Amid disbelief and uncertainties, open construction sites and delays, Expo Milan has started. The theme 'Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life' cannot be addressed as it deserves, due to a simple lack of political will.
Eradicating hunger and extreme poverty was indeed the first of the commitments made fifteen years ago by the 189 signatory countries of the so-called 'Millennium Development Goals' and no one – except the People's Republic of China – has complied.
It is rather worth highlighting how production and distribution chains, and politics, can instead change precisely thanks to us consumers. In the directions of equity, social justice, and environmental protection. In two words, sustainable development.
How? The power of choice
The consumer is the independent variable of the market, which marketing pursues with various appeals. But the 2.0 consumer now has many sources of information to understand what is behind each brand and choose products based on their intrinsic value. A value that does not always coincide with massive advertising investments, but rather with the actual ethics of the supply chain.
Authentic productions, which in our country mean the true Made in Italy, the one that expresses the Value of Work and Italian production districts, contributing to our economy and employment, GDP and BES (Fair and Sustainable Well-being). Respectful productions, of workers' rights and the dignity of local communities wherever located, of the environment and biodiversity, of animal welfare.
Mobilizations
The consumer can also influence the decisions of economic operators (and not only) thanks to petitions, increasingly effective due to the web and social networks, which allow people to know, join and promote them very quickly. Petitions can be launched to 'ethicalize' supply chains, to oppose land grabbing (so-called land grabbing) and deforestation. Against child labor and slavery, which take place in Developing Countries – from sub-Saharan Africa to Southeast Asia – but also in Italy, where illegal labor exploitation is still the rule in fruit and vegetable harvesting in some regions.
Against the neo-colonialism of GMO seeds, cloning of livestock, the use of carcinogenic pesticides such as glyphosate, which poison soils and aquifers all over the planet. But also to promote fair wages for workers and recognition of their trade union rights, the dignity of living conditions in local communities, respect for the environment and biodiversity.
Our petitions
A couple of examples, our call to exclude the use of palm oil in food production has gathered almost 120 thousand signatures in a few months, and we are at 30 thousand with the petition aimed at guaranteeing label information on the place of production of food, the only legal guarantee to distinguish the true ‘Made in Italy’ from its imitations found even on our shelves.
ConsumActors, together, we can!
Dario Dongo
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
