Comments on Latter-day Sustainability: Commentary: I really should stop buying cheap toy...

Hey, I'm a permablogger at T&S and just found your...

2009-10-20T20:05:03.792-06:00

Hey, I'm a permablogger at T&S and just found your site through the photo essay. Would you shoot me an email at smitham at mormonmomma dot com?

Bob, thanks for stopping by and commenting. I too...

2009-09-14T09:11:42.569-06:00

Bob, thanks for stopping by and commenting. I too have been pleasantly surprised to find that many Mormons share a concern for the environment. I have also been surprised by the diversity of ways that their concerns are expressed and acted on. This project has be insightful and rewarding.

As to your question on population, I wrote one post on the subject. Click on the link on the side bar to "algebra." I haven't written more about the topic because I haven't formed any conclusions and because I don't have any new thoughts that treat the topic in constructive manner. So much of the banter on population only serves to entrench people (on all sides) further into their opinions. One of these days I hope to give this more thought.

Hello. I like your blog. As an ex-Mormon, it is ni...

2009-09-10T11:04:40.260-06:00

Hello. I like your blog. As an ex-Mormon, it is nice to see that a few LDS folks actually care about the environment.

I did a site search for the word "overpopulation" in your blog, and came up with nothing. Since this is a key environmental issue, I was hoping you could write a post about it. The limited amount of research I have done online doesn't make the church leadership sound very progressive, to say the least. I would be interested in hearing your insight.

I so agree with Reviresco. As disciples of Christ...

2009-07-27T12:57:56.927-06:00

I so agree with Reviresco. As disciples of Christ, do we not have a responsibility to consider the impact of our purchases upon our brothers and sisters worldwide? If not, how are we any better than the slaveholders of the past?

These are great comments. As someone who has don...

2009-07-26T18:48:34.169-06:00

These are great comments. As someone who has done business with some of the large discount chains here in the U.W. (I won't mention any names here), I have experienced first-hand the dehumanizing brutality of the process these companies go through to acquire the lowest costs on these goods. They conveniently turn a blind eye to the abuses that are delivered upon people who deliver these low cost items. It is very much a “don’t ask, don’t tell” world that extracts a huge human cost, especially in developing countries.

Our free market economy allows this to happen. These are freedoms that come to us as part of our blessings of agency but as followers of Christ, we need to accept them with responsibility. This is so easy to forget as we participate in the mass consumerism that is so much a part of American culture. As participants in the free market, we need to be educated about these things and consider the human cost, the environmental cost, as well as the monetary cost of the goods we purchase.

Thank you for the recommendation on a great read!

Ditto to A girl called dallan! I often try to hold...

2009-07-24T17:59:22.672-06:00

Ditto to A girl called dallan! I often try to hold out for high quality items.

dallan, Thanks for sharing. "..cheap stuff is ...

2009-07-19T20:28:48.573-06:00

dallan,

Thanks for sharing.

"..cheap stuff is too expensive.." -well said.

I agree that cheap stuff is too expensive in many ...

2009-07-19T13:30:46.426-06:00

I agree that cheap stuff is too expensive in many ways. I was raised to value cheapness as the top priority in shopping. I have since learned to put quality, sustainability, working conditions and so on first, while still keeping things affordable by simplifying my demands.

The nice thing is, if you wait, you can have good quality in just about everything. Because quality makes things tend to last, most useful items can be found second-hand and older, then be passed on again when you are done with them.

Besides all of that, I think that quality toys just plain feed the soul. Better one well-built toy car than a fleet of cheap ones, that's my philosophy.

Thanks for the post.