Case study in palm oil ethics: Nutiva
Evaluating products that contain palm oil is tricky. This first case study looks at Nutiva shortening, certified by Palm Done Right. Continue reading Case study in palm oil ethics: Nutiva
Tag: ethical consumerism
Ethical review competition to benefit 1951 Coffee Co.
It’s competition time again on the Green Stars Project! Your mission: Write a review of a business or product that includes a rating for social and environmental impact (on a scale of 1-5 Green Stars). For this round, I want to include a theme: Equality, whether racial, economic, gender or a mix of all three. I’ll give you an example of a Green Stars review … Continue reading Ethical review competition to benefit 1951 Coffee Co.
Dean Foods bankruptcy and ethical consumerism
Dean Foods, the largest dairy company in the US, filed for bankruptcy this week. Sad news for employees, but perhaps a positive indicator for ethical consumerism. Is the myth of the ethical consumer becoming a reality? (The myth of the ethical consumer refers to the idea that, while many of us prioritize ethical choices in theory, sales data indicate that these choices are often not … Continue reading Dean Foods bankruptcy and ethical consumerism
Ethical Consumerism, Part 9 – How to reduce your carbon footprint
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 the top priorities. Going back decades, we’ve had mantras like: … Continue reading Ethical Consumerism, Part 9 – How to reduce your carbon footprint
Ethical Consumerism, Part 5: Why we need User-Generated Ratings.
I think it’s worth writing a post to explain why I took the direction of user-generated ratings with the Green Stars Project. There’s a pretty good chance that you take advantage of user-generated content on a regular basis. Perhaps you were just looking up the difference between herons and cranes on Wikipedia, and then went for a random encyclopedic walk so long that you forgot … Continue reading Ethical Consumerism, Part 5: Why we need User-Generated Ratings.
Ethical Consumerism, Part 4: Mindfulness
Greetings! After 17 months of something pretty close to freedom, I returned to work recently and have had less time for blogging and interacting [insert appropriate emoji to convey my precise emotional response to this. Editor: there isn’t one! System Failure! LOLZ 😛 ]. Being back at work also provides another challenge: how to find time to do things the right way ? In other … Continue reading Ethical Consumerism, Part 4: Mindfulness
Your Turn – Competition Results, and Repeat!
Greetings, people! Is it just me or is everyone incredibly freaking busy since the year started? In any case, I’m a little late on this post to announce the winners of the last competition to write a Green Stars Review. Of course, life is not a competition and we’re all winners – just wanted to get that clear 😉 But I especially appreciate that people … Continue reading Your Turn – Competition Results, and Repeat!
Survey – What’s the Most Ethical Laptop?
In my last post, I covered two major brands of laptop – Apple and ASUS. I probably got a little overheated when discussing Apple and deviated from my normal detached scientific voice 😉 So I figured that it would be good idea to ask for your input by having a quick survey on laptop brands. Like the previous survey on Starbucks, I want to know … Continue reading Survey – What’s the Most Ethical Laptop?
Daily Footprint, #28 – Laptop
My goodness, it has been a long time since the last Daily Footprint post – November! Who can even remember November in this dizzyingly accelerating society? And where were we on this epic voyage through a typical day? Last we’d heard, our protagonist with no name (Suggestions welcome! Leopold Prufrock? Kathryn Earhart?) whiled away the last hour at work by checking on his/her ethical stocks, … Continue reading Daily Footprint, #28 – Laptop
Your Turn!
If you’re a regular on this site you probably noticed that I like to encourage you to practice ethical consumerism. I think it’s not only the best way to improve conditions on this planet of ours but can also be a surprisingly transformative practice. I find it to be transformative in a way that’s similar to the Buddhist meditation practice of metta bhavana (the development … Continue reading Your Turn!
The Green Stars Project 