Figuring out what I wanna be when I grow up.
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Monday, January 23, 2012

BUY NORTH AMERICAN

DAMN STRAIGHT



This is a public service announcement from your friendly neighbourhood karen.

So, I get  a ton, a FREAKING TON   a lot of FORWARDS from my Dad in email.  Ssh...don't tell my Dad, but every time it has either a little movie attached, or a link to a little movie, or some soul-enriching power-point slide show about how WONDROUS the Earth is...yeah, I probably never click on those.

Aherm...

Anyhoo, I did get one email this morning, which I've read somewhere before, and you've probably read somewhere before, and it is actually WORTH passing on to as many people as you can.  So, instead of forwarding it to a bunch of people who might be just as bad  discerning as I am, I'm pasting it RIGHT HERE, because I think it's really, really, important.

Do me a favour and read it, okay?  I didn't write it myself, but I fully endorse it.  I think we should all support our own continent when it comes to the things we buy--ESPECIALLY our groceries!  It's a Canada-based email, but this works for you too, my fine, charming American friends.

Then we'll get back to business talking about poops, lady tsunamis, PMS and photoshop magic with cropped heads.

BUY LOCAL!!!!!



Please read this very carefully, and read to the very bottom.
Its important for all of us.
 
How is it possible to ship food from China cheaper --
than having it produced in Canada or at least the U.S.?
FOR EXAMPLE THE "OUR FAMILY" BRAND OF THE MANDARIN ORANGES
SAYS RIGHT ON THE CAN FROM CHINA .. SO FOR A FEW MORE CENTS
BUY THE LIBERTY GOLD BRAND OR THE DOLE IS FROM CALIFORNIA.

ALL "HIGH LINER" AND MOST OTHER FROZEN FISH PRODUCTS COME FROM
CHINA OR INDONESIA.  THE PACKAGE MAY SAY "PACIFIC SALMON" ON THE FRONT,
BUT LOOK FOR THE SMALL PRINT.
MOST OF THESE PRODUCTS COME FROM FISH FARMS IN THE ORIENT AND
THERE ARE NO REGULATIONS ON WHAT IS FED TO THESE FISH..
(recently a Montreal Gazette had an article by the Canadian Gov't how Chinese
feed the fish... they suspend the chicken wire crates over the fish ponds,
and the fish feed on chicken shxxt.
Canadian Government recommended and stressed NOT to buy any type of fish imported
from China.  If you search the Internet what the Chinese feed their fish you'll be alarmed,
eg. growth hormones, expired anti-biotics from humans, and never buy any type of fish
or shellfish that comes from these countries...Vietnam, China, Philipines.)
Check this out personally.  I did..
ALSO WATCH FOR PICKLES. A LOT OF THE NO-NAME PICKLES COME FROM INDIA .
BICK'S HAVE RECENTLY CEASED OPERATIONS IN CANADA   -- 
DON'T BUY THEM .


 
Another example was in canned mushrooms. No-Name brand came from Indonesia.
Next to them were
President Choice brand. Produce of Canada!!
The P. C. went into my grocery bag.
 
Also check those little fruit cups we give our children.
They use to be made here in Canada in the Niagara region until about 2 years ago....
They are now packaged in China!!!!
While the Chinese, export inferior and even toxic products and dangerous toys and goods
to be sold in North American markets, the media wrings its hands and criticizes
the Obama Administration (and the Harper Government!) for perceived errors.

Yet 70% of North Americans believe that the trading privileges afforded to the Chinese
should be suspended!!

 
Well, duh.. Why do you need the government to suspend trading privileges? 
 
 SIMPLY DO IT YOURSELF CANADA /US!!
Simply look on the bottom of every product you buy, and if it says
'Made in China' or 'PRC' (and that now includes Hong Kong),
simply choose another product, or none at all.


You will be amazed at how dependent you are on Chinese products,
and you will be equally amazed at what you can do without. 

 

Who needs plastic eggs to celebrate Easter? If you must have eggs,
use real ones and benefit some North American farmer.
Easter is just an example; the point is not waiting for the government to act..
Just go ahead and assume control on your own. 
  Canadian Thermos bottles were made here for many years..
Thermos sold out in the 1990's and now the bottles,
those that keep our food warm or cold are now made in CHINA.
We lost---about 200 jobs! 

