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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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, … Continue reading Ethical Investing – Carbios recycles polyester clothing
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.
The top reason to vote against Donald Trump is his character. There, I've said it. And I mean character in the broad sense to include both his personality/temperament and character traits (here are two Psychology Today blog posts explaining the difference between personality and character and where temperament fits in). Voters: Consider this possibility, that … Continue reading The top reason to vote against Trump
Republican Voters Against Trump (RVAT) was launched in May 2020 with the goal of gathering testimonials from Republicans who will not vote for Trump in the 2020 election. Many of them voted for Trump in 2016 and clearly see that as a mistake now, in retrospect. Some avoided Trump in 2016 by voting for a … Continue reading Republican Voters Against Trump – US map
This post is dedicated to Republican voters who are undecided about whether or not to vote for Donald Trump in November. There’s probably a desire to vote for him purely because he’s the representative of the Republican Party and that’s how you’ve always voted. It’s hard to overcome the deep resistance to change that we … Continue reading The Best Republican Presidents versus Trump
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 … Continue reading California fires and climate change
Bill Ackman, activist investor and founder and CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management has today launched a new enterprise. Pershing Square Tontine Holdings (PSTH) had its IPO today but doesn’t yet have a business – it’s a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) that first raises money through an IPO and then later invests that cash … Continue reading Pershing Square Tontine Holdings – An Ethical Investment?
Hey Folks. I think we all have different ways of dealing with the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery. The first thing for me was to start looking back – to Rodney King in LA, 1991, Oscar Grant in Fruitvale station in Oakland, 2009, Eric Garner in New York, 2014, and Michael … Continue reading Racial equality and ethical consumerism
One of the aspects of the meat industry that we don’t think about so much is the impact on humans – in particular, the social impact of slaughterhouses. We talk about the impact on the planet (climate change, land use, deforestation, pollution) and on the animals themselves, of course, but there’s also a very real … Continue reading The social impact of the meat industry
If you’re anything like me, you’re probably approaching burn out on Coronavirus articles by now. Well, prepare yourself for more, from COVID-19’s impact on the economy to fluffy social media posts about how we are changing the way we work and live (Look how my hair has changed after two months of isolation! ). But … Continue reading Coronavirus may be our best chance to save the planet.
