Prior to this week I had never given consumer wisdom much thought. It was interesting to learn that Consumer wisdom has five facets to it and those are contemplation, intentionality, emotional mastery, openness, and transcendence in consumer behaviors. Those of us that are wise about our purchases will take the time to think of the consequences of a purchase and how it will affect us as an individual as well as others and/or the environment around us. After taking the consumer wisdom survey I learned a lot about myself. I was pleased to see that I scored very highly in four of the five facets. However, I scored very poorly in the transcendence facet. I don’t spend any time thinking about how my consumption of an item could affect the environment, my community, even animals or workers that created the product. This survey was extremely thought provoking and really made me question myself as a person and made me realize I really need to put more thought into the fact that when I buy something, I am not just responsible for having it in my possession but I am also responsible for the chain of events that led up to the making of this item and what happens after it when I dispose of it. It got me thinking of things I purchase regularly and that I should reevaluate them. For example, I get take out every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon and I get disposable chopsticks with them. I do not recycle the containers the food come in and I use the disposable chopsticks. Googling the effect of not recycling the food containers made me come across something new, apparently disposable chopsticks are stripping Asian forests bare. Millions of trees are sacrificed just to make chopsticks and are even treated with harmful chemicals. Additionally, these chopsticks are produced in labor camps. This shocked me. I never realized that by simply using chopsticks and throwing them away was not only a huge waste of trees but also of labor. Somebody is taking time out of their life to make chopsticks for us and trees are being harmed for this just so I can scarf down my takeout every Tuesday and Thursday before work. This discovery made me conscious that yes this is a small thing and yes, I am just one person doing it but there are others doing it too and to solve a problem we have to start somewhere so I need to start with myself. For this reason, I opened up my laptop and purchased a set of four stainless steel chopsticks for $6 off Amazon. I am sure that disposable chopsticks are just one of the many products I use that is harming the environment and people but I never considered it till now. I started to care more. I don’t just think is this in my budget, will this make me happy, is it worth it, will this better me as a person or give me a new experience, I think on a much larger and in a broader sense. I think for myself and for others. I will continue to go a step further and consider whether processes involved in the making of an item or the fabrics are environmentally sustainable. I will look into companies more and gage what their take on efficiency, transparency, and respect for workers are before buying from them especially if it’s a bigger purchase or a routine purchase, something I buy all the time. The best way to reward a company for taking those small steps to make an industry more sustainable is to become their customer and show your support by buying from them.