These posts cover social and environmental issues most relevant to ethical consumerism – from corporate ethics to climate, population, agriculture and us.
I spent a good amount of time researching the plight of the bees and you’ll find four posts on that subject here (start with part 1). It says a lot about the lengths (and depths) that certain industries will go to in order to keep selling their products.
There are also a couple of posts on the important issue of human population growth, and how it’s tied to ethical consumerism.
Controversial ingredients, from palm oil to microbeads, as well as packaging travesties, from bottled water to disposable coffee cups, are also covered here.
Social and environmental issues related to our food chain are also covered here, including slavery, organic agriculture, and deforestation. And an homage to cooking – the most fundamental form of activism.
There are also a few posts about how to hold it all together and keep your cool with all of the above going on – from Eckhart Tolle to mindfulness.
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Hi folks! You know, there are many global issues that we could solve through simple changes in our lifestyle. Getting rid of disposable coffee cups is a good example. There has been a big push to find technological solutions to coffee cup waste, focusing on that plastic liner that makes cups hard to recycle. Designing … Continue reading Cafes saying no to disposable coffee cups
How to save the Amazon rainforest. I’ve covered ethical consumerism issues related to tropical forests in the past. Here’s a list of key actions
To me, ethical consumerism is a pretty self-explanatory term and I think that most people have a good idea of what it means. But it’s worthwhile to take a fresh look at the concept from time to time and address any misconceptions that crop up. So here's a quick guide to ethical consumerism from the … Continue reading What is ethical consumerism?
The world has changed. I see it in the water. I feel it in the Earth. I smell it in the air. J. R. R. Tolkien’s words could well describe our current situation. A darkness grows, the divide between light and dark is more apparent than ever, and there is a call to action for … Continue reading A New Beginning
I had always intended to write a post on the top things you can do to reduce your footprint. But I procrastinated, partly because I never felt that I’d done enough research and partly because the topic has been covered pretty widely. However, many of the lists that you’ll find online don’t really hit on … Continue reading Ethical Consumerism, Part 9 – How to reduce your carbon footprint
One of the top things that you can do to reduce your carbon footprint is to switch to a renewable electricity provider. In the East Bay (the cities across the bay from San Francisco, including Berkeley and Oakland) this has now become a lot easier! In fact, by default, electricity is now being provided by … Continue reading Renewable Energy comes to the East Bay
Even though we might be vaguely aware that slavery still exists, many of us think of it as a thing of the past, or a thing that is separate from us. When we pick up a mainstream chocolate bar, it may not occur to us that the cacao was harvested by children who were sold … Continue reading Ethical Consumerism Part 8 – Slavery in the Chocolate Industry
Hi folks! In the previous post, I looked at how we can take actions as consumers to help curb population growth. This post is about actions we can take to sustain the human population without completely destroying our planet. Population growth fears are exploited by corporations One of the most common abuses of the population … Continue reading Ethical Consumerism, Part 7 – How to Sustain the Population in 2050.
In an early GSP post, Sociopathy and Kindness, Part 2, I somehow got onto the topic of population growth. It’s a topic that’s worth revisiting because the key questions of how to control population growth and how to sustain future populations are both closely tied to ethical consumerism. I believe that these issues have also … Continue reading Ethical Consumerism, Part 6: Population Growth
You may have heard the news yesterday that the EU has voted to ban neonics (neonicotinoids) in Europe, putting a more permanent stamp on the temporary ban that had been in place since 2013. Meanwhile, in the US, the use of neonics has increased to a point where a large percentage of several major crops, … Continue reading The EU bans neonics. What will the US do?
