Definition of transparent: 1. To show through. 2. Free from pretense of deceit. 3. Easily detected or seen through. 4. Readily understood. 5. Not subject to misinterpretation. 6. Visibility or accessibility of information especially concerning business practices. (1)
Lately, there has been increased demand for transparency. Why? Because the level of obscurity behind each product purchased has grown to a daunting level, as a result of globalization. When you purchase something, chances are you have no idea where the materials came from, how the product was made, how much water was used to make it, what chemicals went into it, how it was shipped, etc… The system has gotten enormously complex, too complex to understand.
But although there has been a growing sector of people who demand transparency, the majority of the population is still in the dark and doesn’t seem to mind. These people seem content; but are they? Do they believe that everything they don’t know about the products they buy is okay? Do they trust the unknown, the concealed processes of big businesses and corporations?
I’ve been thinking about this issue, and I don’t think this is the case; or at least, this is the minority of the population. I think that most people can be put into 3 categories in regards to how they feel about transparency. Or, to make things clear, people can fall into different categories regarding different things. People may feel differently about environmental transparency than from social transparency or health transparency (will xx ingredient in this product give me mutated eyeballs?) And they may feel differently about how they purchase food products, clothing, cleaning products, electronics, yada. But in each of these categories, there is unrest about how cloudy the story behind the products may be.
First, there are the people who do care about transparency. They believe that transparency is of utmost importance, that it is a consumer right to know how the things we buy are made and where they come from. These people probably put in more effort to buy local products, to buy products with fair trade or “environmentally friendly” labels, to buy products that they know to be less harmful and from companies they trust.
Then, there are people who don’t really care too much. Apathy. They realize that there’s hardly any information about products they purchase, but don’t really care all that much; it’s not worth putting up a fight about. But even people in this category realize that something is not right. And if more information was made available, they would definitely spend a little bit more money on a product that was more socially or environmentally responsible. Generally speaking, of course.
The third category is probably the most dangerous: those who don’t want to know the gory details because they are afraid of what they would find out.
This may seem atrocious, but this category exists in everyone to some extent. Have you ever eaten ANYTHING from McDonalds? Like a Big Mac, perhaps? When you’re in the mood for a Big Mac, I’m sure you’re not thinking about what this might do for your health or what all the ingredients are, or where they come from. You might even try to suppress any thoughts about what this might do for your health. Or make a joke of it: “Man, my arteries are going to be CLOGGED tomorrow. Oh well you only live once.”
Here is a list of ingredients in the Big Mac bun: water, high fructose corn syrup, sugar, soybean oil and/or partially hydrogenated soybean oil, salt, calcium sulfate, calcium carbonate, wheat gluten, ammonium sulfate, ammonium chloride, sodium stearoyl lactylate, datem, ascorbic acid, azodicarbonamide, mono- and diglycerides, ethoxylated monoglycerides, monocalcium phosphate, enzymes, guar gum, calcium peroxide, soy flour, calcium propionate, sodium propionate, soy lecithin, and sesame seed (2). And this is just the BUN.
And not to discriminate, I do it too. Recently I purchased a coffee-like beverage from a gas station called “Fat-Free French Vanilla Cappuccino.” One of the ones that are served hot from a machine. At the time I was traveling, tired, with a sore throat, and wanted some immediate gratification that would wake me up and soothe my throat. And fat free, I mean… why not. It was really good at first. Almost amazing. But as I kept drinking I became more and more disgusted, both with the taste of the drink and the realization of what it was I was drinking. My guess is that it was made out of a powder with some freaky chemical concoction and artificial flavoring. Ultimately, it tasted like cancer.
The point is, these categories exist in everyone, but it’s the apathetic category that corporations feed off of the most. When information is kept inaccessible, it’s easier to just live life without searching for it, to leave this job for somebody else. They keep transparency a low priority, because the immediate future takes higher priority in most day-to-day decisions. But if information WERE to be made completely accessible regarding products’ environmental and social impacts, there would surely be a shift in how things are purchased. Even the people who don’t care very much will most likely shift their purchasing practices, at least a little bit. When information is staring at you in the face, you can’t help but ignore it. And for the people who are too scared to face the truth, well, they will just have to deal with it and get over it. And hopefully these people will make the most change; with the realization of their individual negative impacts, hopefully moral conscious will succeed in overturning the unsustainable practices of big businesses.
This is precisely why most businesses don’t WANT to make too much information available; if the population found out everything, there would be a huge shift in the market towards more sustainable and responsible companies and practices. At the moment, there is simply not enough sustainability practiced by these companies.
At least this toaster is transparent.
To be continued in Part 2: on LCAs and putting transparency into practice
Disclaimer: This is not based on a scientific study, simply generalized observations that I have found to be true, based on interviews from people I know, articles I have read, and life I have experienced.
1) www.merriam-webster.com
2) The Examiner
I have two comments.
1. I think less blame needs to be attributed to individuals in these situations, and these issues need to be looked at as societal problems. Of course there are those who are “apathetic” and “who do not want to know the gory details,” but I think that places blame on individuals who are victims of circumstance. Most of the population who eat Big Macs on a regular basis eat them because these options are the only ones they can AFFORD. There is an excellent scene in Food Inc where a mother must decide between feeding her children from the $$1.00 menu at MacDonalds or purchasing expensive vegetables. She purchases the $1.00 burgers in order to feed her children so she has enough money to pay for her husband’s type II diabetes medication (oh the irony).
2. Yes, citizens need to be proactive and constantly seek information, but it SHOULD be the corporations’ responsibility to put in big bold letters that there products contain poison (like what happened with cigarettes in the 1950s/1960s). The only way this will happen is if the government (agencies like the FDA) force corporations to become more socially resopnsible, which will only happen if citizens (especially those who have the luxury, time, and resources to read and learn about these things) write to governmental officials saying being poisoned is a concern of theirs.
I think what needs to be made transparent is the lack of choices we consumers have even those who are privileged enough to choose!!!!