How do we know what something really contains? How do we know what it took to get here?
Most things in life are fairly easy to understand until you look into the every detail of how they come into existence.
Physical supply chains
Take a bottle of water for example. It’s pretty easily explainable right? You put water in a bottle then someone buys it and drinks the water.
Where did the water come from though? Is it from a sustainable reliable source? Where did the plastic bottle come from? Is it truly recyclable? Was it made from new or recycled plastic? Where did the oil come from to make the plastic? Which ecosystem was damaged to get the oil?
Information supply chains
Information also has supply chains. We should pay attention to the supply chain of an idea as much as with products we purchase.
Take a piece of news or a “fact” a friend has told you. Where did they read/hear/see the information? How has the information changed as it has been processed? How does thinking in this way help? Who does thinking in this way help? Is this information coloured in any way?
Next time you get some information from someone think about it’s supply chain and how that supply chain has had an impact on the information you are consuming.
If we know where things come from we can orientate to consuming more sustainably both for products and ideas.