Ethical Living

Being sustainable is as much about social responsibility as it is about reducing energy consumption. As consumers, we can make a positive impact on global markets by choosing ethically sourced products. Here's how we can do it:

Becoming more aware of our impact

We all know about the financial cost of products we buy, from the price of milk and bread to clothes and fuel. But have you ever thought about the hidden cost of these things? For example buying cheap clothes may mean they have been made by someone who was not paid a fair price for their work. Or cheap meat which may have been produced in a factory farm with high energy consumption to heat and light barns with animals living in poor conditions.

There are now a lot of initiatives that support reducing these hidden costs and often have kitemarks on products to indicate this. For example buying Fairtrade supports human rights or choosing organic contributes to environmental sustainability. There are some great resources for finding out more about this. Check out the Ethical Consumer's website to get started.

Becoming an ethical consumer isn't necessarily about choosing to buy certain products with ethical labels. Choosing not to buy certain products such as high fuel consuming cars, products containing unsustainable palm oil or products produced by companies with bad ethical credentials can be just as effective.