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Rhiannon wrote: This is like replying to myself really, you should see the knots I tie myself in doing the shopping.
Yeah, me too, R. I try to think about what I'm buying, but when things aren't labelled clearly it's hard to make informed choices.
I particularly hate all the overpackaging that supermarkets do. Why does a punnet of regular cherry tomatoes packaged entirely in a plastic punnet and cellophane wrapper cost less than ones that come in a cardboard punnet?
As this is a vegetarian household, (Moth's a veggie but I rarely eat meat or fish) I don't have to worry about buying non-local or non-humanely reared meat and fish. But sometimes, when we're having a meal out, I can't in all conscience, order dead creatures to eat unless I know the meat or fish is 'properly' reared (you know what I mean by that - free range, local, humanely farmed.) Next time you order chicken you ask if it's free range. You can bet your arse it won't be.
One thing that really gets me is the use of palm oil, you know the stuff: they chop down rainforests where Orang Utans live and plant palm oil plantations so that Orangs have nowhere to live anymore. I love Orangs and don't want to buy anything with palm oil in it, but often the ingredient listed is 'vegetable oil'. How do I know it's not palm oil?! Increasingly I am using (English) butter in my cooking instead of marg because at least I know no trees were felled to produce it.
Oh and China... With all these protests going on about Free Tibet and Beijing Olympics, how many of us are actually NOT buying cheap Chinese goods? I know I'm not, but how many consumers have put 2+2 together?
Being an ethical consumer is really really hard!
J
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