In the Story of Stuff video, when considering buying a $5 radio, Leonard poses a question: Who pays for this?
I just found this website, which is run by young people, for young people to instigate social change. Providing students, especially years 3 to 6+ with a website like this could be a valuable starting point for investigating social and sustainability issues, and is therefore a worthy resource.
I came across the following, sourced from Green America, Vegan Peace and Feminist Majority Foundation – which I found to be credible sources, however all statistics and facts of this manner should be critically evaluated (another teaching point!)
In developing countries, an estimated 250 million children ages 5 to 14 are forced to work
A study showed that doubling the salary of sweatshop workers would only increase the consumer cost of an item by 1.8%, while consumers would be willing to pay 15% more to know a product did not come from a sweatshop
According to the National Labor Committee, women sewing NBA jerseys make 24 cents per garment that will eventually sell for $140
In 2000, more than 11,000 sweatshops in the U.S. violated the minimum wage and overtime laws, while over 16,000 had broken health and safety laws
… so people pay too.
Reference:
Do Something (2014) 11 Facts about Sweatshops. Retrieved from https://www.dosomething.org/facts/11-facts-about-sweatshops
The Sustainable Consumerist 