Who's the Most Progressive of Them All?
As I may have mentioned, a new staff member has just joined our team. New Guy (NG) is young, smart, and progressive. In our office, we've developed a daily coffee break ritual, in which one of us goes out to Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks, to satisfy the individual cravings of all. On his first day, NG demurred when I offered to pick up some joe for him. "There’s no independently owned coffee shop around here, is there?” he asked/lamented. I myself have complained about this, but I’ve found that the Dunkin' Donuts literally steps away from our office meets my needs for caffeine and ghetto coffee so effectively that it trumps my desire to support small locally owned businesses. But I digress. NG proclaimed that Dunkin' Donuts is part of the fast food industry, and therefore he abstains.
My hackles were raised. Because excuse me? Who's the chick who lugs home all our recyclables because the city doesn't pick up commercial recycling? Who's the one who buys all post-consumer waste office paper and Energy Start light bulbs? Who's the chick who ditches work on election day to poll-watch, who gives a decent amount of money to charity every year, who buys cage-free eggs and hormone-free chicken, who shuns fast food and big box stores (except for Dunkin' Donuts and Target, because nobody's perfect?). Um, that would be me.
I told NG that I would fully reimburse him if he brought in fair trade coffee to the office and brewed it. Hell, I'd even spring for re-usable mugs. But when NG whipped out the organic ketchup come lunchtime, I knew I’d lost my status as Office Sustainability Queen. I spent some time on the web trying to exonerate Dunkin' Donuts (and, surprisingly, have found almost nothing about them or their parent company online). Then I headed across the street for my fix.
Yesterday night, Mr. Entrepreneur came over for dinner and date #6. (I expected this might be The Night We Make Out, but little physical contact occurred, which might be for the best—upDATE forthcoming—this is here is a serious post.) I related the NG incident, and the shame I now experience during Coffee Break. Mr. Entrepreneur was mystified. “What’s wrong with fast food?” he asked, genuinely perplexed. “If you’re in a hurry and you need to eat, it’s super convenient. OK, it’s greasy and salty, but that doesn’t mean the whole industry deserves to be boycotted.” In fact, Mr. Entrepreneur has never boycotted any business, and was not even aware of the evils of Wal-Mart.
I started to talk about the company’s egregious breaches of fair labor practices, its devastating effects on locally-owned businesses, its censorship of music, and the way it limits consumer tastes and choices. But then I admitted that I love, love, love Target, despite the fact that its company donates zillions of dollars to Republican leaders and its pharmacists can purportedly refuse to fill prescriptions for the Morning After Pill if doing so offends their values.
However, upon poking around for information about this, I could find no reputable coverage of the Target vs. Reproductive Freedom debacle. AND I found an article about how Target gives millions of dollars to education-related causes, including Planned Parenthood. When I looked up indices of socially responsible companies, hoping for some objective information, I found various sites, such as Responsible Shopper, the Calvert Social Responsible Investment Index , and Social Funds. But the ratings were inconsistent, and I couldn’t find citations of what the reports are based on.
So. If any of you have some thoughts on this, or ideas on how to make rational choices about what to boycott, based on verifiable facts, please let me know. Until then, I’ll be guiltily sipping my DD coffee, and nudging NG to hook us up.
Posted by Dori at 10:29 AM
7 Comments
You're awesome.
I so relate to your NG woes, as I live with a man who constantly out-activists me.
Somewhere in my home files, I have a reputable list of who's good and who's bad, but I believe it comes down to the fact that the only way to consume right is to stop consuming (which really puts a crimp in the wardrobe).
I struggle with this working in the Financial District, where I'd happily support an indie cafe if I could even find one. After seven years here I finally caved and began going to Starbucks - it's in our building, they give me ten cents off if I bring my own mug (no more double paper cups!) and, what can I say, at least they are giving money to literacy. Sigh.
Right wingers do give money to Target, but as long as Target still gives money to so-called left-wing causes (i.e. Planned Parenthood) that seems OK to me. Plus Target is not usually credited with raping the land or small towns the way Wal-Mart is.
I hear your guilt/pain though. When I lived in JP in a house full of activists I had to smuggle my occasional Gap bags into the house, feeling guilty all the while. But I am still wearing that stuff!
Fucking Blogger. This is the 3rd time I've tried to leave this comment:
I seem to remember Maven posting something about the whole Target vs. My Uterus debacle. You could try looking in her archives or emailing her to see if she remembers the links to the articles she referenced.
As for NG -- remember that girl I worked with at the shelter of doom, the one who dug through my trash a couple of times a week looking for recyclables? Yeah. There's one in every office, I think.
Dori, here's some stuff:
Here's a link to an article about Plan B, which was recently approved for over-the-counter sales, FINALLY. This turn of events justified my backsliding into Target shopping--though I did manage to boycott for two months or more.
Here's the link to my better-late-than-never post about Target's policy w/r/t Plan B. The post has links to some stuff about Target's policy at saveroe.com. I believe the Planned Parenthood links are outdated now.
And dude. Living conscientiously is hard. What Marigoldie says is true: pretty much the only thing you can do is go off the grid. If you want to actually live in the world, you have to make the best choices you can and then just make peace with your choices. And stay educated. Which you're obviously doing. (And eschew the company of holier-than-thou hippies: always a good policy.)
Dori-
I could use a pollwatcher Tuesday morning.... :)
My over-the-top progressive co-workers were boycotting DD for a while after a story in the globe that they were turning in undocumented employees and job applicants. Lasted a good two weeks.
Man, this hit home, because I am like you, wanting to do the right thing, buy all organic, only shop the little guys. But it's nearly impossible these days.
When I first moved to Seattle, I discovered the wonder that was Chipotle. Here they serve burritos bigger than your head. And they're good. Addictingly good. I asked a co-worker if she wanted to go with me to Chipotle, and she said no, because they are owned by McDonalds. When I heard that, it felt as if someone had just told me that my mom was murdered.
See, ever since seeing Super Size Me and reading Fast Food Nation, I've "boycotted" McDonalds and any and all other "fast food joints." Add the wonderful Chipotle to the list, I guess. Damn.
But then I heard that McDonalds sold most of their Chipotle shares, and a quick internet search confirmed that rumor. Suddenly I felt as if Chipotle was again "safe" to eat. But again, my co-worker was not convinced, claiming that their food is probably still tainted with McDonalds. And that just seemed ridiculous to me. So off to Chipotle I went where I happily noshed on a giant burrito. Sans the guilt.
Again, you can drive yourself crazy trying to be the perfect consumer, but in the end, I truly feel you should do what makes you feel good., everything in moderation.
Consequently, I shop at Target. And I'll just ignore what you said about Republicans. My Target wouldn't be that way, I just know it.
In this area, Dunkin Donuts is actually regarded as a local business. They were started in Quincy, and their headquarters are in Randolph.
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