Wednesday 5 December 2007

Nightmare before Christmas shopping: an ethical dilemma

This ethical shopping thing of mine has been going really well so far, until now. When it comes to the crunch, it’s actually really difficult to keep my morals whilst Christmas shopping. Some people are easy to shop for, some are happy with a charity donation or a charity sponsorship of some kind, whereas others are a little more complicated. I have found a few good ideas such as t-shirts from THTC, the RSPB shop and charitygifts but it’s a struggle to find exactly what I’m looking for. I might get a solio solar charger for my gadget obsessed techie friends.

Overall, my ethical shopping hasn’t been too problematic as fair trade and organic produce is becoming more and more main stream. Primark even have organic t-shirts but £4 they are hardly likely to be fair trade or anywhere near it. I have even seen TVs made of wood from sustainable forests for sale! So things are looking up. But it does seem that at Christmas all the environmental considerations seem to go out of the window. I know that I’m going to have to give in and buy a few things which wouldn’t normally fit in with my shopping rules but I don’t really have a choice. For once my morals are going to have to take a back seat whilst I buy stuff to make people happy. I’m sure I’ll be able to make up for it in the New Year. Maybe in the New Year I’ll extend my shopping rules to food. I have started to buy more organic and fair-trade food despite the huge price tags they carry so it is something I’m thinking about. Either way, I will definitely find a way to make up for my bad spending. Maybe I should spend a day without electricity and sit in the dark and think about what I have done.

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