Friday, 11 May 2001
SEATTLE, Wash.
Good morning on the last day of my “shared” week. Though I do usually work some on the weekend as well. A new organization takes more time than what the five days of the workweek allow — it tends to take all that you have to give. And, as this is what I care about, what I’m passionate about — even if I try to have a Sunday with no Transparency Center — my mind tends to wander back as I hike in the mountains or garden at my cabin. Fridays and weekends actually tend to be my favorite days of the week to work because these three days and four nights (Thursday through Sunday), my husband and I live at our log cabin by Mt. Baker, Wash., just half an hour south of the Canadian border and 30 minutes east of being able to set down kayaks in Puget Sound and explore the San Juan Islands.
I love to wake up early on Fridays, as I have today, and head out to explore what new season changes have brought, before heading back in to the laptop. Every week brings significant new changes. This week: blooms on the apple, pear, peach, plum, cherry, and hazelnut trees; the wisteria and bulbs all are now big bright flowers; the ferns are shooting up; and the peonies and hosta have pushed their way up from underground. Fridays are when I can do my best thinking — no meetings and long, quiet hours to focus. It’s good for my perspective to be here — to be in nature when thinking about “organic” organizations that are meant to work harmoniously for people and planet.
On my final day with you, let me tell you what we do today at the Transparency Center and how anyone interested in working together toward our vision can participate. We are a nonprofit organization that is working to maximize quality of life benefits for individuals worldwide. Our shared vision: “A world where the social and environmental impacts of products can be compared alongside price and performance, reversing the ‘race to the bottom’ symptomatic of global trade, and enabling all people to participate in catalyzing a more sustainable economy.”
If you’re an individual that would like to do your part, start asking more questions of the retail establishments that you frequent. Ask where your products come from. Think about the ways you spend your money. Choose local and choose quality as often as you can. Add recognize to the “reduce, reuse, recycle” mantra. Push for transparency — it is your right. Reward businesses that do things better. Pay attention to policy issues and use your time to educate others. “We the people” are the ones that should be making the rules both about how we trade and about who should bear the brunt of damages to people and planet that result from manufacturing, production, and trade. (For more on this, check out the International Right to Know Campaign.) And if you want to be part of a bigger group of people working to make things the way they should be, check out the Chaordic Commons and consider joining. If you’re an individual that is seriously thinking and working on these issues as well, let’s start an email dialog. I’m just a person that is trying to do something about these issues; I certainly don’t profess to be an expert on anything, but if you’d like to share ideas, teach me something, or even to ask me questions, I’m here.
If you represent an organization that is working to get better, more sustainably created products out into the marketplace and need a partnership with the public so that citizen consumers can use their dollars to reward your efforts versus those that aren’t so sustainable, the Transparency Center can work with you. We will help you to bring together all the relevant and affected stakeholders in your particular production chain, facilitate collaborative solutions, and then help you with the necessary technology platform so that the dialog can continue. We can also help you to transpar
ently share these collaborative solutions and the joint progress of all stakeholders with the public in a way that differentiates your initiatives at point of sale — either through helping you build interactive multimedia digital stories, or through an interactive search engine tool. An informed citizenry is necessary for more responsible decision-making. You need to openly share with people in a way that is quickly comprehensible and convenient.
As I wrote on Sunday, globalization is the system of our time — people have always traded and communicated to the maximum of our abilities; new technologies allow global trade and communication. It’s the rules of the system that we should be debating and correcting. It is true that globalization managed one way means widening gaps between the North and the South, cultural erosion, and further exploitation of people and the environment in less developed countries.
Managed another way, it could mean a huge leap forward. People have historically used their control of information to exploit those who have less information. We have had slavery, racism, and exploitation of women throughout history. One hundred years ago, there was slavery in this country; a 40-hour workweek and a minimum wage were considered ridiculous because of their negative potential impact on the economy and competition; and women couldn’t vote. Even in my mother’s early years, newspapers divided their “help wanted” sections between men- and women-focused jobs! We are making progress.
And now, the potential win-win effects of globalization between individuals are many. New technologies can be used to widely connect people to the information they need to make better decisions. Increased information sharing can be an opportunity leveler, increased communication can mean more peaceful relations, and increased transparency can force those that perpetrate evil — be it a government, an individual, or a company — to be found out and ousted, and can highlight those that do good for reward. I believe the next decade represents a time of great promise — if we collectively continue to fight the good fight, as those before us have done for progress. There is reason to have great hope.
