Share and discuss how to consider the environmental and human impact of our purchases and lifestyles
What 'Buying Ethically' means
Hi members, I thought it'd be a good idea to have a post about what buying ethically means to you, and to broadly outline my ideas about the topic and this community.
I strongly believe that every dollar we spend is a vote. I have personally struggled to make informed spending decisions and to find ethical alternatives - and so I'd like this community to be used to share information about existing products & companies, and to draw attention to some great alternative products & companies.
To me, 'ethical buying' can come under any of these 4 categories:
- Ethical production - the most obvious category, this includes products that have been produced with little environmental damage, human exploitation or animal cruelty/habitat destruction (eg. Lush).
- Quality production - products that are built to last a long time. Making one thing to last a long time will have much less impact than buying a poorer quality product that will need to be periodically replaced.
- Ethical design - These are new or alternatively designed products that result in a more sustainable lifestyle. Good examples are re-usable products that can replace a disposable product (eg. diva cup)
- Second hand items - Using what we already have is always going to be more sustainable than having something new built.
Edit: 5. Home made/grown items - the best way to be sure of where your items come from is to build them or grow them yourself!
If you know of a product or company that meets any of the above criteria - please post it!
I'd love to hear your thoughts, let me know if you think I've missed anything or if you have any thoughts about building this community.




www.tenthousandvillages.com My favorite site for ethicially sourced and produced products. They do a good job of vetting the production process. I have bought, well, not a lot of things, but quite a few through this site and I have been very happy with every purchase.
al-nakhla-export.weebly.com/product-page.html Another site that supports small, cottage industry production that is responsably sourced. Lots of interesting things that we westeren culture people rarely get to see. I do realize not everyone reading this is required to be part of the western culture, I was placeing myself squarely in that ethenic / social grouping.
I would add to your defination handmade/homemade/DIY products. For example, I quilt at least one blanket every year as presents. I am still using the very first one I made almost thirty years ago. A blanket bought at my local superstore would NEVER have lasted that long! Related thought, same theme..... I have not gone and bought a new computer in a long time. I trade for used ones and parts and rebuild/repair them for myself. the parts I do not want go to my local school district or responsable usage recycler.
That's a really good point, I'll add it to my post now
You also made me realise that I'd missed out a whole movement of urban and sustainable gardening as a means of getting sustainable food.
So had I !!!!!!! OMG!!!!!
Related thought, have you read about straw bale gargening?
I think so, I had a book on no dig gardening that glossed over it. I'd be interested in trying it out but my yard is tiny and I'm in a rental :( So it's just pots for me.
actually perfect for you, read about it
It is buying in a way that aligns with my (your) own sense of ethics. I don't even think it has to be hardline. Personally, I go for local over chains. Sustainable, but I'm not anal about it. Child labor? Kinda anal about that one. That's my ethics, not yours, though. So you can "Buy Ethical" and have a completely different set of criteria.
Completely coincidentally, my college age son just asked me (literally 30 minutes ago) why I dropped my account at That Other Site. I dropped it a few years ago when they seemed to refuse to take any stand to stop pedophiles from posting links. Yes, really. We then had a discussion ("Would you accept donation to church from a pedophile?" He had some really good questions! I am so proud!)
Oh, this marks my first foray from a couple of hours of lurkdom. That's actually pretty fast for me. :)
Edited: Just noticed how old this discussion was. Never mind. Heh.
I'm glad to hear your opinion, I pinned the post hoping that new members would comment as they joined.
I think we have a pretty similar mind set. I try to make ethical choices when I can, but I'm not anal about it and I'm definitely not interested in policing what other people buy.