How Ethical is Trader Joe’s?
Trader Joe’s is a popular store, viewed with fondness, like a quirky friend that brings us interesting things to eat. But how ethical is Trader Joe’s? Continue reading How Ethical is Trader Joe’s?
Author: jkaybay
I have two sites, both focused on ethical consumerism. The Green Stars Project (greenstarsproject.org) aims to start a movement based on crowd-sourced ethical ratings. Ethical Bargains (ethicalbargains.org) is focused on evaluating new products that I’ve bought at the Grocery Outlet. Products are scored from 0 to 5 Green Stars for social and environmental impact.
How to help the Uyghurs
Canada and the US have recognized China’s treatment of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang as genocide. Up to 1.8 million Uyghurs have been detained in camps for “re-education” under brutal conditions. At least two investigations have found that Uyghurs are subjected to forced labor in companies that supply and manufacture electronics and textiles for major multinational companies. Three of them, Apple, Nike, and Coca-Cola, have been lobbying to water down the proposed Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. Continue reading How to help the Uyghurs
Impossible Burger – how would you rate it?
I bought Impossible Burgers at the Grocery Outlet and compared to them to Beyond Meat burgers. I rated the Impossible Burger 3/5 Green Stars for social and environmental impact but want to know what you think. Continue reading Impossible Burger – how would you rate it?
Can you trust Amazon?
My previous post on Amazon.com, Inc. included a poll asking: How Ethical is Amazon? Please vote in the poll if you didn’t get a chance yet – I’ll discuss the results in a future post, and maybe dig a bit more into the social and environmental impact of Amazon. This post is going to focus the following question: How much can you trust Amazon? As … Continue reading Can you trust Amazon?
Califia Protein Oat Milk
The previous post looked at the carbon footprint of plant-based milk, focusing on a recent paper from researchers at the University of California. The main conclusion of that post was that plant-based milks tend to have similar carbon footprints, and that they are all a lot lower than the footprint of cow’s milk. The research also shone a light on how much processing and packaging … Continue reading Califia Protein Oat Milk
The carbon footprints of plant-based milks
How do plant-based milks compare in terms of sustainability? Here, I want to specifically look at the carbon footprint of various plant-based milks, versus dairy milk. One of the key takeaways from this research is that the carbon footprints of most plant-based milks are similar, and all of them are significantly lower than that of cow’s milk. Continue reading The carbon footprints of plant-based milks
Poll: How Ethical is Amazon?
There are more reasons than ever right now to support local businesses instead of purchasing gifts from Amazon. This post takes a look at the impact of Amazon’s business model, Jeff Bezos’s wealth (over $200 billion) and asks you to vote on a survey: how ethical is Amazon? Continue reading Poll: How Ethical is Amazon?
Ethical Investing – Carbios recycles polyester clothing
Carbios, a small French company that specializes in green chemistry, announced yesterday the recycling of waste polyester clothing into clear water bottles. This is exciting news because options for recycling of polyester or mixed-fiber clothing are very limited – usually limited to down-cycling rather than true recycling. I’ll get to the technology in a moment, but first a quick primer on polyester. What is polyester? … Continue reading Ethical Investing – Carbios recycles polyester clothing
Phew!
Cars have been honking and people cheering all day today here in Berkeley since the election result was announced, and there’s a general feeling of optimism and elation. Continue reading Phew!
California fires and climate change
Wherever you live on this planet, you’ve probably seen images of the orange skies that we witnessed over the San Francisco Bay Area a few days ago. They are caused by the California wildfires which, we have little doubt now, are increasing due to climate change. Today seems better in that the sky is merely grey – I was even excited to see a few … Continue reading California fires and climate change
The Green Stars Project 