I have been thinking about responsible consumption, or whatever you want to call it, from different angles, for a long time now. I think a lot of people have. There are a lot of things to consider, and different people find different things important at different times. For example it's becoming more important to me that items be made and sourced in the US.

It feels difficult to talk about, for me, because it's tied in with so many things. Economics, politics, environment, finance, spirituality. It can be personal in some ways.

I would be interested in learning more about how to do stuff myself, or learning more about how stuff is made. I don't like not knowing where the stuff I rely on comes from. It's like growing my own food, I feel so happy and more connected watching my vegetables grow. I understand them better: what they need to grow, what pests they're vulnerable to, where the plants originate (if I do some research too), why they look the way they do. I'd like to have that same understanding for everything I use.

Right now, for example, to be very concrete: I'm trying to find a source for dish soap. If it were bathing soap? Sure, I know a bit about lye and fat, I've even seen instructions for making it yourself. I've bought soaps like that from local crafters before. But dish soap? How does it even work? Where do they get the surfactents from? Can I mix my own? Can I grow my own?

I'd like to know all these things, but it's also a lot to learn about when all I wanted was to be able to have a sanitary kitchen and I have other things I also need to do.

I'd be interested in learning more about these things: where stuff comes from, how to make it, etc. Maybe how to set up a factory making stuff too. I'd also be interested in learning more about how to find information about businesses, since it's not always easy to know where to look and what information should be publicly available.