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CONSUMER ETHICS

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CONSUMER ETHICS was created to help us understand how our purchasing power can help or harm the world around us.

Members: 65
Latest Activity: May 11

WELCOME TO CONSUMER ETHICS

Anyone who pays attention at all should not be surprised to learn that how we spend our money can profoundly influence social and economic justice, environmental preservation or degradation, animal welfare, and democratic freedoms—especially in third-world countries.

Of course, it is difficult to always be 100% ethical in everything we do. No one lives a blameless life, and in our capitalist culture it is very difficult to monitor and be aware of every injustice that occurs for the sake of profit. Clearly, most economic or consumer injustices take place out of sight – and therefore out of mind for most of us.

Add to that the sheer burden of just getting through the day: working, commuting, doing chores, meeting our obligations and responsibilities, etc., that it seems damn near impossible to be mindful of how, what, and even whom we consume day after day. But doesn’t mean that we can’t try to make better consumer choices as much as possible.

The Consumer Ethics group will allow us to share information that will help us understand and address the above issues and become conscientious consumers by:

Identifying unscrupulous corporations that exploit people or animals; or maintain and increase social poverty, inequality, and deprivation
Allowing us to share information on fair trade products or services
Exposing workplace injustices, sweatshops, and child labor violations
Identifying companies that value their employees and customers, that promote living wages and equality and fairness in the workplace, provide safe and healthy working environments, and maintain sustainable business and environmental practices
Finding products that are safe to use or healthy to consume
Recognizing consumer addiction and consumer propaganda
Understanding and voting against economic legislation that is unfair or predatory

We must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, militarism and economic exploitation are incapable of being conquered. A nation can flounder as readily in the face of moral and spiritual bankruptcy as it can through financial bankruptcy. -- Dr. Martin Luther King, April, 1967

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Comment by Dallas the Phallus on March 28, 2009 at 7:03pm: @Sydni: Yes that is a neat story, and yes, charities are always the first to get hit in economic hard times. I've done some stuff for animal resuce and adoption, but I was never as successful as these guys.

@Felch: I think you are right about the enlightened self-interest bit. Few of us are totally selfless.

Comment by Фелч Гроган on March 28, 2009 at 4:16am: Sydni, to understand the magnitude of disgust the Nike Foundation video really deserves, check out -
http://www.nikefoundation.org/who_we_are.html

It is a Nike who's who. This is raw propaganda to deflect from the real issue - it is the Nikes of the world that trap (mostly) women and girls in sweatshop labour concentration camps from which there is no realistic possibility of escape. Google nike sweatshop [images].

If Nike were sincere, they'd open their sweatshops to free scrutiny, pay a living wage and provide a work environment they would find acceptable for their own children. They aren't sincere - it is cheaper to run their "benevolent" foundation to mollify any guilt the soft, pink western consumers may feel. It is far more cost effective to preach than to practice. Nike are by no means the only culprits. Do you own an iPod or an iPhone ? A Dell PC ? Wear Levis ? By junk from $2 shops ? Coffee, tea, chocolate... There is very little in our lives that is not tainted by misery. It is pretty much impossible to avoid.

I'd also like to note I am a capitalist pig - there isn't really a socialist bone in my body. My humanitarian instincts come from enlightened self-interest, unlike the rest of the greater communist ridden a|n (*ducking*).

"Give me convenience, or give me death !" - Dead Kennedy's

Comment by Dallas the Phallus on March 27, 2009 at 1:40pm: BTW Sydni, what Felch meant by a bit of nausea on that video is the fact that Nike is one of the worst perpetrators of sweatshops in third world countries -- failing to invest in the people they encourage us to invest in with that video. Nike corporation is totally hypocritical.

Comment by Dallas the Phallus on March 27, 2009 at 10:21am: Yeah, you've linked to this before. It is a good video. We need a good post on the Nike problem.

Comment by Фелч Гроган on March 27, 2009 at 10:15am: How about a bit of nausea to move things along -

Comment by Dallas the Phallus on March 27, 2009 at 10:09am: Good quote Felch. Everything has its price -- and it is mostly hidden.

Comment by Фелч Гроган on March 27, 2009 at 10:03am: Down with a world in which the guarantee that we will not die of starvation has been purchased with the guarantee that we will die of boredom - Parisian Situationist graffiti, circa 1968

Comment by Dallas the Phallus on March 27, 2009 at 9:15am: Coffee With a Conscience

Lee Hochberg reports on how Seattle coffee company Pura Vida helps its bean growers in Central America improve their lives.

This is a story that was on Newshour with Jim Lehrer last night. There is no transcript available online, but you can listen to it here.