Nancy Zimmerman: a canadian money coach (not a financial planner!)

If I took my conscience shopping everywhere, I suspect I’d stop shopping.

I had two facebook interchanges on the topic this week, one of which also reminded me of a Lululemon issue.
Here are the discussions. What do you think?
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1. To Foie Gras, or not to Foie Gras
Facebook: 28 June 12:47.
Christopher Flett is a business coach extraordinaire, for women. Working with him gave me tremendous lift-off when I started my money coaching business.
Here goes:

Christopher Flett: Kits Farmer’s Market:Just told to “F&CK OFF” by animal rights activist because I like Foie Gras. Full story here: http://tinyurl.com/l5trs8
28 June at 12:47 · via Twitter · Comment · Like

Nancy Zimmerman at 12:52 on 28 June
I’ve been confronted to do a lot of thinking about this kind of issue because of the whole seal hunt thing up here. One question to myself, to which I don’t know the answer but it’s a good question, is: To what extent do I accept responsibility for the humane treatment of the animal that ultimately I eat?

Rikia Saddy at 21:37 on 28 June
I too believe in the circle of life, but I can’t see the point of torturing animals before we eat them. There are many delicious foods that don’t require shoving a hose down the throat of a goose and forcing in 3 pounds of grains and fat, several times a day.
Isn’t a normal-sized goose liver sufficient?

Christopher Flett at 19:51 on 29 June
No it isn’t. If it was, we wouldn’t have to feed them extra helpings.
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2. Made in China
This is an on-the-ground perspective from a former client of mine who sources materials for her company overseas.
(She wrote from Thailand, btw!)

Saw your status and wanted to comment (since I’ve just spent the past week and a half visiting factories in Asia!) Definitely in China health hazards are a plenty. As you can imagine, clothing is ridiculously dusty (especially anything cotton related such as cotton spinning) Every time we do a visit we look for such hazards and the factory owners always tell us the same things… they educate the workers on dust hazards and provide masks but the employees don’t comply.

I’ve been to cotton spinning mills in India and after a 2 hour tour, my nose tickles for days! The factories are usually in hot places so the workers refuse to wear the masks since it’s already so hot without masks on. Don’t get me wrong, I totally don’t agree with it, but I have seen some factories genuinely try to enforce rules to no avail (and for the past few years if an employer got really strict, employees would just move to a more lax factory: I suspect that’ll change a bit now with the slowdown)

Anyway, my two cents after having seen the manufacturing side of things! Manufacturing is certainly a crazy world, don’t even get me going on the labour end of things! A lot of people’s perceptions is that people like Nike produce in sweatshop environments. In actuality, large brands (Nike, Patagonia, mec) are leaders in making improvements in health/safety/pay by ensuring that work hazards are minimized, overtime is paid etc… it’s hardly a perfect world and factories don’t always comply but with more and more brands coming on board it’s getting better. It’s the “no name” brands or knockoff brands (where price is the number one concern) that have little/no standards. Anyway… I digress!

I think the whole manufacturing/3rd world thing is very catch 22.

I’m still torn everyday on what I feel is right or not. The sewers (the workers, not the plumbing system!) make a base wage of less than $5 day (there’s a lot more money to be made in incentives though) and by Western standards, that’s hardly a lot of money. Then again, most of the workers are under 25, without an education and live in factory dormatories (hardly luxurious) accommodations. Then again, they are able to send home at least 50% of their income to their families (typically dirt poor farmers) which is not something that I’d be able to do in Canada! So, because of our Western greediness, the farmers kids move to the factory towns to be able to send money home to support the rest of the family. So does that mean that by buying things we’re exploiting the workers? Or would they be worse off if we didn’t buy anything? The issue I have is if companies (such as lululemon) keep shifting where goods are made because labour costs get too expensive (labour costs in China have been increasing at more than 10% a year for the past few years) and start giving up the Chinese factories in favor or vietnam, bangladesh, etc… that’s where I think the “west” gets exploitative.

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3. Lululemon and child labour
Before Lululemon became a public company, but well into its meteoric rise, I attended a grass-rootsy talk about fashion in Vancouver. Chris Chip was a guest speaker, and discussed sourcing his materials. Apparently he had hired a few young girls in his factories overseas. He openly discussed his dilemma: Odds are that if he didn’t hire the young girls they’d be in the sex trade instead. So what, he asked the audience, would we do in his position? Turn them away knowing the alternatives? Hire them and feel good about providing a safer situation? Hire them and feel lousy about child labour?

Tags: conscience, eco-justice, foie gras, lululemon, made in china, shopping

To collect, see the very last part of this post. If I haven’t heard from you by Canada day, I’ll move on to the next person on the random-machine generated list. Congrats and enjoy!

When I was a kid, China, like Russia, scared the crap out of me.  It was communist.  Communist China.  People who shared my faith, Christians, got tortured there.  In fact, lots of people got tortured there.  WE might, under very rare circumstances, be allowed to visit, but Chinese people could never visit us because they were locked inside. It was a secretive, faraway, very scary country.

