{"id":8374,"date":"2017-11-24T23:15:31","date_gmt":"2017-11-25T06:15:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/womenofgreen.com\/?p=8374"},"modified":"2017-11-24T23:15:31","modified_gmt":"2017-11-25T06:15:31","slug":"what-does-it-mean-to-vote-with-your-dollar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/womenofgreen.com\/2017\/11\/24\/what-does-it-mean-to-vote-with-your-dollar\/","title":{"rendered":"What Does It Mean To Vote With Your Dollar?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Want to create a greener world that works for all people? One of the most important things you can do is vote with your dollars.\u00a0 Where you\u00a0spend\u00a0and invest your money is a powerful way of voting each day to support local communities,\u00a0fair wages, and a healthy planet.<\/p>\n<p>Here at Green America, we\u2019ve helped educate and mobilize consumers to use their money for a greener world, and we\u2019ve seen the results\u00a0in the growth of organic foods, fair trade products, clean energy solutions, and community banks and credit unions, just to name a few. Voting with our dollars works.<\/p>\n<p>When we talk about\u00a0building\u00a0the green economy, it&#8217;s about more than being informed about corporations\u2014it\u2019s about actually\u00a0supporting\u00a0businesses that have adopted green practices, are growing the local economies, and pay suppliers fairly. Where you shop and what you buy when you do sends a direct message to business owners.\u00a0If many of us shift our spending at once\u00a0\u2013\u00a0to\u00a0preference non-GMO foods, for example \u2013 it can force large corporations to scramble and drop harmful ingredients from their products.\u00a0And in the case of small businesses, it helps them stay afloat in a competitive, deal-driven market.<\/p>\n<p>Green America&#8217;s\u00a0mission of creating a green economy that works for all \u2013 one that preferences\u00a0social justice, environmental preservation, and healthy communities, has\u00a0been under direct threat from Washington lately, but no matter whether it&#8217;s election day or one of the hundreds of days between casting ballots, decisions we make every day cast votes for our values. When people support small businesses with forward-thinking practices, we call that #VoteWithYourDollar. Vote\u00a0With\u00a0Your Dollar is a powerful way to build the green economy we need, without Washington.<\/p>\n<p>One of the most powerful actions you can take\u00a0to\u00a0Vote\u00a0with Your Dollar is keeping your\u00a0money\u00a0in your wallet, to not buy what you don&#8217;t need, and to not line the pockets of CEOs of\u00a0big\u00a0box stores you don&#8217;t agree with. Our culture is obsessed with deals, but those deals are paid for by the people who work low wages in factories or in\u00a0big-box stores. In the case of shopping on the biggest store,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/action.greenamerica.org\/p\/dia\/action3\/common\/public\/?action_KEY=15155\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"broken_link\">Amazon.com, well,\u00a0its track record isn&#8217;t the cleanest<\/a>.\u00a0Every dollar you\u00a0don&#8217;t spend,\u00a0is a dollar you can\u00a0put\u00a0in a community bank or credit union, where your dollars will be used to finance jobs, housing and social services that every community needs.\u00a0 Or, it can be donated to a charity that is helping those less fortunate, combating hate, or\u00a0taking action\u00a0on climate change.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s unrealistic not to shop at all, and unnecessary. The money you use to buy necessities, treat yourself, or spend on gifts for others is a vote cast for your values.<\/p>\n<p>Here are our tips for feeling good about not just the great thing you got, but the businesses you support as you Vote\u00a0With\u00a0Your Dollars.<\/p>\n<ul role=\"list\">\n<li role=\"listitem\" aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-aria-level=\"1\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-listid=\"1\">Every time you buy at a local business, you tell the world your community is worth more than a big-box store sale.<\/li>\n<li role=\"listitem\" aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-aria-level=\"1\" data-aria-posinset=\"2\" data-listid=\"1\">Every time you buy organic, you tell the world you want more farmers to grow healthy, safe food.<\/li>\n<li role=\"listitem\" aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-aria-level=\"1\" data-aria-posinset=\"3\" data-listid=\"1\">Every time you buy certified fair trade, you fight poverty.<\/li>\n<li role=\"listitem\" aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-aria-level=\"1\" data-aria-posinset=\"4\" data-listid=\"1\">Every time you buy from a business owned by women or people of color, you help build an inclusive economy.<\/li>\n<li role=\"listitem\" aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-aria-level=\"1\" data-aria-posinset=\"5\" data-listid=\"1\">Every time you don\u2019t buy something, you tell the world you don\u2019t need more stuff to have a good life.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.greenamerica.org\/blog\/what-does-it-mean-vote-your-dollar\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Green America<\/a><\/p>\n<div>\n<hr \/>\n<\/div>\n<div><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/womenofgreen.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Women of Green<\/a>\u00a0is TURNING UP THE VOLUME of the feminine voice on the planet in order to create the world we know is possible.<\/strong><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Want to create a greener world that works for all people? One of the most important things you can do is vote with your dollars.\u00a0 Where you\u00a0spend\u00a0and invest your money is a powerful way of voting each day to support local communities,\u00a0fair wages, and a healthy planet.\u00a0<br \/>\nHere at Green America, we\u2019ve helped educate and mobilize consumers to use their money for a greener world, and we\u2019ve seen the results\u00a0in the growth of organic foods, fair trade products, clean energy solutions, and community banks and credit unions, just to name a few. Voting with our dollars works.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8376,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1359,1342,1348],"tags":[2276,1318,2278,2277,2275,8],"class_list":["post-8374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-post","category-heart","category-leadership","tag-buying-local","tag-green-economy","tag-put-your-money-where-your-mouth-is","tag-supporting-local-businesses","tag-vote-with-your-dollar","tag-women-of-green"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/womenofgreen.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/womenofgreen.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/womenofgreen.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/womenofgreen.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/womenofgreen.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8374"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/womenofgreen.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8374\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8375,"href":"https:\/\/womenofgreen.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8374\/revisions\/8375"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/womenofgreen.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/womenofgreen.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/womenofgreen.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/womenofgreen.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}