Out of Sight, Out of Mind?

Posted by Shirley Siluk Gregory Mar 9, 2007

"Out of sight, out of mind" isn't just a tired old cliche. It's actually the reason many of us can live as blissfully as we do in the unsustainable, unhealthful ways we do.

Face it: would you eat as many hamburgers, barbecued ribs or chicken wings if you had to slaughter the cow, pig or hen yourself ... or even watch someone else do it? And would you be as quick to throw out all that trash -- rather than composting or recycling it -- if you lived across the road from the dump where that waste ends up? Would you enjoy that morning mochaccino as much if it was your parents earning pennies on the dollar for the coffee beans they grow? And would you be as quick to go on a summer-clothing shopping spree if it was your teenage daughter working 70-plus hours per week in the overseas factory where those clothes come from?

I know it's a downer to think about those things, but it's also reality. And reality right now is pushing ever closer to our collective consciousness, whether it's in the form of global warming, E. coli outbreaks, a rising incidence of diet-related diseases or widespread environmental degradation. "Out of sight" might still be "out of mind" for many of us, but the view is growing increasingly clearer and harder to ignore.