What do Coors beer, the Bowdoin Queer Straight Alliance (BQSA), and you have in common?
Much more than you would think, and a new coalition of activist groups on campus would like to tell you why.
Starting October 15, the activist movement "Cohesion" will begin the Conscious Consumerism Project, a five-week campaign to raise awareness about the impact of its consumer choices in five categories familiar to students: beer, gasoline, clothing, cleaning products, and pizza.
Each week, Cohesion plans to focus on one of these products and pinpoint certain brands for the student body that it considers poor consumer choices. Then, through a variety of creative approaches, the group hopes to show Bowdoin students that embracing alternative options is both easy and fun.
For example, the members of Cohesion have pinpointed Coors beer as a poor consumer choice due to the potential connection between the company and the Coors family's support of anti-gay legislation. Instead, they suggest supporting local and socially conscious breweries such as Sea Dog's, Magic Hat, and Fat Tire or, even better, learning how to brew your own beer.
"We're not asking students to completely rework their lives and live on Walden Pond," said Alison Driver '08, a member of Cohesion. Instead, "we want to shine a light on certain issues for students and help them begin where they can begin," she said.
A major goal of Cohesion is to reach the entire student body with its message.
For this reason, the group intends to do much more than put up posters or hand out flyers in Smith Union. Instead, the group has tried to come up with new ways to grab the attention of a broader spectrum of students than the usual mechanisms for raising awareness on campus have in the past.
For those who are visual learners, it intends to show documentaries such as "Who Killed the Electric Car?" on gas week and "The Real Dirt on Farmer John" on the pizza week.
For those who are hands-on learners, Cohesion plans to offer a "make your own Halloween costume" workshop at the Craft Center during clothes week and a "brew your own beer" workshop during beer week.
Finally, for those who want to test out alternative methods of consumption themselves, the group plans to offer a number of hands-on opportunities. For example, Cohesion hopes to arrange a night where certain approved beer brands are discounted at the Pub, provide makeovers using sustainable make-up products in Smith Union, and throw an organic pizza dinner with Plates for Peace and the Co-op, the group that cooks dinner outside the dining hall once a week.
Members of Cohesion hope that their consumerism campaign will be far-reaching. Cohesion is actually a coalition of several activist groups on Campus?Bowdoin Students for Peace, the Bowdoin Women's Association, BQSA, Democrat Left, the College Democrats, The Evergreens, and Global Justice.
In an attempt to have the greatest impact possible upon the Bowdoin student body, the leaders of these groups chose to come together to work towards one common goal.
"We can be more effective and forceful with one voice," said Liz Leiwant '08, the leader of Cohesion.
In turn, each activist group has chosen to focus on two or three consumer products that directly correlate to the goals of its cause. For example, the BQSA has adopted beer week, and the Bowdoin Democrats and Bowdoin Students for Peace will spearhead the week dedicated to gas.
Leiwant believes that this method of collective activism will help to "focus the energy of activism on campus," and create a more effective way of reaching the student body. She hopes that the Conscious Consumerism Project will become a prototype for an even larger campaign in the spring that will focus on other important social issues.