Vote with your dollar (Day Two)

Navigating the grocery store can be tricky.

I don't want to just eat organically.

I want to support companies who are against GMOs and support labeling. I want to support small business agriculture, instead of corporate businesses that have bought out the smaller ones. I want to support companies that believe what I do; that the system is broken and needs a makeover.

But how does one do that? A lot of "natural and organic" products are actually owned by larger corporations who've seen organic products as a market niche to invest in, and many of those companies are against labeling GMOs and have fought it. How does one know which companies those are and what smaller companies they own?

Enter Buycott.

It's a wonderful app that let's you scan the barcode of any product (say Almond Milk) and tells you what the parent company is that owns that brand, and if there are any conflicts with the campaigns you believe in.

So helpful!

You will love it! What you won't love is discovering how many products you thought were safe, aren't, either because of what's in the food, or their food policies. And you'll realize that shopping at Walmart is almost impossible because every brand they carry in the US contribute to our food system breakdown in huge ways. I had to go the other day, and I only came out with six things that I normally eat that don't conflict with any of my food policy beliefs.

It's eye opening, but if we don't vote with our dollar, companies will continue to abuse our food system. It worked in Europe, and it can work here. The EU banned many of the food additives and GMOs we accept, thus Kellogs and Kraft have entirely separate lines of food (with no additives and GMOs) that they export to Europe because of the demand for safe food products.

We can create that same demand by voting with each dollar we spend. If companies here see the demand, they'll change their ingredients and food policies. They know who to do so and have already done it oversees.We just cannot sit complacent, believing we can't change anything. We can. If every person just bought one organic, non GMO product in place of what they'd usually buy, profit margins for big companies like Kelloggs would take a hit.

So do your family and your country a favor. Begin to vote with your money and find tools to help you do so. Buycott is just one of thousands available (albeit the easiest to cart around!)

You can make a difference and so can I.