If you asked me about ethical consumerism more than 3 years ago my reply would be 'no clue what that means'.I ate whatever was cooked at home or the food available outside ,did not think a lot about the quality of products I was using or even knew there are options to choose from. When I returned to India from my first US trip I took with me so many gifts baskets of body products from Walmart !!! I regret it now and hope nobody I gifted it to actually used them - I didn't recognize the brands nor thought twice if any of the cheapies would have any side effects.
After I got married and the responsibility of running a house and making decisions for a family feeling sunk in, I actually started noticing stuff that I buy and consume. So the girl that used Lifeboy as a soap for years is now using a natural oatmeal soap - that's the huge transformation I am talking about.
My drive towards conscious consumerism started off with a selfish motive - to eat healthy food and use quality products for my own well being - who cares about the planet anyways. But as I started using those products I became aware of how much impact it has on the planet overall and if each one of us made small changes in our lifestyle, it would create a cascading effect of larger magintude.
I switched to organic diary products to minimize the effect of injected hormones but once I started consuming the organic stuff it made me realize how cruel it must be to inject the poor creatures with steriods to increase the production of milk. When I read about caged hens and how they are given electric shock to lay eggs, I vowed to always buy cage free and organic eggs when available. I would prefer the certified humane stuff but couldn't find those brand of eggs anywhere nearby.
Next in line were organic fruits and vegetables - we buy a few types of fruits and vegetables in organic form (ones which are known to have highest amount of pesticide levels) but again the reason is solely to avoid consuming the pesticides and improving nutritional quality of the food. Organic farming is really beneficial in a lot of terms - using renewable energy sources, least use of chemicals and retaining the original nutritional content of the product. However I do realize that we need a balance of the good with the bad else the body will lose it ability to cope up with the bad. So we limit the consumption of organic food to only a selected few.
We've tried our bit with recycling though - we avoid getting plastic stuff in the first place and dump the recyclable plastic and paper at their specific facilities. I feel bad to use the plastic bags at checkout and we try our best to use reusable bags wherever possible.
Now that I am working on a retail ecommerce project I understand two new terms in terms of industry certifications - 'Energy star' and 'Fair trade'. The other day I had two bottles of a product in my hand and couldn't decide which one to buy - I hadn't heard of either companies but both products looks promising. Then I saw the Fair trade symbol on one and declared it as the winner. As I paid for it at checkout I felt happy atleast in my own way I am taking baby steps towards good consumerism.
They say 'ignorance is bliss' but it doesn't do any good when it comes to creating quality consumers. Information is the key and more informed the masses are, more are the chances of people changing their lifestyles for a better world.
After I got married and the responsibility of running a house and making decisions for a family feeling sunk in, I actually started noticing stuff that I buy and consume. So the girl that used Lifeboy as a soap for years is now using a natural oatmeal soap - that's the huge transformation I am talking about.
My drive towards conscious consumerism started off with a selfish motive - to eat healthy food and use quality products for my own well being - who cares about the planet anyways. But as I started using those products I became aware of how much impact it has on the planet overall and if each one of us made small changes in our lifestyle, it would create a cascading effect of larger magintude.
I switched to organic diary products to minimize the effect of injected hormones but once I started consuming the organic stuff it made me realize how cruel it must be to inject the poor creatures with steriods to increase the production of milk. When I read about caged hens and how they are given electric shock to lay eggs, I vowed to always buy cage free and organic eggs when available. I would prefer the certified humane stuff but couldn't find those brand of eggs anywhere nearby.
Next in line were organic fruits and vegetables - we buy a few types of fruits and vegetables in organic form (ones which are known to have highest amount of pesticide levels) but again the reason is solely to avoid consuming the pesticides and improving nutritional quality of the food. Organic farming is really beneficial in a lot of terms - using renewable energy sources, least use of chemicals and retaining the original nutritional content of the product. However I do realize that we need a balance of the good with the bad else the body will lose it ability to cope up with the bad. So we limit the consumption of organic food to only a selected few.
We've tried our bit with recycling though - we avoid getting plastic stuff in the first place and dump the recyclable plastic and paper at their specific facilities. I feel bad to use the plastic bags at checkout and we try our best to use reusable bags wherever possible.
Now that I am working on a retail ecommerce project I understand two new terms in terms of industry certifications - 'Energy star' and 'Fair trade'. The other day I had two bottles of a product in my hand and couldn't decide which one to buy - I hadn't heard of either companies but both products looks promising. Then I saw the Fair trade symbol on one and declared it as the winner. As I paid for it at checkout I felt happy atleast in my own way I am taking baby steps towards good consumerism.
They say 'ignorance is bliss' but it doesn't do any good when it comes to creating quality consumers. Information is the key and more informed the masses are, more are the chances of people changing their lifestyles for a better world.
