What is Ethical Consumption?
As a fan of both comic books and video games, as well as an adamant supporter of ethical living. The topic of ethical consumption is one I think about often. How a product comes to be, the process from conception, to development, to delivery has human and environmental costs. Understanding this, that as a consumer you aren’t just buying the product but supporting this complete chain is equal parts overwhelming and necessary to the core of ethical consumption. Essentially, that your lifestyle, interests and profession all have a wide-reaching impact. That is what ethical consumption is.
To be absolutely clear, being conscious of ethical consumption is not about being perfect. Realistically, you are unable to achieve this 100% of the time (which isn’t to say you shouldn’t try if compelled to) and just make yourself stressed and anxious; which doesn’t achieve all that much and like zero waste efforts, numbers make more of a dent than pushing for complete perfection. That is also to say that it isn’t a competition, justification to judge and condemn others or to deprive yourself and those around you of things. This offers little to no gain whatsoever. After all, everyone has their own context and situation to be mindful of.
As mentioned earlier, it all starts by understanding the various costs behind what you buy and choosing whether or not to use your resources to back these. It can be anything from fast fashion, to game development that uses long hours under stressful conditions (crunch) to meet deadlines. However, smart lifestyle changes aren’t made with sweeping adjustments; they’re made by informed decisions, slowly and simply. And EC is no different of course.
I would describe ethical consumption as a journey to redefine best and standard practices; one decision at a time.
The Busy Papa
Also known as Aaron, The Busy Papa focuses on lifestyle, parenting and personal wellbeing content. He has two decades experience in creative writing (including several published poems) and strongly dislikes (though tolerates) tomatoes.