Activism begins at the dinner table

Whether it is protests on Bascom Hill, marches down State Street or rallies on the Capitol Square, Madison has long been known for its activism. One of the most powerful statements many Madisonians make, however, is silent. Lydia Zepeda, a UW-Madison professor of consumer science, signs her e-mails with a twist on the well-known idiom: We are what we eat. ""The one vote that always count[s is] how you spend your money,"" Zepeda said. ""Seventy percent of U.S. GDP consists of personal expenditures. That means that what you and I buy directly determines what is produced and how it is produced. We are the U.S. economy."" Every purchase consumers make influences business, Zepeda said—they only sell what consumers buy. People who choose the foods they buy, and where they buy them from, ""can advocate for personal responsibility through their purchases ... Your purchasing decisions reflect your values,"" she said. For many Madisonians, three values count when it comes to food: buying fair trade, organic and local. While those who buy fair trade often pay more per cup than at other coffee shops, patrons support the cause with each purchase. Fair trade coffee guarantees minimum prices to the producers, eliminates brokers and encourages shade growing. Since minimum prices provide smaller growers with the promise of a set dollar-amount, the risk of bankruptcy is reduced. ""[Shade growing] means that you don't have to go in and do large clear-cutting of forests [for large plantations]. Clear-cutting destroys the habitat for songbirds and for other types of flora and fauna,"" said Lori Henn, owner of the Fair Trade Coffee House, 418 State St. In addition, growers often form co-ops that reinvest in communities. ""It's not just going to an individual grower who is pocketing the income,"" Henn said. ""It's co-ops that look to the communities to see what needs support."" ""I don't mean to paint it as if it's the panacea for everything, but capitalism, by its nature, is pretty fiercely competitive and brutal, and it doesn't care about the losers,"" Henn said. ""I just don't think that that's a sustainable system. [Fair trade] breaks down some of the brutality that capitalism imposes."" Many who support the fair trade cause—including Fair Trade itself, which is, according to Henn, 95-to 98-percent organic—also buy organic food. Organic foods are produced according to certain standards, without genetically modified organisms, synthetic pesticides, antibiotics, hormones or sewage. Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream, 425 State Street, is one business that supports the organic cause. Some of the methods of environmentally friendly operations it has adopted include supporting small Vermont dairy farms, reducing and recycling its office materials and freezing ice cream with environmentally safe thermoacoustic technology. ""[The corporate officers in Vermont] spend a significant portion of time and money in consistently evaluating our manufacturing and processing systems to eliminate waste,"" said Dan Beeman, owner of the State St. Ben & Jerry's. Supporting local growers and sellers is another popular movement in Madison. Willy Street Co-op, 1221 Williamson St., is one such business. ""We have products from over 180 local farmers and vendors, so that cuts down on transportation of food and gives us fresher food and helps keep the local farmers in business,"" said Brendan Smith, communications manager for the co-op. ""About 80 percent of our food is natural or organic, so that helps us keep the farmland sustainable, and we're a co-op, so we're answerable directly to our owners, and we have almost 14,000 owners now."" There are some who are not worried about organic certifications. Gregory Smith, a UW-Madison senior, is one. ""The hype surrounding the organic items at grocery stores seems completely overblown. The need to switch to organic produce just hasn't become urgent for me,"" he said. ""The high prices also don't seem to jive with my budget."" Smith also said he believes most large corporations are involved in too many markets to be hurt by a few consumers choosing organic food. Zepeda takes a different stance, saying more corporations selling organic and fair-trade products is proof that consumer choices are important. ""Buying fair-trade or organic products makes a huge difference to those who produce them; it's their livelihood,"" Zepeda said. Regardless of consumers' decisions or what changes they may affect, Zepeda stressed the importance of consciousness, both of one's own choices and those of others. ""Be educated and conscious of what you are buying. Perhaps one of the most powerful things you can do is to share factual information with others ... but be mindful and respectful that others may have a different set of values than you do.""