Life is all about choices. Eating choices, travelling choices and of course fashion choices. And our choices often than not reflect our personal values.
As founders of Big Grin Organics, we live a life of simplicity and believe strongly in sustainable living. We were concerned to learn that common products that we use in our daily lives (such as conventional cotton) can be so damaging to the people who produce it and the environment. (If you have not found out about the detrimental effects of conventional cotton farming, click here.)
We wish to advocate that we can live well and happy by being more aware and mindful of our actions and the consequences. There are many who are sceptic of environmentalism, dismissing environmental concerns as nothing but a load of statistics that prey too much on people's conscience. Some might even doubt such trivial acts of conserving is enough to fight a big problem.
We believe small choices we make in life can generate rippling effect of goodness. And the best way to start is to start with ourselves.
These are our green efforts:
- We practice vegetarianism. (Nearly one-third of world's agricultural land is used to grow grains for livestock, which produces greenhouse gas emissions that are more than every form of transportation combined.)
- We buy organic food whenever we can.
- We do not drive and prefer to take the BMT training (Bus, MRT and only if necessary, Taxi).
- We bring our bottles and newspapers to the recycling bin.
- We print on unused side of papers and save flyers and mailers for printing and writing materials.
- We buy energy-saving electrical appliances.
- We use organic or environmental-friendly and animal-friendly washing products.
- We dedicate a portion of Big Grin Organics' sales proceeds to our Earth Protect Fund which contributes towards funding earth conservation projects, local and overseas. (What is Earth Protect Fund?)
We like things that are natural so we appreciate organic food. We find it tough however to get organic cotton products locally. Which is why we decided to go into organic toys and clothing.
Organic products are never cheap (we wish they are). And while not all cheap products are not good, we have to recognise that all things come at a cost. When a piece of t-shirt can go as low as S$3, we know there is a hidden cost behind that deserves our concern.
Commodities become cheap when manufacturing and production costs are low and that often involves a lot of compromising. Low workers' wages, production with disregards to environmental protection and such are weighty compromises that are conveniently forgotten.
On the other hand, expensive commodities that speaks of status and extravagance like big flashy cars and branded goods are items that many clamour for despite their prices. Some of these expensive commodities are done in class (like hybrid cars and solar panels) but many do not offer much else apart from vanity satisfaction.
So an organic cotton T-shirt that costs S$30 is not more expensive than a conventional cotton branded T-shirt with not much design apart from its logo or brand name on it. A S$20 organic soft toy is not more expensive than a $10 toy coated in harmful toxic dyes.
No one needs safer toys than children. Just as we feel safe seeing our children hugging (and biting) their favourite organic toys, we feel good too knowing by simply choosing organic T-shirt over conventional cotton wear, we are doing our small but meaningful part in caring for our fragile earth and our sensitive skin.
Founders
Chewy and Sweng