Introduction
Ethical consumerism (alternatively called ethical consumption, ethical purchasing, moral purchasing, ethical sourcing, or ethical shopping and also associated with sustainable and green consumerism) is a type of consumer activism based on dollar voting.
People practice it by buying ethically made products that support small-scale manufacturers or local artisans and protect animals and the environment while boycotting products that exploit children as workers, are tested on animals, or damage the environment.
Some argue that “Shopping is more important than voting” and that the disposition of the money is an essential role in any system of economics. Some theorists believe that it is the most straightforward way that we express our real moral choices. If we say we care about something but continue to buy in a way that has a high probability of risk of harm or destruction to that thing, we don’t care about it.
Several standards, labels and marks have been introduced for ethical consumers, such as:
- B corporation
- Co-op Marque
- Dolphin safe
- EKOenergy for electricity agreements
- Equal Exchange
- Ethical Consumer Best Buy label
- Fairtrade
- Free-range poultry
- FSC-certified sustainably sourced wood
- Grass fed beef
- Green America Seal of Approval
- Halal (religious standard)
- Kosher (religious standard)
- Local food
- MSC-certified sustainably sourced seafood
- No Pork No Lard (semi-religious standard)
- Organic food
- Organic Trade Association
- Product Red
- Rainforest Alliance certified
- Recycled/recyclable
Although single-source ethical consumerism guides are popular user-generated ethical reviews are more likely, long-term, to provide democratic, in-depth coverage of a broader range of products and businesses.
