Having posted this week about the whimsical and useless (Bada Being and Nothingness) and the wistful longing for far away locales (Armchair Travel: Scotland) I am seized today by a midweek urge to post something Practical and Useful for a change.
Today’s book selection bears little resemblance to Consumer Reports Buying Guides or other purchasing advice titles you may be familiar with. The Rough Guide to Shopping with a Conscience could be described as the mass market arrival of “ethical consumerism”, transformed by the travel books publisher, which has begun expanding their Rough Guide logo and series tie in to books covering an array of consumer products, industries and issues in addition to the destination travel guides which were the original series focus.
If you are looking for an indexed listing of ethically troubled companies and products to avoid, you will not find it here. What you will find is a nuanced and detailed discussion of the ethics of consumption, stating from such base line questions as “should we shop ethically?”, and progressing to advanced questions such as the unintended harms that may result from a focus on ethical consumption.
Clark and Uterberger guide the reader to consider their choices as consumers, to empower themselves with knowledge about alternatives and the impacts of different choices and to negotiate the modern consumer landscape knowledgeably and ethically. This does of course require a great deal more thought and effort than purchasing a book that tells you what to buy and who not to buy it from but leaves the reader much better prepared to make purchasing choices consistent with her or his own ethics, rather than relying on a list prepared by someone who may have a very different agenda than you do. Recommended.
Entries (RSS)
October 31st, 2007 at 8:53 am
should we shop ethically?
That’s a toughie. I would like to say that I do but when it comes right down to it, when I shop for food or clothing I buy whatever I need that’s on sale. Money is tight these days in my home and I try and stretch every dollar.
Aside from that how many people actually take the time to learn about each and every company they buy from? I would have to think less than 1%.
The only time many of us know that a company is being unethical is when we come across it in the news (such as GAP today with their child labor issues).
I wish I had the time and money to stay on top of such things. I really do.
October 31st, 2007 at 5:46 pm
Should we shop “ethically?” Now, there’s a mind-twisting, thought provoking theme.
Hmmm!
October 31st, 2007 at 9:57 pm
I hear you about needing to stretch a dollar, Dawn. I’m a part time library clerk making 8 something an hour. For most of us, what we can afford will always be a major consideration. But one thing that impressed me in reading the book is that ethical does Not have to equal expensive, though it does require more thought and research.