WHY WE BUY
and why it matters
“Regenerative businesses should be the future. David shows how our everyday choices as consumers drive them forward and accelerate the restoration we need.”
— Esha Chhabra, Author, “Working to Restore”
Why We Buy, and Why It Matters is a call to recognize the quiet power behind every purchase.
In this sequel to Radical Business, David Gaines turns the lens from companies to consumers, exploring how our everyday choices—from the coffee in our cup to the clothes on our backs—shape communities, economies, and lives around the world. Drawing on years as a business owner, educator, and traveler to coffee farms in Honduras and Belize, David makes a compelling case that conscious consumption isn't just a personal choice:
It's one of the most powerful tools we have to drive systemic change.
releasing November 2026
“Why We Buy, and Why It Matters is a desperately needed buyer's handbook giving clear next steps to anyone no matter where their current purchasing patterns lie. It is informative as it is hopeful, and has the power to shape and change the social purchasing conversation into the future.”
— Melissa Sevy, Ethik
“The timely insight David offers in this book is that we can reclaim agency over [our] choices in conscientious and practical ways. Capitalists, cynics, and everyone in between need this kind of hopeful guidance!”
— Don Golden, Just Capital Quotient
Radical Business
The Root of Your Work and
How It Can Change the World
2024 CIPA EVVY AWARDS WINNER | GOLD
“This book goes on my "sacred shelf" which holds half a dozen honored books that I use to provoke new thoughts.”
—Cynthia M. Adams, Founder, GrantStation.com
As the world rapidly changes, we need more businesses that do good—companies with a radical business model that point us toward a better future.
Radical Business serves as a guide for business owners and companies eager to embrace a new, practical way of doing business. It delves into the concepts of social enterprise, showing how they can apply to anyone—employee, activist, consumer, or citizen—and uses the Golden Rule as a catalyst for a change in mindset. A genuinely radical business returns to its root purpose: meeting a customer's need, solving a problem, and providing value. Through real-life business insights, actionable steps for positive impact, and in-depth analysis of supply chain and environmental interactions, Radical Business offers strategies to help us leave the world better than we found it.
“[this] book has such a beautiful blend of great research, life experiences, and storytelling that makes it easy to read, and it's very digestible."
—Brady Duncan, Co-founder, MadTree Brewing Company
"An integral acquisition for every aspiring, new, and existing business person… Highly recommended."
—Reader Views
David’s work is published by
