by Rick Kelly

Created on: September 08, 2008

Americans have the power to eradicate child labor around the globe. As the largest consumers on the planet, we dictate the kinds of goods and services that the world will produce and how much we will pay for them. Sadly, the price we have put on these goods and services is very, very cheap. This leaves third world countries who desperately want our American dollar scrambling for ways to make goods available to us at the lowest cost possible in order to make a profit. However, someone stil has to foot the bill for the cheaply produced electronics, designer clothing and other must-have junk we want to buy. Unfortunately, that someone is the children of the third world countries.

You can show all of the sad pictures of these exploited children you want, but nobody seems to get it. We can talk about faceless militant governments that literally take children from their families to put them in sweat shops, but this is only important news until something worse happens. We say there isn't a solution to eradicate these monsters, and yet we can't seem to address the problem of our own over-consumption. Our greed for cheap products is just a bad as the need for third world countries to sell us these useless items. It's an ugly relationship, but it isn't an impossible one to rectify. Each individual American has the power to eradicate child labor every day.

That's a pretty big power if you think about it, and one that is very easy to exercise. You can eradicate child labor simply by making educated choices when you shop. Start by looking around the internet for information on child labor. Make a mental list of the worst offenders and simply stop buying their products. Made in America is almost impossible to find these days, but that doesn't mean that you can't support other countries that are trying to improve their own working conditions.

Once you find out who the real bad guys are, you can start giving charitable donations to the people who try to improve children's lives overseas. There are a lot of scam charities out there, but there are also legitimate organizations that are making a difference in the lives of children around the world. Find out who they are and give them a donation. It doesn't have to be a lot to make a big difference. Be skeptical if you want, but some of these charities can save a whole village of children with your pocket change.

These are easy adjustments, but there are tougher choices to be made. Paying the right price for imported goods is

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