Sometimes I forget that my choices to live organically, resist plastics and chemicals and buy locally is not mainstream.

I went to the local organic grocery store today and shopped with such a peaceful feeling. The products were displayed with care and consideration, they list where they came from locally and even have signs posted occasionally telling me why a certain food is good for me. I discovered all kinds of new products and even thought creatively about what dishes I could make with certain items.

Then, I had to go to the mainstream grocery store. What a difference. It was chaos, there were loud obnoxious signs everywhere. The people who work there are nice but not informed about the products in the store, or how they affect me, the planet, or my family. All I could think about while I was there was how fast could I get out of the store!

This is mainstream, this is actually our locally owned grocery store chain. Has “mainstream” America gotten so used to the chaos, the shouting, the interruptions and the chemicals and plastics that they don’t even notice?

I would like to run an experiment. I would like to take a shopper from the mainstream grocery store and send them to a Whole Foods or a local organic grocery store for a month. I know they would feel better but I wonder if, upon the return to the mainstream store, they would hear the noise, and notice the sreaming signs? Would they want it to stop as much as I do?

As the holiday season approaches I am thinking more and more about ways to avoid the chaos, to make a difference with my dollars, to tell mainstream America that I would like my dignity, my health and my planet back by not purchasing from them. Even if it means I buy everyone less.

How are you shopping for the holidays this year? Online or in big box stores? Are you choosing companies that have philosophies similar to your own? Let me know.

-Sheri

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

Tags: black friday shopping, cyber monday shopping, grocery store, holiday shopping, mainstream, organic