It’s such a different story now.  We witnessed the opening ceremonies stream from Beijing. I’ve enjoyed getting to know several immigrants from China. And above all it’s become nearly impossible to purchase anything that’s not made in China.

Can you relate?

Let’s get familiar with this new super-power, this country that has encroached our lives every which way. This money coach found some econ 101’s:

China makes

• 1/2 the world’s clothes
• 1/2 the world’s computers
• More than 1/2 the world’s digital electronics
• More than 3/4 of the world’s toys (ed note:  uh-oh)

Factors that make this manufacturing do-able by China

• 104 million workers
• 1/10 of the wage compared to Europe and the US
• for every $1 sale in the US of designer clothers, the manufacturer receives 10¢
• workers can work up to 18 hours a day in busy months

To create these goods, China uses

• 1/2 the world’s iron ore
• 1/3 the world’s aluminum
• 1/2 the world’s copper
• nearly 1/2 the world’s hard coal
• nearly 1/10 the world’s oil production (ed note: that’s less than I’d thought.  I guess because they use coal instead)

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I got these stats from an offbeat but very intelligent magazine called The New Internationalist. It’s introducing me to all kinds behind-the-scenes stories that affect my every day life.  If you, like me, want to be better informed, I recommend subscribing!  It’s causing me to see the world differently – in a good way.  (no, I get nothing for the pitch! I am just really impressed by the mag.  And they use a creative commons license – what’s not to love?)

Tags: china, consumption, econ 101, economics, export, import

Off topic.  Courtesy AbsoJesus

Here are 3 legit, fun, Canadian contests – not the kind that fakes you out, and sends your address everywhere, but fun, innovative (ish) contests from:

Photo Credit: Erich Mercado
1. BLENZ – the Vancouver-based coffee chain will give someone 142 days of free coffees, in honour of Canada Day, celebrating 142 years. You simply need to share your thoughts about what Canada means to you. Do it soon, since the prize is given out this Wednesday!

2. SixString Nation - get some publicity, aspiring song-writers! Get on Twitter, use the hash tag, #6SNSong, and let out your inner songwriter. D&M will collect all the entries on June 30 and July 1 – Canada Day – they’ll announce the winner. The top 20 will be listed on the D&M website and on the Six String Nation Facebook page. By the way, they’ll be up here at Yellowknife’s Folk on the Rocks!

And our favourite airline, WESTJET, is giving away a flight-for-two each day this coming week if you simply follow them on twitter!

Photo Credit MiguelB

Those are the three I know about – any more that you’ve heard about?  Canadian, and legit, not “sweepstakes-y”?

I’ve had a couple tough days.  I’m off work, ill.  Headache, achey bones, and a fatigue that’s taken me down for the count.  I hate being sick!  Additionally I’m missing a lot about Vancouver these days.  Don’t get me wrong – I really enjoy Yellowknife – but there are experiences and places and shops and wifi and people who are only to be found in Vancouver.  So in addition to bone and head aches, there’s some ache-of-the-spirit in the mix.

This evening I did what all sick people do to console themselves.  I made the treck to the video store.  Alas, I came out empty.  No The Wire.  No BSG til late July apparently.  I forgot to ask about Firefly (anyone seen the series?  I saw one episode – are they all as awesome?)

Plan B:  buy some chocolate. One idiosyncrasy of life up here is that the majority of shops shut down at 6pm but not, thank goodness, Shoppers.  I went the distance, folks, I selected a beautiful Lindt milk chocolate bar, went to the til — and my debit card was declined.  And declined.  And declined again.  It’s payday and I work for the Gov’t so I’m guessing Central One’s servers went down, but in any case, so much for my chocolate.  Life was beginning to spiral downward.

Until a lovely thing happened.

The young woman at the til, seeing my crestfallen face, told me to hang on one sec.  She punched a few buttons on the til — handed me the chocolate bar, smiled, and said, it’s on me.  Not on the house.  It’s on me.

I stood dumbfounded.  Eventually I stammered out my thanks, and happily accepted the chocolate bar she had just bought me.

It cost her $1.50.   Not much in the grand scheme of things, but its impact was multiple time a buck-fifty.  It was a lovely, unexpected, random act of kindness.

I don’t know if I’ll make a point of paying her back or if I’ll pay it forward or quite what I’ll do.

I thought I’d start by simply sharing.

Readers, have you experienced a Random Act of Kindness?  Care to share?

ps: I got home, and reached a vancouver friend who, of all things, is also housebound.  He’d rented One Week, and I was able to find it on iTunes for rent, so we’re sharing a movie, virtually.  Life is lookin’ better.

Tags: lindt, random act of kindness, shoppers

2.5 years ago, Marks & Spencer rolled out a bold sustainability plan. No “motherhood” statements here – most of these are easily verified by a customer:

• Operations in the UK and Republic of Ireland will be carbon neutral
• Stop sending waste to landfill eg.,  Instead, reuse food scraps to create green energy
• Selling only free-range poultry products
• Converting key clothing ranges to 100% fair trade cotton
• Increasing nutritionally balanced food to 50% of all foods sold

I’m so pleased to see large businesses step up to the plate like this.   And here’s some even better news – their initiatives have now become cost-positive.  If you want their 1/2 way point progress report, you can find it on their website.

