How COVID-19 Unexpectedly Set the Stage for THE RED MOVEMENT

As we all began to see the light at the end of the dark COVID tunnel and a return to normal, millions began to wake up to what this pandemic really taught us as human beings and as a society.

Our lives prior to COVID in many ways were built on a cycle of endless consumerism that not only left us financially bankrupt and struggling but often spiritually empty as well.

Our materialistic shop till we drop 24/7 culture often felt overwhelming requiring money we didn’t have to impress people we didn’t necessarily like all while having disastrous consequences for people and the environment.

COVID made us realize that what we missed in life wasn’t the cycle of getting “more” but instead having more time with family and friends.

As Suleika Jaouad so profoundly said in a 2019 TedTalk about life and death, “meaning is not found in the material realm; it’s not in dinner, jazz, cocktails or conversation. Meaning is what’s left when everything else is stripped away.”

And that’s exactly what COVID did. It stripped away parts of our lives as we stayed home and found new ways to survive, thrive, and educate the next generation of leaders.

COVID interrupted our lives and made the world pause while the environment reset and people began to take what they already had to recycle and reuse instead of buying more and filling landfills around the world. With stores closed and stay-at-home orders in effect, people began to see the treasures in their own homes that could be re-purposed or re-used instead of disregarded for a newer version.

The reality is life before COVID wasn’t the utopia some make it out to be. It was an endless jam-packed, overworked schedule that created families going in different directions while all living under the same roof.

As COVID progressed and people began to spend more time home, many saw how the endless amount of “stuff” in their house was redundant. They also realized how so many items purchased in one place, but created across the world, had a story that was often overlooked and ignored in the midst of searching for a “good deal.”

Ultimately who pays for those “good deals and bargain prices?” Do we even really want to know? The sad reality is that many of the items in our house that we use and disregard without a second thought have likely been made by slave labor, forced labor, or child labor from certain clothes to shoes, coffee to chocolate, and even toys. Modern-day slavery is growing and it’s products are ending up in the stores and homes of people who remain unaware. Until now.

COVID woke us up to the reality of how connected we all are and how we owe a responsibility to one another to take precautions not just for ourselves but for the greater good. In that sense, COVID was an unexpected pre-cursor to THE RED MOVEMENT, a global shift that made the world pause and reflect on what really mattered — people and not things.

To learn more about THE RED MOVEMENT and how unconscious consumerism is leading to the greatest environmental and human rights crises in history visit www.red-movement.com.