Interdependence Reflection- Jackie Greger

Nearly all of my choices or purchases, such as food and clothing, affect others. I would see myself as a product of interdependence because I do not grow my own food, make my own clothes, or know how to build or put together most of the daily tools, goods, and furniture I use and rely on everyday to survive. Thus I am dependent on a larger chain of others all over the world. The fact that I do not know how to do or have to do these tasks speaks to my own privilege of living in the US and global north, as most of the manufacturing and production of these daily services and goods I rely on occur elsewhere (predominantly in the global south through exploited labor), as do the environmental harms and threats to human health. Therefore, although American culture likes to preach about our independence, we do not live in a vacuum and are not self-sufficient as we rely on the labor, exploitation, and goods of so many others globally to function.