 
THINK ABOUT THIS, If 200 million North Americans refuse to buy just $20 each of Chinese goods,
that's a billion dollar trade imbalance resolved in our favour....fast!! 
 
 The downside? Some Canadian/American businesses will feel a temporary pinch from
having foreign stockpiles of inventory.


Just one month of trading losses, will hit the Chinese for 8%, of their
North American exports. Then they will at least have to ask themselves
if the benefits of their arrogance and lawlessness were worth it..

START NOW and don’t stop.

Send this to everybody you know. Let's show them that we are intelligent Canadians/Americans, and NOBODY can take us for granted.

If we can't live without cheap Chinese goods for one month out of our lives,
WE DESERVE WHAT WE GET!
Pass it on, North America!!     I DID!!

28 comments:

  1. i never even think to see where something is made. careless me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I do, but not consistently! Before Christmas I needed some canned mushrooms for this thing I was making, and I had a hell of a time finding mushrooms that DIDN'T say "MADE IN CHINA." I try to avoid the Chinese garlic, and get the only other choice we have, which is, garlic grown in California.

      Delete
  2. I'm a geek--I usually check. I get disgusted with what comes from China and then even more disgusted with the ingredient list. Don't even get me started on how chickens are treated and how our eggs get to the stores. Ick.

    Not that I'm all granola and out hugging trees before I take the kids to school but it amazes me how far an apple travels to get to my table. Amazes me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know Lizbeth! I read labels too. We have this McCain "deep and delicious" chocolate cake here. Don't know if you guys have it. I used to FREAKING love that cake when I was younger. Then I read the ingredients. Gross. It's a cake concocted in a LAB.

      Don't you think we're more aware of labels and such because we wonder all the stuff that affects our kids?

      Delete
  3. very interesting...I love to buy local and would prefer to pay a little more to do so (for anything, not just groceries!) That being said, I love a deal, so that does make it really hard sometimes.

    My mom sends me TONS of forwards and it drives me crazy. The funniest part is she knows I delete them, so if it is something she really thinks I should read, she will mark it high priority. Grrrrr....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. oh yeah...the endless FORWARDS...my dad was just asking today if I'd seen one in particular and I had to feign ignorance...and later I'll find it in the deleted folder. Heh heh.

      Yes, it is hard to resist a really good deal, but when it comes to food, it's a bit easier for me, certainly than clothes. Lousy 15 dollar comfy walmart jeans...

      Delete
  4. Awesome post! Totally forwarding this around my Facebook and email contacts.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. thanks Jessica, that is wonderful! We all should pass it along :)

      Delete
  5. I love the concept of buy local - from the retailers themselves, to the products that are sold, to the components that comprise and transport the product.

    I think we have talked about this before, but I have experimented with 'buying less, but PAYING MORE', as a way of deliberately breaking the cycle of which you speak AND supporting improved quality and service. The email implies that local = better quality, which is not always the case (e.g., some Japan or German stuff), but there is something about being able to see the source of where stuff is made that improves accountability and community. So - good for you in promoting this.

    ReplyDelete
  6. well Matt, it really pisses me off when I see local jobs disappearing and our country supporting CHINA, when we should be supporting OUR OWN. I mean, in this area, we are KNOWN for the wonderful summertime produce/peaches/fruit, and yet, we know longer can the fruit here. It makes NO sense.

    We did talk about it before--specifically in reference to WALMART. I will say this for them: they seem to support "local" more in their groceries than some of the other stores.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Have you seen that hellmans add? I send you a link on FB.

    I know, a while back I was scrunitzing labels and why in the world do we have chinese fruit when our own Okanogan produce is right here?
    oh and I saw this documentary on the growing conditions of chineses produce....................CANCER.


    They water their vegetation from the leftover water factories are spewing into the rivers. I will have to research what that documentary was because it prompted me not to by chinese.........oh and that garlic at the grocery store?????Run away from it. by local garlic.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. uh yeah, right? It's just like that forward says: they ship us all those toxic toys that our toddlers bite and suck on. They have no regulations over there, or overt concern for humanity.

