 
Rank: Alpha Blonde
Joined: 2/17/2010
Posts: 4,373
Location: In your dirty fantasies
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When you are buying something, do you consider the political or socioeconomic impact your purchase has on the country it originates from. Two stand-out examples are conflict diamonds (or 'blood diamonds') and items produced through known sweatshop or child labour. Would knowing the origins of the product affect you at all? Do you feel compelled to shop ethically or does it just come down to getting the product for the lowest cost no matter what? Should we (as a society) take a stand, and feel obliged to have some kind of "consumer morality" about the things that we buy? Discuss...
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Rank: Forum Guru
Joined: 10/16/2008
Posts: 1,026
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I try to be aware of it, and buy fair trade, local, and environmentally friendly when I can. Unfortunately, I'm also a broke student, and those choices tend to be more expensive. Sometimes they are out of my price range and I have to hold reluctantly go against my principles to make my money work.
Sweatshop is an issue that I don't necessarily avoid. Yes, the people in a sweatshop work long hours, but those two dollars a day puts food on their table. If I take that away from them, how do they afford to eat? Cost of living can be different in different parts of the world, so that two dollars may go a lot further than it does here in Canada. But everyone deserves a safe working environment, so if I know about safety issues with a company I will try and avoid its products.
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Rank: Advanced Wordsmith
Joined: 11/28/2008
Posts: 2,594
Location: Newcastle, United Kingdom
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Jebru wrote:I try to be aware of it, and buy fair trade, local, and environmentally friendly when I can. Unfortunately, I'm also a broke student, and those choices tend to be more expensive. Sometimes they are out of my price range and I have to hold reluctantly go against my principles to make my money work.
Sweatshop is an issue that I don't necessarily avoid. Yes, the people in a sweatshop work long hours, but those two dollars a day puts food on their table. If I take that away from them, how do they afford to eat? Cost of living can be different in different parts of the world, so that two dollars may go a lot further than it does here in Canada. But everyone deserves a safe working environment, so if I know about safety issues with a company I will try and avoid its products. I think the issues with a lot of sweat shops is that people are working long hours in bad conditions and barely earn enough money to put food on the table. Large corporations should afford to pay them more. In an ideal world everybody would boy-cot these companies and that would put pressure on them to pay higher wages - but that's never going to happen. I like to think I am pretty aware about different government's policies towards labour laws. Thus there are certain products I won't buy if made in a certain place. There are certain countries I would like to avoid giving any economic help to. I saw some clothing in a high street store the other day that was made in Myanmar. Definitely a place I will be avoiding from now on... I don't own anything made in China (although I do suspect my hiking boots may have been - they just say designed in England on them). I make a lot of my own clothing and buy things second hand.
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