That’s nearly impossible. You would have to research: not only the company but the ingredients in the item and how each ingredient is obtained and who works for them and who those people are to make sure they aren’t doing anything "unethical", not to mention the store where you buy these products. You would have to spend countless hours just writing your shopping list.

And even then it's still a matter of personal opinion on what’s ethical and what’s not.

Nope. I don't give a damn where the thing comes from. If I want/need it, I'll buy it. Who cares about how animals are treated?

Human: Ethical consumerism has nothing to do with making sure that the people who work for the company aren't unethical, it's about business practices.

It doesn't take an impossible amount of research, people have done it and they publish reports and consumer tips on what to look for, like 'Fair Trade' stickers and massive boycotts of places like Wal-Mart and McDonalds.

It only requires a brief detour from apathy.

I see your point, but it still dosn't change the fact that it's your opinion on whats ethical

Of course, ethical consumerism isn't a manifesto of where to shop or what to buy. There *are* organizations, magazines, and websites that cater to certain crowds that generally agree on what it is ethical though, but you still decide for yourself.

If you believe Fair Trade is ethical, then you can shop accordingly. If you believe outsourcing physical labor to countries without labor unions of protection laws is unethical, you can believe that. I know a lot of people would consider a lot of what companies do to be unethical if they simply *knew* about it. This is less a battle of ethical views and more a battle of whether or not people want to know/care.

On 5/15/2006 4:38:06 PM Aburame wrote: Human: It only requires a brief detour from apathy.

I'm afraid to say that such a detour is very brief in my case

Not a bit. I love Wal-Mart.

Yes, I'm a vegan.

I avoid things I have a problem with, as much as possible.

I try my best.

I try to be, whenever possable.

I don't really think about it. Mostly it's when I'm at home reading the shampoo bottle 'cause I'm bored and it says "not tested on animals" and I'm like, "well, that's cool."

The only real fight I ever got into with a friend was over this issue. She told me she was boycotting Wal-Mart. I work there, and while I don't pretend it's an "ethical" company or anything, we still ended up in this massive argument.

And even then it's still a matter of personal opinion on what’s ethical and what’s not.

I try to buy fairtrade goods as much as possible, and I don't do McDonalds or KFC, so I guess I am, in a mild way.

Yes i try to be, but i really dont think im good at it.

I definitely try to be, though I recognize that I don't always make the ethical choice when it comes to what I buy. I would say that I mostly try to buy things from companies that act ethically, or at least more ethically than their competition.

On 5/15/2006 4:32:33 PM Divorce wrote: Nope. I don't give a damn where the thing comes from. If I want/need it, I'll buy it. Who cares about how animals are treated?

Ughh. People like you disgust me. Don't you have morals? I always try to find out about places, especially about where my food comes from. That's why I eat all organic. There are so many cruel things that are done to animals (www.factoryfarm.org). And Wal-Mart. That is a cruel, cruel place. Wal-Mart is a convenient place to save a few cents, but despite the consumer benefits offered, this store has a lot of negative consequences for Americans, including low wages, minimal health benefits, poor working conditions, lost manufacturing jobs, and suburban sprawl. Wal-Mart takes business away from other companies with higher-paying jobs and benefits. It sends American manufacturing jobs overseas to countries that use cheap slave labor, leaving many Americans unemployed.

Wal-Mart is notorious for disregarding workers rights, providing minimum wage jobs and almost no health benefits for their employees, and being strongly anti-union. Wal-Mart pays their employees poverty-level wages, and more than half qualify for government programs for the poor. Health care benefits are only available to Wal-Mart employees after two years, and even then, they are required to pay huge insurance premiums that cover almost half of the total expense.Wal-Mart is also known for discriminating against female employees. Some of the abuses in foreign factories that produce goods for Wal-Mart include forced overtime, locked bathrooms, starvation wages, pregnancy tests, and denial of access to health care. Workers are fired if they try to defend their rights.

I have a lot to say about this.

i try to stay away from companies that i know have had a history of being unethical, but theres really not much you can do. even if a company is ethical they might get some of their supplies from a company that is unethical, it would be impossible to find a company where all of their workers/suppliers were ethical. the company might generally be good, but theres always a crackpot who will do anything to anyone to raise profits

And even then it's still a matter of personal opinion on what’s ethical and what’s not.

And what's wrong with personl ethics?

On 5/18/2006 5:09:25 PM humanmonster wrote: And even then it's still a matter of personal opinion on what’s ethical and what’s not.

Aren't pretty much all ethical decisions like that? Do you never make a decision based on ethics because it's a matter of personal opinion?

Yes, I try very hard where ever I shop be it food, clothing, or anything else. I'm a vegetarian, too. I'm not perfect but I know I am at least helping things get better, not worse.

I don't buy Nike because they use sweatshop labor.