With the increasing rise of interest in environmental issues, as well as general human rights in our societies, terms like carbon footprint, and lifestyle concepts such as minimalism, and ethical consumerism have been pushed to the forefront. Ethical consumerism being one of the more popular. But what exactly is Ethical consumerism and, in our day, and age is it achievable?

‍

According to Britannica.com, Ethical consumerism is “ A form of political activism based on the premise that purchasers in markets consume not only goods but also, implicitly, the process used to produce them. From the point of view of ethical consumerism, consumption is a political act that sanctions the values embodied in a product’s manufacture. By choosing certain products over others, or even whether to purchase at all, consumers can embrace or reject particular environmental and labour practices and make other value claims based on the ethical values they hold. Exercising choice in this way creates incentives for producers to make production practices conform to consumer values.”

‍

In more simple terms ethical consumerism is about knowing the who, what, where and how about the products you purchase. It means choosing to not purchase products that are not inline with your personal moral standards.  The ultimate goal of ethical consumerism is to use our consumer buying power to not only save the planet, and support workers and their conditions worldwide, but also to convince companies that don’t follow this model when producing things, we consume to shift towards more ethical practices.

‍

While on surface this sounds great, easy, and something everyone on the planet should be working to the answer to the question is it achievable will depend on who you ask.  The first major issue when wanting to shop “ethically” is deciding what exactly that means. Do you buy from a company that uses great materials, has great working environment for their employees , affordable prices but the CEO is well known to be a part of a neo nazi group? Or do you buy from a less “ethically produced” company but who’s mission and values you support? What about companies that are environmentally ethical but  ignore working conditions? The reality is that not every ethical and social issue holds the same weight of importance to every person. Our own personal beliefs play a major factor in how, what and who we purchase from.

‍

Another issue with ethical consumerism and probably the most overlooked is the cost and accessibility. We live in a world where class issues exist and depending on your disposable income available purchasing ethically can be the biggest nightmare. People who struggle to make ends meet and can barely cloth and feed themselves properly due to the horrid gap between income and living costs in the US and many other countries, have very different shopping habits than those who are upper middle, or upper class. if you have 100 dollars to buy wardrobe for the winter your only focus is how can I buy enough to stay warm versus how ethically are my items being produced. not even getting into the fact that there are very few ethical clothing brands that cater to plus sized shoppers, or that most of these shops are found online and require a debt and/ or credit card (which is making the assumption that everyone has these things). The same can be said for food, cosmetics, personal care items. In the current market most companies cater only to one type of audience, and sadly that is the upper middle to upper class, non plus -sized white person.

‍

And finally lack of transparency makes ethical consumerism difficult. There have been reports of companies who purchased products from suppliers with the belief that it met ethical standards only to find later (or not at all ) that information was withheld by the supplier. For example Walmart years ago found out that the Canada based supplier they were purchasing from had been hiding documents showing they purchased from a factory that did not meet standards (and had employees die from working conditions) through the years there have been other similar situations. It can be hard to shop ethically if you or the company itself isn’t even sure.

‍

In conclusion ethical consumerism isn’t a one size fits all concept. It is something that in my opinion will continue to look different depending on who you ask, and in reality, that’s ok. As long as we all try to do what we can to be more mindful of our consumer habits then we are headed in the right direction.

‍