Recently, for some reason, I've taken to spending up to an hour in my local supermarket when grocery shopping. I suspect its due to the pleasure I've been taking in the domestic lately, but I think the very higgeldy piggeldy way I shop has something to do with it, and also there tends to be a lot of contemplation.
Some of the time in the shop was spent over ethical question. I have a brand of tea I like. It is not fairtrade, or if it is it doesn't advertise the fact. Actually I have another problem with my favourite brand of tea, as they currently have ads showing the tea flying off the bushes (are they bushes? is it tea bushes? I don't know) Anyway the ad annoys me because it implies tea is not picked by anyone. People pick the fucking tea, what's the problem? Someone dug up my potatoes, and picked my tomatoes, what's the problem? Or perhaps the problem is if you show someone picking tea it draws attention to the fact that they are not being paid properly or treated fairly. So I try to use different tea. There's a brand called Tea Direct which I like the taste of and is fairtrade, but they hardly every stock it, so I'm left with Robert Roberts Fairtrade, which is a tea I don't really like. Today I bought the non-fairtrade tea with the better taste. I suppose if every second time I buy fairtrade tea that's something, or is it just a cop out? It's only tea afterall.
In better reportage I did buy bio-degradable bin bags. Although I bought the non-eco friendly toilet cleaner. I bought the eco-friendly kind the last time and I suspect it doesn't properly clean the loo.
I presented a paper at a conference last year where I argued that where we have the capacity to affect others, however small, we also have a similar level of responsibility towards those other people. This is the kind of thinking that has led me to spending this ridiculous amount of time in the supermarket weighing up my wants and what I should do in these small ways.
Does anyone else have shopping trips fraught with ethical dilemmas, or is it just me?
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I don't actually ever check stuff like that, i know i should but i'm usually so caught up in getting the stuff on the list, and getting more for my money, that the ethical thoughts don't have much space in my head.
Also the current economic climate honestly does not leave much space for being picky. My cash is Really not going as far as it used to, and this does mean that the emphasis is on being thrifty...which often means having to ignore the 'ethical' shopping style.. (eg. Normal eggs are cheaper than free-range).
just thinking of your comment. I think your right that it is really hard to discern if anything is fairtrade. I've decided to trust the "fair trade" logo, which probably should be called "fairer trade", because I don't believe it is fair, just fairer than non-fair trade stuff. I suppose its the little increments we have to try.
SS: No idea about Tommy Hilfiger. But I don't believe it's uncommon for high end fashion to be entirely unethical.
I agree that ethical choices are usually more expensive. I'm not a totally ethical shopper or anything. I could buy my fruit and veg at farmer's markets and reduce foodmiles and all that. I definitely buy things with too much packaging, - and I'm certainly creating my own landfill with plastic water bottles. But where the difference is small I feel I should make the change. I fritter away money on really stupid, useless things (just this weekend I bought a pair of shoes I can't walk in!), so paying a little bit extra for more ethical foods shouldn't kill me!
But I do acknowledge that these things are really small and may indeed not make any difference. About a year ago I accidently bought non-free range eggs and I dreamt about battery chickens. For me I think the extra 20cents are worth it, but I totally accept that other people make their own choices.
For example I could dye my hair with henna, but that would take about 14 hours. The chemicals take 30 minutes - I'm going to stick with the chemicals!!
To be healthy, or environmentally friendly, or anything ethical, well you must pay for the 'privilege'
SS
And then too you have watchdogs who watch these things and watchdogs who watch watchdogs who monitor these things.
But then again its because im single and I'm lazy, shopping really is a chore