when you cant be Ethical ..

[~MummaBear~]

Ok so i was just wondering how devoted people are to ethical living..
For example...
You go to buy eggs, you cant afford to buy free range eggs so your choice is
Dont buy eggs or
Buy un ethical cage eggs

either way your riddled with guilt option a your poor kids go without eggs, cakes, ect
option B you are supporting a very un ethical horrible practice
what do you do...

Ok so i know not the best example but i hope you understand what i mean!!

[Indadhanu]

Don't have the time to write what I want, but this thread might help...

Grocery Shopping: When Budget vs Ethics

[HotI]

I'm not sure if this fits here but it's something i have been pondering lately. I don't buy character clothes and try not to buy gender stereotypical clothes or sexually precoscious clothes either. I try to be conscious of where clothes/toys have come from. However, i also use a lot of hand me down clothes.

Some pieces of clothing have got me thinking. When does the stain of the sweat shop wear off? Am i being more ethical if i throw them out (well pass them on) or if i use them cos then i don't have to buy another piece of clothing? If my daughter wears a piece of clothing in public am i making a statement/ supporting the character or brand even if that is not my motivation for keeping that bit of clothing. If there is something i really disagree with (e.g. a girls t shirt with 'sexy' on it) is it better to throw it out or give it to charity because the t shirt is still clean and fine to wear?

Am i thinking too much?

[helle]

I think that it should be illegal to ponder that much on a Sunday afternoon, quite frankly.

[Floweryfields]

I think that it should be illegal to ponder that much on a Sunday afternoon, quite frankly.

Hahaha!

[peanutter]

it's somthing I think about a lot, too ... and I have chosen to work in terms of "improvement".

i know the things that I am particularly compelled about (human trafficking, slave labour, bonded slaves, etc) ... and I make decisions based on that - and based on what I have available to me.

eg: I can buy fair trade chocolate and coffee. But at the moment, there are no options for fair trade fish, prawns, etc. I'm not prepared to simply not buy seafood or products with seafood in them. so I'm getting involved with a group who are seeking to raise awareness, lobby seafarers associations etc, to get fair trade seafiid products (and other products, of course!!) into Australia ...

with some things, where it's just too expensive, but want J-man to have as wide a variety of products as possible (like with free range eggs, organic clothes and toys, fair trade rice and sugar, ethically farmed and killed meat products, etc) we just work in terms of improvements ... changing our diet and lifestyle one bit at a time, and making sure we (where we can within the time and finances available) support brands who are ethical and encourage fair trade products.

are we doing everything we aspire to? no. but are we doing a lot better than we were 2 years ago? yes.

and (hopefully) when J-man is of an age where he will understand such matters, we will be able to discuss with him the choices we made, and encourage him to make ethical choices, too.

HTH

[Ginger]

caged eggs is one of those things that i feel pretty strongly about, so if i couldn't afford free range ones, then i wouldn't buy them....or i'd buy a 6 pack of free range ones

HotI -if someone gives me stuff for my kids that i am unhappy with or don't like, then i just drop it straight down to my local animal shelter's op shop. that way the money made is at least going to a good cause and helping orphaned animals.

[RhiChiChi]

We got two chickens, so I don't need to think about the egg issue anymore!

[Artechim]

I won't buy eggs if there are no free-range ones. And proper free-range, not the brands that say cage-free but are actually barn laid which is only a small step above cages. Now if I browse at the eggs and don't get any, DS will ask "are there only the yucky cage eggs?" lol.

But then I am a bit two-sided with the chicken issue - I won't support cage eggs, but I do buy chicken meat and those chickens live in exactly the same conditions. I feel guilty every time I buy chicken to eat but we only have a small supermarket and there is no alternative except to go without.

[Indadhanu]

I also had an egg thread around here somewhere... Let's talk about free-range eggs

[Aligater]

Sorry but barn layed eggs are fine by me but I do prefer free range. My grandad had a chook farm, barn layers, and they were always happy hens never over crowded

[Erin_25]

we just work in terms of improvements ... changing our diet and lifestyle one bit at a time, and making sure we (where we can within the time and finances available) support brands who are ethical and encourage fair trade products.

are we doing everything we aspire to? no. but are we doing a lot better than we were 2 years ago? yes.

HTH

We are much the same, I believe you can only do what you can do & then more when possible. It's much the same as buying all Chemical free, I've slowly got all BPA free plates, bowls, cups for the kids and we use Chemical free washing powder etc. But sometimes when the budget simply can't support what we usually have or would like to get we either first go without if we can, or deal with what we have to for whatever amount of time. I at least know I am doing something, however small it is a start.

[Inanna]

For me I go without. This has happened over time though & certainly it's taken me years to get so strident. I figure we have such an immense choice I can do without.
Eggs especially for me - I don't think anyone locked in a cage 24/7 can be "happy"...
I use toxic free household supples, vinegar for windows, benches, bicarb, eucalyptus oil, lavender oil.