This week’s blog headline is brought to you by the lovely and wonderful New York Times. Obviously I picked it because it’s attention-grabbing, but also I think it’s a perfect way to bring up something I’ve wanted to talk about for a while.
The headline (as well as the actual story) is scary, horrifying, gross, sad and so many other of the world’s worst feelings, but here’s a question for you: What if the dead pigs were just a metaphor? What if your water was so polluted, your air so poisoned, that there might as well be thousands of dead, rotting and possibly diseased animals in your drinking water, because honestly, what would be the difference?
China has been facing incredible and horrendous pollution issues for the last couple years, Reuters even claiming that the air pollution levels are the worst ever recorded. (By “worst,” think 35-to-40 times the level known to cause asthma and other breathing issues.) Rivers are literally running red, a color previously reserved for the end-of-the-world only, and the smoke is so thick in some cities it’s like a permanent fog that is also probably going to kill you. Reported cases of lung cancer are up 56 percent, the smog is allegedly visible from space, and even the state-controlled media is criticizing the government over the situation. If you want to see some of this lovely imagery for yourself, go ahead and do a Google image search for “China Pollution.” (Or you can click this link to the one I’ve done for you already.)
So what does this have to do with you, or even promotional products in general? Well, while it’s true that China itself is ultimately responsible for the state of its country, cities and people, I think it’s fair to say that our reliance on it for manufacturing plays a part as well.
In 2012, China exported roughly $426 billion-worth of goods into the USA. Has our rush for a greater volume of products, delivered faster and at a cheaper price, helped pushed China’s manufacturing well past the point of safety? After all, it’s a manufacturing/importing relationship based on having the lowest costs, fastest workers and highest outputs, so something is going to give eventually. Turns out, that something is the environment! And also human life! Hooray!
Obviously, America’s manufacturing dependence on China is a consumer/retail/government/general public issue first, and a promotional one second. (Or third or 40th or wherever promotional products fall on the volume-scale of imports from China.) But, sort of on the flip side of that idea, as promotional products distributors you do purchase a larger amount of physical products compared to the average American citizen, so perhaps you can exercise greater control on the scale of U.S. imports.
I’m not necessarily advocating for American manufacturing (though obviously, I’m a fan), but if you can, at least buy from manufacturers you can trust. I know that some overseas factories allow for tours, and others are monitored extremely closely by their supplier partners. My hope is that it’s easy enough to keep tabs on the source of your products, provided you have a handful of trusted partners. Whether this is actually an easy thing to do, or even possible, I don’t know, but I would say it’s worth a try, considering “China cancer village” is something you can Google and actually get results for.
I hope I’m not overstepping myself and moralizing too much for a Monday afternoon. Pollution and labor conditions are just something I’m passionate about, and I thought I’d bring them up while I had a good topical opening. (Thanks thousands of dead pigs!) Since we don’t always see the source of what we buy, both as consumers and promotional product professionals, it can be easy to forget that, to a degree, people live or die based on what we buy. Paying attention to the environmental practices of your sourcing partners can not only be a good business decision (“Wait, how much lead did you say goes into your dyes? And how much of that stays in your T-shirts?”) but also one that improves the would and the lives of those overseas.
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MONDAY MIKE FACT: This was a bit too heavy of a topic for me! To balance things out, here is the hilarious opening clip to my new favorite show, Portlandia. Take that, hipsters!
