Ethical consumer

My 40 acts Lenten challenge is focusing this week on ethical consuming.

This week marked the beginning of Fairtrade Fortnight here in the UK - a great opportunity to try and explore fairtrade options. The Co-op food stores have a particularly good range. Or try the local Oxfam shop.

Today introduced me to the idea of ethical clothing (not something I had given much thought before). Turns out my H&M jumper was made in Cambodia by poorly paid workers ...
And I found the ethical consumer website.

This bookshop caught my eye: "News From Nowhere" is an independent, not-for-profit radical & community bookshop, run by a workers' co-operative. A great alternative to other, more commonly known and less ethical online bookstores ...

Fairtrade fortnight

Fairtrade fortnight 2010 runs from February 22nd to March 7th.

A great reminder that we can help those who grow and provide food for us in the developing world by ensuring that they receive a fair living wage!

We can do that by swapping as many food and household items as possible for fairtrade alternatives ( fruit, coffee, tea, chocolate, wine, sugar, rice, flowers, cotton etc) . Sure, they tend to be a little more expensive - but the extra money we pay means the producer has earned a better and fairer income.

After all, we all want to be able to provide for our families.

To get to the fairtrade page, click here.