About

The seeds of mado  

 

Having lived and worked in the United States for decades, I am deeply committed to my adopted Homeland. My children were born and raised in the US; from here I manage our home. Over time, I began noticing how many of our purchases shipped from across the globe. Not just the food and clothes, but it felt like everything big and small. That’s a lot of shipping, a lot of fuel, a lot of packaging and a lot of harm to our oceans and our environment.

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Did we really need to buy so many things from across the globe? I wondered what I could do to improve the situation. Could I team up with others to have an impact? Could I find answers for the future by looking to my past? I thought about my upbringing in India. When India gained independence, its founding leaders prioritized building domestic capabilities by restricting imports. This concept of focusing on domestic goods to strengthen the economy left a lasting impression on me—perhaps even planting the seed for mādō.

No one is incentivized to quantify the damages or effects caused by this constant shipping: labor conditions, the damages to the environment and more. Studies have been done in this space but they leave a lot of questions and often have their own bias. There are several reasons domestic manufacturers have gradually moved to other countries, but it's largely for greater corporate profits. And now, many years later, we can see the cost.  

 

Yet, we as consumers can begin to make changes.  We went from buying highly processed foods at supermarkets to having the choices we wanted: multiple local and organic choices.  It took time, but as demand expanded, the prices stabilized and we had more options.  More businesses opened and flourished in this new market. Today, in most neighborhoods, buying local and buying organic is an easy part of our daily choices.  

 

We can take this to the next level! Let's support domestically made products so they become more commonplace.  This is not easy, and mādō is here to make this easier for you, the consumer. Here you will find manufactures for various products who build their products in the USA and can go directly to their sites and cut out the middleman. I recognize that American-made products can at times be more expensive. This often reflects the higher cost of living, fairer wages, and environmental and labor laws that protect both people and the planet—all of which are worth supporting. And like our food, as the demand grows, the choices will increase and the prices will stabilize.

So, whenever possible, buy local and buy domestic, wherever you are. Show your love for the planet and its people. We all share this one home.