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Think about your take-out lunch, your fall sweater, your television or the framed oil painting hanging over your fireplace. Where did it come from? Who made it? How was it made? Who benefited?

A lack of transparency, particularly with imported products, makes it difficult for consumers to know if the items they purchase carry positive or negative ecological and social impacts.

Many of us fail to ask these larger questions because we prioritize convenience, cheapness and variety.

Still, two bottom-up movements -- buy local first and buy sustainably-produced -- emerged several years ago to educate businesses and consumers about the benefits of demanding goods and services that strengthen local economies and address rising energy prices, climate change concerns and environmental degradation.

Helping in that task is the Internet, whose utility transformed the way many people shop and enabled them to quickly research and compare companies' manufacturing processes.

Buy local first

Residents of cities such as Greensboro won't have much trouble finding locally or regionally owned grocers, pharmacies, bakeries, theaters and furniture stores. A new network of independent brick-and-mortar businesses called Buy Triad First encourages people to spend at three or more such companies each month.

"We are seeing a fabulous amount of interest, and it's being talked about all over town," said Betsy Gauthier, who helped start the network. "People are starting to catch on and are talking about who they use locally."

Writer Michael Shuman, a national localization proponent, will speak Oct. 29 in Star at the request of Central Park NC, an economic developer working with eight Piedmont counties.

Shuman's workshop and presentation at Central Park NC's annual gathering is open to the public.

"I think that the time is probably never better to talk about strengthening the local independent business movement, said Nancy Gottovi, executive director of the organization. "We're bringing Shuman here because this region has lost thousands of jobs over the past five years."

However, Gottovi and others acknowledge that "all or nothing" approaches to economic development won't work. Chain stores and other nonlocal businesses carry their own benefits and advantages, such as providing residents with employment, choice, competitive prices and, in some cases, better customer service, wages and products.

Buy sustainably produced

Conscious consumers also have the option of supporting companies that follow strong environmental and social standards. Look for products certified through credible organizations such as Fair Trade for coffee, tea and chocolate; Green Seal for cleaning supplies; and the Forest Stewardship Council for wood products.

Shoppers can look for businesses listed on the national Green Business Pages of Green America, a 27-year-old organization using the power of the marketplace to create a sustainable society. The organization lists 61 values-driven companies in North Carolina, including Skylon Services in Greensboro, Tees for Trees in McLeansville and Wearable Planet in Kernersville.

Walmart, long criticized for its business practices, recently started to take leadership in the retail sector and plans to help develop a global database of supplier information on products' life cycles, from raw materials to disposal, so that customers can make wiser choices.

People also can patronize "B Corporations," which must meet higher standards of accountability, transparency and social and environmental performance than other types of corporations. Six B Corporations exist in North Carolina, including T.S. Designs, an organic T-shirt printing company in Burlington.

T.S. Designs actually has emerged as a leader in fulfilling interest in both locally and eco-friendly products. The company sells certified organic T-shirts and this year launched a line made "from dirt to shirt" in the state. The company plans to launch a third line this year that uses recycled cotton fabric and plastic bottles.

President Eric Henry said the company, which is organizing a tour of the New London cotton farm where it buys materials, strives to operate with better transparency than currently exists in his industry.

"There is a gap between the customer wanting to know and asking the questions and the businesses being responsible for what they sell their customers," Henry said. "The first step to sustainability is to just be aware."

Fortunately, that gap is starting to close.

Upcoming events

Get details about these events at www.gotriadscene.com/event/cat/green.

• Green Drinks Greensboro, a monthly gathering for people interested in sustainability and environmental issues, will meet at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Green Bean, 341 S. Elm St.
• Oilman T. Boone Pickens will speak about "The Pickens Plan" at a town hall meeting in Charlotte Wednesday. Admission is free.
• Rockingham County residents interested in starting a community garden may attend a luncheon meeting at noon Oct. 27 at the county agricultural building, 525 N.C. 65 in Reidsville. To register, contact Brenda Sutton at 342-8230 or brenda_sutton@ncsu.edu.
• An evening nature hike for families will take place at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 2 at the Kathleen Clay Edwards Branch Library, 1420 Price Park Drive in Greensboro.

Morgan Josey Glover is content manager for www.goGreenTriad.com. Contact her at 373-7078 or morgan.josey@news-record.com.