A few posts ago, I wrote about Asics. I began with “when you’re an ethical shopper…“ I presumed, glibly, that I was being truthful. However, one of my readers pointed out – quite correctly – that I missed something big. He noted that while these shoes were not made out of animals, it was made BY someone who was likely exploited in order to bring us an artificially low-priced product (with the true costs hidden). How true, and how irresponsible of me. I admit, these issues – labor, environmental, etc. – have thus far been missing from the discussion in this blog. I limit my “content” to the subject matter bearing the title of this site, i.e. vegan products. Largely unexplored are the various ethical and moral implications inherent in today’s globalized garment industry. I ignore facts such as unsafe factories, mistreatment, sexual harassment, unfair wages, child labor… the list goes on. On top of this, I paid no attention to the havoc wreaked on the environment, from the manufacture of synthetic leather, to the pesticides poured on cotton to make the canvas. I can hardly pat myself on the back for being an “ethical consumer” without at least acknowledging these omissions.
This certainly has to change. I freely admit that I have not been actively seeking out and promoting socially and environmentally conscious businesses. I just see something cool, and if it’s not made out of leather, that’s been good enough for me. Clearly, I must make more of an effort to promote more responsible companies… starting tomorrow with Jinga (thanks Nick!).
Thanks again to you readers who’ve been reading, commenting, and keeping me on my toes. This is an experiment. I’m not sure where this is going, but it will be you, the reader, that will largely steer this ship with your ideas and feedback. Thanks for keeping this interesting!
- Henry
p.s. the title of this post is not implying that any of you guys are NOT socially conscious!