      Hey, I do buy the North American garlic now and have been for quite some time! Recently when The Man went for groceries he bought the Chinese garlic, and I said "WE DON'T BUY THAT ANYMORE."

      Delete
  8. oh , and I was watching this show...it was a lab of taste chemicals. Like flavouring..............hundreds and thousands of flavours....the ironic thing was that they went to an orange orchard to "find" the right orange scent and flavour and then went back to the lab to chemically replicate it.

    the lady had hundreds of "raspberry" flavourings in little viles. I was so apalled. I mean to read it on a label is one thing. To see a colourless chemical vile of flavour they dump into EVERYTHING nearly sent me backwards off my rocker.

    It made it real. and the company is some secret company....jeez I wish I wrote it down. to top it off my son posted a picture of what looked like pink, soft serve ice-cream..on FB. it was chicken. ground up chicken. everything but the cluck. pureed then soaked in ammonia, and then formed into nuggets and chicken flavour added............

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. oh yeah, super gross. It's a good AND bad thing we turn a blind eye to how our food is made. Blech

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    2. Hi karensomethingorother and miabellavintabe - That pink soft-serve "ice cream" meat byproduct is NOT Chinese, but American. You can read about that on Huffington Post here http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/04/mechanically-separated-meat-chicken-mcnugget-photo_n_749893.html

      And you can see Jamie Oliver explaining one version of that process here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wshlnRWnf30

      Delete
    3. PS I agree with your ideas about avoiding Chinese food products, though. Not even the Chinese feel safe eating Chinese foods in their own country; how sad is that?

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    4. Hi TD - thanks, that is a good point. Funny you should mention about the mcnuggests: there's a new commercial on tv here of some mcdonalds businessman, driving with pride past the verdant produce fields that supply Mcdonalds. So I said to my husband; yeah, now they should have another commercial where they take a tour through the mcnugget rendering plant! Ha ha.

      I saw that Jamie Oliver episode with the chicken nugget slurry. Gross.

      And you're right--it is sad about the state of food/goods in China...so why do we support that?????

      Delete
  9. I am going to find those things and link to FB.

    ReplyDelete
  10. ok so i sent you the links on facebook...but I couldnt share them because you are not a friend? anyhow, I copied and pasted and they look like jibberish............wait just wait till yo see the pink icecream!!!!!!!!!!NOT.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. that's funny--I have my settings on that page that anyone can post stuff on the wall--I think I do anyway, I'll have to double check. I think you "liked" the page anyway, right, so that should make it work???

      Delete
  11. iT MAKES SAD SAD SAD! Remember all those peach trees that used to grow on the corner of St. Paul Ave adn Mountain Rd? All gone now...all cut down...why? becaue they closed the cannery...( yes those little fruit cups you spoke of!!) Or driving down Concession 1 in NOTL...empty fields now...al those farmers who lived off that money...( my cousins family owned one of those peach tree farms) Drives me crazy! We have such wonderful resources here....

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  12. I think I know who anonymous is. Yes, it is STUPID. STUPID, STUPID, STUPID. Bye bye local jobs, hello maximum greed and profit.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Its Steph, I am sure you know! :)
    It doesnt let leave my name anymore..it keeps letting it doesnt know who I am???

    ReplyDelete
  14. I figured it was you, Steph :) How dare it not recognise you!! That's totally retarded. I mean, you're all on the friends list and everything. I wonder if anyone else has had that problem...

    Do you use Internet Explorer, or Google chrome, because sometimes I.E. can be totally retarded.

    ReplyDelete
  15. You know, this just makes me so sad, the whole food issue. I, too, for the last year have had to search, and search hard, just to find produce in grocery stores that comes from Canada. I remember when there were orchards all over southern Ontario. What in the hell are we doing? We can grow it all right in our own country. We MUST vote with our dollar.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. THANK YOU Leanne. Exactly. If we can't find it, we should all start contacting our grocery store managers and telling them what we want!

      Delete
  16. excellent! Another intelligent consumer on board!

    ReplyDelete

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