Shades of Grey

Sustainability and the economy bump against each other at so many different levels. One of the stories that really reached me was a family that lived on the edge of the rainforest in Brazil. They were very poor and to make a living the man was contracted to provide charcoal for the steel foundries in the western world. His job was to cut down trees and bake them in large dome shaped ovens to reduce them to charcoal for which he was paid. That is how he and his family survived. To him there was not an ethical question or a concern about global warming. It was simply what he could do and get paid. One day the government sent their Environmental Police into the area to stop illegal logging. They took the chain saw and destroyed the kilns.

Were the Environmental Police correct in what they did. Yes, in one way. We need to protect the rainforest and our global climate and to do that destructive acts need to stop. But they also destroyed a family’s way to survive.

This is just one story. It could have been about the children “employed” in the sweat shops that make your household goods or your clothing. Do they need the jobs to survive. You bet they do! Are they being exploited so we can have something at a sale price? Yes.

The reason I am telling you this is to emphasize that things are not always black and white but are, in reality, many shades of grey. If that subsistence “farmer” was doing that out of greed and he really had enough money to live and put his children through college, that would be one thing. A lot of “crimes” against the environment happen by poverty being exploited.

What can we do? Be aware that there may be other parts to a story. If you wish, give to organizations like ”Heifer International” which give people the means to make a living to pull themselves out of poverty. Also please, and this will be a recurring theme, think about what you buy. Where did it come from? Who made it? I urge you to ask questions and to think. Buy whatever you decide but purchase it with awareness.