Follow Your Stuff: Who Makes It, Where Does It Come From, How Does It Get to You?

With its focus on the global economy, this eye-opening sequel to Follow Your Money examines five commonly used items in a young tween or teen’s everyday life and the costs involved from the object’s initial design to its manufacture and sale. Most people, when considering the purchase of any of these items (a t-shirt, an asthma puffer, a book, a cell phone or a pair of eyeglasses) have absolutely no idea of the inherent production costs nor of the many places around the globe which are connected to that object. The cotton for a Canadian-designed t-shirt, for example, could be grown in China, sent to Guatemala to be made into fabric, then coloured with American dyes, sewn from thread made in Mexico and adorned with a logo stamped in India. Costs include water, fertilizer, harvesting machinery, chemicals, dyes, factory utilities and machinery, rent, insurance, storage, ink, thread, logo royalties, transportation, store racks and displays, and wage and, of course, markups which all add to the final price of the t-shirt which is sold at the shopping mall. Some pharmaceutical companies which manufacture puffers and medicines spend as much as $3 billion on research and development of a single drug, and that cost, along with patent fees, dispensing fees, pharmacists’ wages and the cost of raw materials and pre-clinical trials, is passed along to the consumer. Similarly, books, cell phones and eyeglasses have a great many components in their production.

In this most informative book, readers will learn terms such as relative value, gross and net profit, globalization, free market and monopoly. The conversational writing style, in combination with the abundant maps, charts, diagrams and cartoon-like drawings, engages the reader throughout the book. Blue text boxes with a large question mark at the top indicate a question for readers to ponder. Some examples of the topics in these questions include the treatment of workers in sweatshops, balancing the cost of a much-needed medicine between profit and affordability, testing drugs on animals, and the relationship between cell phone addiction and anxiety and poor sleep. Above all, Follow Your Stuff raises awareness of the economic, ethical and personal aspects of buying a specific item and will, perhaps, encourage readers to think critically and to become more socially responsible as they exercise their purchasing power.

A table of contents, an index and a list of resources are provided. The resource list, which includes TED Talks, videos, and an eyeglass company’s annual reports, is uniquely presented in that it explains the connection between the concept in the book and the specific video or web site that is recommended for further study.

Educational, thought-provoking and highly appealing, Follow Your Stuff is not only a must-read for young teens, but it would also be a valuable resource in a class on modern issues or consumerism.