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 cow’s milk. Before that, I want to mention that looking … 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 also brought social and environmental improvements – which is reassuring … 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 ever the same again. In Singapore it’s illegal to import … 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 Continue reading Daily Footprint, #13 – Bread: Five Social and Environmental Factors to Consider.
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. Continue reading Daily Footprint, #11 – Ethical and Sustainable Headphones
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. Continue reading Daily Footprint, #10 – Cell Phone, Mobile Network Operators
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 Continue reading Daily Footprint, #9 – Cell Phone (ethical mobile phones)
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. Continue reading Daily Footprint, #8 – Coffee (Part 2, fair trade and direct trade)
Here are four certification schemes that correlate to various extents with shade-grown coffee. Continue reading Daily Footprint, #8 – Coffee (Part 1, Shade Grown).
In part one, I took a look at some issues to consider when rating textiles from a social and environmental perspective. Here are a few remaining factors to consider, but do make a choice based on what’s most important to you and then share your information with others by writing a “green star” review (of an item of clothing or a store). So, this isn’t … Continue reading Daily Footprint, #6 – Clothing (Sustainable Textiles, Part 2)
The Green Stars Project 