Nerve 10 - The Buck Stops Here

The Buck Stops Here

We live within a capitalist society where we, as consumers, generate much of the profit that companies are dependent upon, and this power often goes unnoticed. In the action of buying a pair of jeans from 'Gap' on Lord Street for instance, we are not only defining our own sense of style, but also someone else's standard of living: both of the person paid to sell us those jeans, and the person making that item, as far away as Indonesia.

It is increasingly difficult to make the right choices about where to spend our money, when the impact of the production of a product, on communities and the environment, is becoming ever more dissociated from the consumer's reality of that product.

I, like many others, feel a responsibility to try to 'consume ethically', but I'm feeling increasingly disillusioned. Yes, the consumer does have a responsibility to consider the impact of their spending habits, but at the same time, it is nigh impossible to know the real impact of our consumption.

At the same time, many businesses are beginning to recognise both the rise of the ethical consumer, and that current working practices may well have a long-term disastrous effect on the profitability of their business.

It is time that we took a stand as consumers in Merseyside, to realise our power and act upon it. It is through a corporate pressure group in Liverpool that the consumer can once again have an impact on the link between the production and consumption of a product. We can use the power of the consumer to focus the public eye onto an ethical way of making profit, which local communities can capitalise upon. The more people we represent, the more effective we will be and I urge you to become a part of it.

If you are interested in joining the Merseyside Corporate Responsibility Campaign, contact details are as follows: Rupert Dunn: hillhopper@cliffhanger.com Tel: 0151 727 6013.

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