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Sweatshops

Sweatshop 2 night time by Sailing ( Ronn ) One of the most fascinating times I have as a youth leader is when it comes to listening and helping the students with their papers.  More and more teachers are giving vague topics which means that this is one of the great times when you get to really find out what the teens are interested in, since they are choosing topics that interest them.

Last year one of the teens was telling me about the horrible condition of sweatshops, especially in China.  Truly, the reason China has become such a huge economic super power is because it is a country which treats it's people (especially workers) so poorly.  Christy figured this out in her paper.  while it wasn't news to me, sweatshops are awful, though I had thought it was getting better.

BusinessWeek put together a comparison of How China's labor conditions stack up against those of other low-cost nations which is fascinating.  While fascinating, it further reminds me that I need to be watchful of what I'm buying, and where I'm buying it from.  Something that seemed almost impossible until today.

Church Marketing Sucks put together Just Ideas: Buying Sweatshop-Free which lists two sites that list ways to buy sweatshop free at New American Dream and SweatFree Communities.  There is also some interesting information in Globalization Along Our Border & In Our Backyard.

I'm not sure just how easy this is going to be to follow, but man I'm going to try.  Maybe it will cut back on my spending too (wife bonus).

Now that I'm off my high horse though, all the links above give a few stores to shop from, but all for far more than I'm really willing to pay for clothes.  Any dress clothes, about all I shop for, are insanely expensive (a button down shirt for at least $65).  The closest I came was All American Clothing, but they have no button down shirts or slacks.  Anyone else have ideas on where to buy somewhat less

Peace,
+Tom

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