Readers, Are any stores near you clearly holding themselves to sustainability standards?

A week ago I accepted a challenge from the Cdn Chiropracters’ Association to find 15 minutes in my day, every day, to get active. Having successfully completed the challenge, I’m in a draw for an iPod Touch and I have an iPod Shuffle and $20 iTunes card to give away!

Some people are into fitness.  They love their workouts, or going for runs, or playing squash.  Me?  Meh.  Not so much. (a fact I find woeful, but what can you do?)  But 15 minutes every day?  This I could do.   But I knew I had to do stuff that didn’t feel like exercise.   Also, since it’s Summer In Yellowknife, I’d be crazy to spend the time inside (plenty of inside time coming up starting in October).   So I decided to make a bit of an adventure for myself.

Day 1: I dug up half my garden with the help of my trusty daschund.  It’s my first garden ever!  The permafrost is gone as of a couple weeks ago, but with the long hours of daylight, a good garden crop is still possible.

Day 2: I went for a Geology 101 walk on some billion year-old precambrian shield with my loyal companion.

Day 3: Hiked to the top of Bush Pilots Monument (sans hounds) and was rewarded with this view:

It’s not the grind (hat tip, @Salbrecht), but still …

Day Four: I wound down at the day’s end with some free Yoga (thanks, iTunes!)

Day Five: I danced like no one was watching! And I sure hope no-one was – it was my first drum dance, and it was about midnight on Solstice in the north, and Aboriginal Day (ahem, judges, is that not the Ultimate Canadian Fit in 15?) Again – I’m no videographer – for heavens sake I was dancing while I was recording – this is just evidence I was there!

Day 6: I finished the second half of my garden

and Day 7 - alas! I had hoped to culminate my week with a swim in the Great Slave Lake but since it was POURING RAIN (a rare occurrence up here – we have the sunniest summers in Canada) , and only about 15C, if that, I opted out of that particular adventure for now. Instead, I Unpacked a Very Large Box which I hadn’t yet opened since my move. It involved hauling the box around, moving furniture, and working up a bit of a sweat, and took me well over 15 minutes so I figure that counts!

Mission accomplished! It was a lot of fun. I was active and I accomplished a lot while I was at it. I got to know my new home better, I pushed myself out of my comfort zone with the dance, my garden is ready for plants and I made further progress in unpacking! Not bad for just 15 a day, eh?
The ‘hounds thought it was marvellous too.

Thanks, Canadian Chiropracters! (here’s lookin’ at you, Michael)

AND THE WINNER IS…

Thanks so much to everyone who popped by to encourage and make suggestions this past week.

The winner, who got 2 points for doing an activity and leaving a comment, is BRAD!
Brad, to collect your prize, please leave a comment below and include your e-mail address. NO ONE will see your address but me. Then I’ll e-mail you back so I can get your mailing address. Congrats!

Tags: fitin15

One of the pleasant surprises in Yellowknife is the commitment to gardening! The Arctic Farmer (which has a little stream and goats! Perhaps you need to live here to understand how unexpected goats are!) and The Garden of Eden provide all manner of delightful garden tools and rubber boots, and the first truckloads of fresh plants are a community joy.

There’s a real commitment to gardening up here, and a little known fact is that while we have a short growing season, it’s possible to grow almost anything up here because of our extended daylight hours. So when I attended a talk about food security by Ecology North, I determined to grow some of my own food.

Yesterday for my Fit in 15, I finished digging up my plot that I began last week. I work up a sweat, I’ll tell you! And those darn mosquitoes! But when I start to enjoy the carrots, peas, and rhubarb, I’m sure it will be all worthwhile.

How’s that for the circle of life – I get fit in 15 by planting food!

Readers: The contest for the iPod shuffle (4G) and $20 iTunes card is almost done! If you’ve ever grown your own food, let me know in the comments, and it’s a point to you!

This isn’t my garden, but it’s in Yellowknife. It captures the spirit of living and gardening in Yellowknife! Photo Credit: FranH

Tags: fitin15

FULL DISCLAIMER – this post is *not* about Nancy’s non-existent skills as a videographer (I only got my canon camera last weekend!).

It *is* about getting Fit in 15 in a way that is CANADIAN, fun, and also helps me get reaquainted with my hometown of Yellowknife, NWT (I just moved back after 20 years in Vancouver)

So, my fellow Fit-in-15ers, what’ve you got that can beat 15 minutes dancing at a Dene Drum Dance in Ndilo, Yellowknife, at midnight on summer soltice, on National Aboriginal Day!

And if anyone doubts that this dancing is exercise, you just try it. Just try it. Find a drum dance, and try it.

Readers: 1 point given if you describe a cultural event you’ve participated in that took you out of your comfort zone and gave you some exercise!

Tags: drum dance, fitin15, Nilo, yellowknife