Welcome to our experiment

During a very long drive down from Canada to our new home in Cincinnati, my husband and I talked a lot about how the consumer choices we are making are affecting our family's health, our environment, and our community. Fueled in part by the reports this summer of the pollutants and dangerous chemicals in children's toys coming from China, and also by our younger son's high lead level which we suspect may have come from contaminated toys, we felt a desire to make some kind of personal, family statement.

We decided that what the heck... we were going to try and have a China-free year... from September to September. To at very least, start to be more aware about where the products we buy come from, and at best, seek out carefully made domestic products, and also add to our community by buying locally.

Knowing that this goal would seem crazy and totally impossible to most of our family and friends, we've instead invited them (and you!) to join us in a China-free Christmas. You can read about THAT particular journey (and we invite your comments and suggestions) HERE.

Consumers in the US and Canada are so used to paying cheap prices for goods. "Dollar" stores abound. We clamour for $8 tee-shirts and cheap electronics. But what is the real cost of this cost savings? How many tankers must chug their polluting selves across the ocean to divest their plastic loads onto this continent, to satisfy our need for cheap? What would happen if we bought locally? If we bought things that were not mass-produced? Would we buy less? Would the things we buy last longer, if well-made? Would we just go crazy and have China-free burnout within weeks and go back to our usual ways?


Join us and find out. We challenge you to set a "China-free" goal for yourself and see what changes you can make in your life, however small. This isn't a contest, or about who is more committed, or whatever.... this is about becoming conscious. Becoming aware. And for maybe a little while, questioning the way our economy is driven, and by whom.