"Ethical consumerism is a type of consumer activism based on the concept of dollar voting."
Ensuring that the raw materials used in our products are obtained in an environmentally and socially responsible way, including fair trade, responsible forest management, and conflict-free minerals.
Environmental sustainability: Standards and regulations for environmental protection in the production of goods and services.
Social compliance: Adherence to social and ethical standards for employment and workplaces, ensuring that workers receive fair wages and working conditions.
Fair trade practices: Methods to ensure a fair price for producers and artisans in developing countries, and fair wages and working conditions for workers.
Supply chain management: The process of managing the flow of goods and services from raw materials to end product, ensuring that the production process is ethical and efficient.
Human rights: The rights of individuals within their societies, and the role of businesses in ensuring that these are protected.
Child labor: Efforts to eliminate child labor as a practice in global supply chains, ensuring that children have access to education, healthcare, and other basic needs.
Environmental impact assessments: An evaluation of the possible impact of production practices on the environment.
Corporate social responsibility: The responsibilities a company has beyond a profit motive, including minimizing its impact on the environment, ensuring ethical production practices, and improving the quality of life for employees.
Ethical labeling: The use of labeling to communicate the ethical and sustainable practices used in the production of goods.
Sustainable packaging: The use of environmentally friendly packaging materials and methods, including biodegradable and eco-friendly packaging.
Ethical sourcing in fashion: The impact of fashion on global labor practices and the environment, and efforts to ensure that fashion production is ethical and sustainable.
Ethical sourcing in food: The impact of food production on the environment and global food systems, and efforts to ensure that food production is sustainable and ethical.
Green energy: The use of renewable energy sources in the production process, including solar, wind, and hydropower.
Eco-friendly materials: The use of materials that are environmentally friendly, including recycled or biodegradable materials.
Sustainable agriculture: Efforts to promote sustainable agricultural practices, including organic farming and permaculture.
Fairtrade: This type of ethical sourcing ensures that workers are paid fairly for their work, and that they work in safe conditions.
Organic: Organic sourcing ensures that the materials used in products are grown and processed without the use of pesticides or other harmful chemicals.
Environmentally friendly: This type of ethical sourcing aims to reduce the environmental impact of production, by using renewable energy sources, reducing water usage, and minimising waste.
Ethically-made: This type of ethical sourcing ensures that workers are treated fairly and that they work in safe conditions, without the use of child or forced labour.
Local sourcing: This type of ethical sourcing ensures that materials and products are produced locally, reducing the carbon footprint associated with transportation.
Animal welfare: This type of ethical sourcing ensures that animals used in the production of materials and products are treated humanely and are not subjected to cruelty or abuse.
Gender equality: This type of ethical sourcing ensures that men and women are treated equally in the workplace, and that workers are not discriminated against based on gender.
Social responsibility: This type of ethical sourcing ensures that companies take responsibility for their impact on society, and work to improve the communities in which they operate.
Traceability: This type of ethical sourcing ensures that the entire supply chain can be traced, from raw materials to finished products, to ensure transparency and accountability.
Upcycling: This type of ethical sourcing involves transforming waste materials into new products, reducing the need for new resources and reducing waste.
"People practice it by boycotting products that exploit children as workers, are tested on animals, or damage the environment."
"The term 'ethical consumer,' now used generically, was first popularized by the UK magazine Ethical Consumer, first published in 1989."
"Ethical Consumer magazine's key innovation was to produce 'ratings tables'... empowering consumers to make ethically informed consumption choices and providing campaigners with reliable information on corporate behavior."
"Ethical Consumer's ratings tables awarded companies negative marks (and overall scores, starting in 2005) across a range of ethical and environmental categories such as 'animal rights,' 'human rights,' and 'pollution and toxics.'"
"Just as criteria-based ethical and environmental ratings have become commonplace in providing consumer information, they are also used in business-to-business corporate social responsibility and sustainability ratings such as those provided by Innovest, Calvert Foundation, Domini, IRRC, TIAA–CREF, and KLD Analytics."
"Today, Bloomberg and Reuters provide 'environmental, social, and governance' ratings directly to the financial data screens of hundreds of thousands of stock market traders."
"Single-source ethical consumerism guides suffer from incomplete coverage."
"User-generated ethical reviews are more likely, long-term, to provide democratic, in-depth coverage of a wider range of products and businesses."
"The Green Stars Project promotes the idea of including ethical ratings (on a scale of one to five green stars) alongside conventional ratings on retail sites such as Amazon or review sites such as Yelp."
"The term 'political consumerism,' first used in a study... is identical to the idea of ethical consumerism."
"The authors found that political consumerism as a form of social participation often went overlooked at the time of writing and needed to be accounted for in future studies of social participation."
"Nick Clarke argues that political consumerism allows for marginalized groups, such as women, to participate in political advocacy in non-bureaucratic ways that draw attention to governmental weaknesses."
"Political consumerism has also been criticized on the basis that 'it cannot work' or that it displays class bias."
"The widespread development of political consumerism is hampered by substantial mundane consumption, which does not afford reflective choice, along with complexities of everyday life, which demand negotiations between conflicting moral and ethical considerations."