Definitely chip away. I still try where I can. I buy things with the free trade logo, and I steer clear of most Nestle products. I have other little causes that follow and I support everyone I know who supports a good cause, because even they need support. And do educate the kiddies, don't scare the pants off them but be honest. DD has always been educated about dodgy companies, false advertising etc. One of her first stories that she wrote was about the environment. I have a little worrier, she stresses about the big bad world a lot. She cried her poor little heart out because we forgot about earth hour. Her school is very environment focused as well as community and preventing poverty focused so she gets a lot from school and home. I think if we start with them we are doing our future generations a big favour because they will be the ones fighting for their rights in 15-20 years.
I agree completely Rouge... It's about education. When we teach by example & explaination we are sowing a seed. Those seeds when we water them continually sprout and grow into a forest... Thaht's what we need.
A new generation that truly thinks outside the circle, outside the dollar & embraces the march for compassion in business, religion, politics & humanity... It actually starts at home... Where else!?
We've switched to Aktavite (Australian made and owned!) and I avoid the 'bad' stuff when I know about it.
Unfortunately I have to buy the tea/coffee supplies for my work and I have to get Nescafe I would love to get fairtrade, but the cost would get noticed!
I worry about most things I buy... clothes too. I was looking in the sports shop today at t-shirts and thought 'are these sweatshop products?'. I didn't buy any Gonna buy some from some organic cotton online shop (after making sure they don't grow their cotton using our precious Murray River water!) *sigh* it's very hard being ethical!!
One question for everyone - what about 'home brand' products? It's almost impossible to know if they're ethical - isn't it? Any idea?
Home brand worries me because some of them are actually made by the big companies. I remember watching a segment on it 10 years ago and a lot of the cheaper brands were actually made by the top dogs.
Hi all. I am coming to the discussion late but here I go anyway
I wanted to add a few notes about palm oil and its impacts. I have been to Kalimantan twice about 5 years apart and have seen the forest devastation from the air first hand. The first time I didn't actually notice any. The second time the plantations were just so obvious and encroaching on everything.
Palm oil is in so many items that you wouldn't even think of and in itself is not a bad ingredient. But it is not produced sustainably. The roundtable for sustainable palm oil production basically provides companies with a way of saying they are doing something while not doing anything. And this issue does not just affect orangutans. In truth orangutans are one of the cutest animals affected by palm oil but are far from the only ones. They are an ambassador species for all of the other plant, animal and other species that need these forests to survive. This includes humans. Traditional Indonesian communities being 'encouraged' to sell their home lands, leaving them with no way of providing for their families. Palm oil plantations are also well known for human rights abuses.
And additionally, these forests are felled and then burnt. This releases huge amounts of carbon into the atmosphere. If we just protected the forests of the world a bit better we would have a lot less environmental worries. This issue affects the entire human population. And we simply can't expect countries like Indonesia to halt a product that is in such huge demand from countries such as ours. The people there are too poor, and need too much like decent health care for them to be as worried about environmental issues.
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I would love to get fairtrade, but the cost would get noticed! 
Gonna buy some from some organic cotton online shop (after making sure they don't grow their cotton using our precious Murray River water!) *sigh* it's very hard being ethical!! 
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