These posts take examples of everyday items and examine social and environmental factors to consider in each case. The goal is not for this site to become the authoritative ethical shopping guide. That’s too much responsibility for one person or organization. The goal is for us to collectively decide on the most ethical choices, as consumers.
We increasingly rely on user-generated content, whether looking up reviews of a restaurant or trying to purchase a new laptop. User-generated content can make use of our various perspectives and backgrounds to come to a consensus on ethics – see this post for more on the topic of why we need user-generated ethical ratings.
So, the Green Stars Project is all about applying user-generated content to integrate an ethical shopping guide into our daily lives. The vision is that Green Stars reviews will soon be visible on the sites we use (Yelp, Amazon, etc.) so that they are visible to everyone. Many don’t have the time or energy to consult dedicated ethical shopping guides so the goal is to bring ethical consumerism to a wider audience and also to make it a democratic process.
The posts in this category aim to provide guidance that will help you to make your own ethical decisions, wherever you live. Importantly, please consider incorporating a Green Stars rating next time you review something! Contact me if you do, as there’s a recurring competition to encourage readers to write ethical reviews – you can win an ethical prize and be featured on this site!
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It’s good to get back to the Daily Footprint, charting the impact of our epic voyage through a typical day. You’ve just had a stressful meeting at work with lots of Important People (even Mr. McDougall senior showed up!) and you really feel the need for some comfort food. You know you shouldn’t (especially since … Continue reading Daily Footprint, #22 – Potato Chips
Greetings! In this post, I’m going to take a look at the social and environmental impact of several plant-based milks. But since the purpose of the Green Stars Project is to encourage you all to start rating stuff, I won’t attempt to be encyclopedic (not that I could be). Besides, my opinion is just one … Continue reading Daily Footprint, #21 – Milk, Part 2: Comparison of plant-based milks
A lot of people are unsure of what kind of milk to go for these days. Some are moving away from dairy and switching to plant-based milks for ethical and/or health reasons. So I’m going to take a look at some factors to consider when choosing (or making) milk. First, let’s take a look at … Continue reading Daily Footprint, #21 – Milk: Cow versus Hazelnut
You know the phrase, third-wave coffee? Yes, it’s kind of irritating, but it’s a useful concept. You could represent the three waves of coffee with the examples of Nescafé instant coffee (first wave), Starbucks (second wave), and a roaster like Counter Culture (third wave), covered in the post on direct trade. This evolution of coffee … Continue reading Daily Footprint, #19 – The Evolution of Peanut Butter Cups
Indulging in chewing gum can have pretty severe consequences. A junior world champion gum chewer by the name of Violet Beauregarde transformed into a giant blueberry after trying an experimental gum during a visit to Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory. She had to be juiced by the Oompa Loompas and I’m not sure if she was … Continue reading Daily Footprint, #18 – Sustainable Chewing Gum
Five Factors to Consider when Buying Bread. 1. Ingredients. 2. Packaging 3. Energy Use 4. Leftovers 5. Employees
When my old iPod earbuds finally expired and went to the big Apple in the sky, I decided to search for a replacement that had a relatively positive social and/or environmental impact.
Based on everything above, I’m least likely to go with AT&T and it looks like T-Mobile is a decent option in the US.
A reasonable place to start is to look at existing ethical consumerism guides and see how different phones rank. The figure below compares phone rankings
Overall, my opinion is that the Fair Trade movement, although not perfect (what movement is?), has performed and still does perform a very important role in stabilizing prices, and supporting small coffee farmers.
