Shopping with a conscience.....

Consciencous shopping can see like a massive undertaking. Loads of reading of labels and deliberating whether to buy the dearer ethical product or something cheap and cheerful. Australian made vs Fair trade? Is it made in Australia with Australian produce, made in Australia with overseas produce, made overseas with Australian produce? Does it contain genetically modified ingredients? How is it packaged? What's the carbon footprint? Is it tested on animals? Does it contain MSG? And as much as we'd like, we don't all have time to shop at farmer's markets and food co-ops all the time.

But the best things about being a consumer is that you have CHOICE. You can choose what to buy and where.

Ethical Consumption

The Ethical Consumer Guide by Ethical.org ranks brands according to their company rating. This is based on assessment information gathered from over 25 sources including the work of organisations such as Greenpeace, Choose Cruelty Free, Corporate Monitor, Reputex, Responsible Shopper and Sustainability Victoria. Its an excellent consolidation of loads of different products rated by different organisations.

Presently the guide focuses on supermarket products. You can download the guide here

If it all seems too difficult, Ethical also runs Ethical Shopping Tours, a brilliant way to learn how to put the guide into action: