that covers the cost of production and guarantees a living wage . Fair Trade also encourages environmental responsibility and reinvestment in communities.
Fair Labor. Sweatshops and child labor are a growing problem in the clothing and textiles industries. And popular products like coffee, fruit, chocolate and cut flowers are often grown under brutal labor conditions. Sweatshops exist around the world including the U.S. The cheapest products often come with the greatest human costs. Ask questions, get educated and make the most humane choices.
Organic. There are many reasons to support organic products:
You can help protect people, the environment and animals. Organic products ensure that chemicals are n’t sprayed and dumped on farm workers, on the land and in our waterways. This protects people, the planet and precious wildlife. Pesticides are poisons designed to kill living organisms. They can be harmful to humans causing cancer, birth defects, nerve damage and genetic mutation. Promote health... including your own.
You can support small family farms. Although more and more large scale farms are going organic, most organic farms are still small independent family farms.
You can help save energy. More energy is now used to produce synthetic fertilizers than to till, cultivate, and harvest all the crops in the United States.
Vegan. Vegan foods contain no animal products (meat-free, egg-free and dairy-free). More and more people are choosing a Vegan lifestyle. The reasons are varied and many. They include bettering human health, ending farm worker and factory worker exploitation, ending industrial racism, saving family farms, protecting the environment, ending global warming, ending world hunger, using energy and resources more wisely, conserving land, protecting wildlife, preserving our oceans and waterways, and being kind to animals. Choosing Vegan products helps meet all of these goals in a powerful way.
A Vegan lifestyle expands your circle of compassion to include the meekest among us. It opens your mind and heart to those who rely entirely on your capacity for compassion. The Vegan choice is one of the most far-reaching personal, practical and ethical choices you can make.
"Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on
Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet."
-Albert Einstein
Renewable Energy. Wars are fought for resources. To build a world that is safe and secure and to preserve the planet for future generations, we need to make Nonviolent energy choices -- solar, wind, wave, geothermal, biofuels and other renewable choices. If these choices aren’t readily available to you, offset some of your energy use by conserving energy and buying “green” energy credits through your utility company.
Recycled. We need to remember that when we throw something away, there is no such thing as “away.” Use less, reuse and recycle. And buy used, reused and recycled products whenever possible.
Tree-Free. Consider using recycled lumber products and paper products whenever possible. Forests are under tremendous pressure from logging for wood and paper products. Paper production can be very harmful to human health and the environment. Consume products with less packaging, use recycled products, recycle what you do use and consider tree-free papers like kenaf and hemp.
Car-Free. Take a bus, ride a train or get on the subway. Better yet walk or ride a bike. Use mass transit and your own energy to get around.
Cruelty-Free. We have the compassion, intelligence and technology to move beyond hurting people or animals for the production of food, clothing, cleaning products and personal products. Industries that make a profit by hurting others do so with the consent and support of those who buy their products. Make the kind choice, buy cruelty-free.
Buy Local. Be the watchdog and champion of local businesses. Buying local supports small businesses, creates local jobs, and keeps more money in your community. You have the opportunity to make sure your local businesses treat people, the planet and animals responsibly. They are members of your community unlike the giant retailers who, with little oversight, crush local businesses, take money from your community, and exploit people, the planet and animals for profit.
“Why is it that things considered good for you and the planet are called alternative?”
- Julia Butterfly Hill
Nonviolence, Inc.
PO Box 1161
Boulder, CO 80306
720.252.8449
