01. Wake up
Wake up! Yes, you! You nodded off. And you're not alone.
We all behave as if we're asleep a lot of the time. We go through the motions - get up, go to class or work, shop, pay the bills, try to have a little fun here and there. We're on autopilot.
If you want to stop being a marketing victim, if you want to recover your Self (and not the image the megacorps are busily projecting onto your dozing mind) - you're going to need to wake up.
We rarely get a chance to think about what's really going on. There's plenty in the papers and on TV, but how often do we actually see a devastated rain rainforest or drink from a contaminated well? We know the folks (© George W. Bush) are suffering out there in Africa or wherever, but what are we supposed to do about it?
What's going on 'over there' is a lot closer to home than most of us think. Take that chocolate bar you ate yesterday. Chances are a child picked the coco. A child who'd like to be able to tell you that he'd rather be in school, that he's never tasted chocolate, that the price you paid for the bar is enough to keep him in school for a week, but that he only gets paid less than three per cent.
Of course, it's a lot easier to return to our dream world, where chocolate comes from supermarkets and car exhausts disappear as they rise. It's comfortable.
But the good news is you're here, reading this, and that means you're already awake. The important thing now is not to doze off again.
Stay alert. Look around. Next time you go shopping, ignore the seductive packaging and sales blurb for a minute. Remember: hundreds, maybe thousands, of very smart people have worked for a very long time to convince you that the brands you're buying are going to make you a better person - better looking, more charming, wittier, sexier...
Think about where the products come from and how they got here. As you commute, look at all the other commuters and think about the energy it takes to get us where we're going. As you put out your rubbish at night, give some thought to where it goes.
Finding out what impact we have on the world is the first step to adopting a more ethical lifestyle.
Proceed to step two.
We rarely get a chance to think about what's really going on. There's plenty in the papers and on TV, but how often do we actually see a devastated rain rainforest or drink from a contaminated well? We know the folks (© George W. Bush) are suffering out there in Africa or wherever, but what are we supposed to do about it?
What's going on 'over there' is a lot closer to home than most of us think. Take that chocolate bar you ate yesterday. Chances are a child picked the coco. A child who'd like to be able to tell you that he'd rather be in school, that he's never tasted chocolate, that the price you paid for the bar is enough to keep him in school for a week, but that he only gets paid less than three per cent.
Of course, it's a lot easier to return to our dream world, where chocolate comes from supermarkets and car exhausts disappear as they rise. It's comfortable.
But the good news is you're here, reading this, and that means you're already awake. The important thing now is not to doze off again.
Stay alert. Look around. Next time you go shopping, ignore the seductive packaging and sales blurb for a minute. Remember: hundreds, maybe thousands, of very smart people have worked for a very long time to convince you that the brands you're buying are going to make you a better person - better looking, more charming, wittier, sexier...
Think about where the products come from and how they got here. As you commute, look at all the other commuters and think about the energy it takes to get us where we're going. As you put out your rubbish at night, give some thought to where it goes.
Finding out what impact we have on the world is the first step to adopting a more ethical lifestyle.
Proceed to step two.
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