clare at snyder.on.ca wrote:
> On Mon, 31 Dec 2007 21:43:22 GMT, Jeff >
> wrote:
<...>

>> Just because it is from China doesn't mean it is (or isn't) crap.
>>
>> Jeff
>
> Correct - but "good quality" stuff from China is always a crap-shoot
> with their quality control issues.
> Also, too many of my friends and their parents have lost their jobs in
> the Canadian Rubber industry - BFG, Goodyear, and Uniroyal are all
> gone now.

I don't see how that is China's fault for producing a product for less.
Of course, a lot of people who had the option of buying products made in
North America chose ones from China instead for a few measly dollars
less. However, the cost of the jobs lost was not figured in.

> I'll still buy Canadian/American and even Euro and Japanese before
> I'll buy Chinese.

One thought that comes to mind is do you really need to buy it all? I
mean, kids have so many toys, do they really need another toy from the
fast food restaurant, especially when the toy is often made with some
plastic from our used electronics (by "our" I mean the US's, for the US
is the only country that allows its waste electronics to be shipped
overseas to be recycled into lead-laden toys). It seems to me that we
have too much stuff that we don't really need. Kids need toys -- that's
how they learn, but they don't need a new cheap toy with every meal.

Also, when it comes to food, I prefer local, because it takes so much
energy to transport food half-way across the country or even half-way
across the world. Energy is one commodity the world is using more and
more of every day.

The American Museum of Natural History in NYC has a neat exhibition
called something like H2O - the stuff of life, that looks at how much
water people, especially Americans, use, as well as the large amount of
water it takes to grow the food to feed a cow for a single quarter
pounder with cheese compared to the water to grow crops for the same
amount of food energy say in a loaf of bread or a few ears of corn or
other vegetables (not even adjusting for the toys).

Jeff