The Conscious Shopper: A Little More Action

My cousin's wife posted the following comment on my last post:

It's good to know that there are other people out there coming to the same realization as we are and wanting to do something about it.

Amen to that.

Until I discovered all the eco-bloggers out there, I always felt like I was alone in my opinions. It was a pretty great feeling to find other people who think like me.

Now that I've been blogging for a couple of months, sometimes I become delusional that everyone is making or has made the same changes I am. I'm surrounded on the Internet by so many awesome people doing so much good in the world. My inbox is constantly overflowing with newsletters and email from Grist, New American Dream, Co-op America, and the Sierra Club. I follow several blogs on a daily basis, and spend more time than I should thinking about the ideas I've read and the ideas I have for my own blog.

And then I'm forced to make that occasional foray into the real world...Like when I had to go to the mall a month ago...Woah, that was a wake up call that not everyone is avoiding consumerism.

So back to my cousin-in-law's comment.

I bet there are more people than we realize out there who have the same beliefs as us. I bet there are plenty of people who would agree that in this time of economic turmoil, it's time for some serious changes. So why do we sometimes feel so alone?

Maybe it's just that we're not talking loudly enough.

If you have an opinion, speak up. Tell people about it. And not just on your blog. Make a spectacle of living green. Get active in making the change happen. And as we transition to a new presidential administration, make sure your government officials know what you think.

If you're like me and have never written a letter to anyone in government before, here's some helpful information:

I know what I want to see from our next Administration. I want a President who reinstills confidence in America. I want a President who's more concerned about doing what's right for the American people than in whether or not he's going to get a second term. I want a President who cares more about what the average American thinks than about what the mega-wealthy with the funds to support his campaign think. I want a President who does not believe that the American dream is based on consumerism or that the way to survive a national crisis is to encourage people to spend more money. I want a President who sees global warming as a real threat and who builds up the United States as a leader in environmentalism. I want to see some huge changes in our agricultural system.

I know what I want...What do you want?