Consumer ethics - The Bear and Badger

Kow

I buy breast so so I don't throw anything out.

Kow

yay, page turn breast

davyK

I'm lucky to have a few good local shops near me within walking distance. Butchers , greengrocers. Used to have a great bakery too but that was bought up by a chain and it's crap. I shop local when I can but also use Tesco who have taken over N.Ireland and bought up a lot of said bakeries - though indies are on the comeback trail thankfully

Also lucky enough to have an excellent market in Belfast which I am trying to get into the habit of using regularly. I can easily call in on the way to work on a Friday morning with loads of fresh meat,fish, veg, fruit and bread all available. Have a fridge in work I can use for that.

Price is still a good measure of ethics re meat. So when I buy from Tesco etc I avoid the budget options. Lidl sell local brand food too so when the quality is decent I'll buy that.

Re Amazon - I remember them being small and losing money year in year out so I admire their tenacity but realise they have passed the ethical sweet spot now. When I know exactly what I need I'll use them but I support the high street with music, films and books when the price difference isn't large.

The behaviour I really loathe is that displayed by those who get the advice in the shop and then piss off online. Audio shops etc are really suffering for that and then the same people moan when they wrap up. Richer Sounds have adapted well though as their online/shop prices are good which shows it can be done. I also bought from my local Maplins and paid over the odds for some cables but I also got great bargains there so it evened itself out. Sorry to see that one go.

The phone hacking scandal saw me finish with newpapers. I could count the number I have bought on one hand - esp from Murdoch since then though I have relented and bought a copy of a weekend Telegraph or Guardian very occasionally in recent months.

cockbeard

Does anyone remember the listeria scare this Summer? That to me summed up the issue I have with our foodstuffs. Veggie, Vegan, Omnivore, whatever, it doesn't really matter when you look at this list of recalled products. The only thing they have in common is sweetcorn (not a difficult crop to grow) and must have had a single point of contamination. So how come all these products got recalled

https://www.food.gov.uk/news-alerts/alert/fsa-prin-35-2018-update-1

Tesco, Aldi, Onestop, Waitrose, Sainsburys, Lidl, Iceland, Growers Pride, Ross and other brands. Spread across all their ranges, premium to budget. So these were all supplied from one bad batch of sweetcorn. So that must have all been shipped from god knows how many farms to one central processing plant where it became infected and then chucked into bags and labelled with all those different names. So really once we buy processed food or anything at all from a supermarket, we are supporting the shipment of these crops across the country twice, from farm to factory, and again from factory to shop. Not only prepackaged veg either, the loose veg you see on the supermarket shelves is stored for months in an oxygen free environment, then placed in Nitrogen or whatever it needs to ripen before going out on shelves.

The cruelty to animals that many veggies and vegans highlight isn't the issue, it's merely a symptom of a bigger illness, the industrialisation of food production. Animals don't have to be treated badly, vegetable don't have to be processed in one place, but we like convenience. I'm as guilty as anyone else, and even if you use your local newsagent type place they are likely buying stock from cash and carry so still the same bulk produced stuff. It's so very difficult for us to know the provenance of anything we buy, and for me that's what needs to change

edit: that list also made me feel justified in feeling that if the packaging has more than three colours I'm getting ripped off so I'm happy to always buy the value/bargain/essentials stuff for staples because it's all come from same place really

[Deleted User]

RedDave2 wrote:

I guess im saying you try to change your habits so that you don't throw anything out, use the whole animal instead of just chucking it. I accept it doesn't suit everyone.

It is much easier said than done.

RedDave2

Andy wrote:

RedDave2 wrote:

I guess im saying you try to change your habits so that you don't throw anything out, use the whole animal instead of just chucking it. I accept it doesn't suit everyone.

It is much easier said than done.

Absolutely. You do what you can.

SpaceGazelle

Making stock is a fairly easy thing to do with a dead body. Freeze it in ice cube trays for when you need it.

afgavinstan

I avoided amazon for about a decade due to my allegiance to its competitor (and said competitor had amazing staff discount). Now I'm free I'm signed up to Prime and have bought pretty much all my Xmas off there. Too simple.

regmcfly

SpaceGazelle wrote:

Making stock is a fairly easy thing to do with a dead body. Freeze it in ice cube trays for when you need it.

Read this out of context and it's my post of the day.

SpaceGazelle

Apparently humans are delicious.

regmcfly

Apparently aye son

SpaceGazelle

https://listverse.com/2015/07/01/10-reviews-of-human-flesh-by-real-cannibals/

Paul the sparky

Is it ethically sound if you only eat the buttocks and chuck the rest of the human in the bin?

regmcfly

I mean who wants a wrist.

SpaceGazelle

You could do that without killing them.

SpaceGazelle

I should start a vegetarian black pudding company that just takes a little blood using a syringe.

SpaceGazelle

regmcfly wrote:

I mean who wants a wrist.

Stock.

RedDave2

SpaceGazelle wrote:

regmcfly wrote:

I mean who wants a wrist.

Stock.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. There’s still plenty of meat on that bone. Now you take that bone home, throw it in a pot, add some broth, a potato. Baby, you’ve got a stew going.

regmcfly

EvilRedEye

Weirdly, the only thing I boycott is Tate & Lyle sugar products because of their support for Brexit.

RedDave2

Edit: at reg, obviously

regmcfly

I've started boycotting a lot of brexit fannys. Wetherspoons, Dyson (lol I can't afford one) and Ryanair (I think)

Kow

Pretty sure Ryanair guy is anti-Brexit.

regmcfly

Well fuck me

hylian_elf

I don’t undestand why boycotting Brexiteers is an eithical thing. Someone explain to me please. Is it assuming that all Brexiteers are the anti-immigration stereotyping types?

Brooks

"There is no ethical consumption under capitalism" goes the saying. I'm not sure privately and personally boycotting whatever is enough of a signal to anyone with the agency to actually push things forward, so I really don't bother. My guide is product quality only.

RedDave2

Kow wrote:

Pretty sure Ryanair guy is anti-Brexit.

Oleary is anti brexit but more because it's been a shambles. Not sure how he would feel if the agreements over flights and air space had been sorted. Not sure how he would feel about it overall. Less regulation to employment and unions etc. is probably something he would be a fan of.

Kow

I think he was against it from the start. He was threatening fewer flights even before the vote.

[Deleted User]

SpaceGazelle wrote:

Making stock is a fairly easy thing to do with a dead body. Freeze it in ice cube trays for when you need it.

Possibly not, in isolation. But it doesn’t exist in isolation. It exists as part of a wholesale change in how one goes about providing for oneself. One which, when you live alone, with limited food prep space and extremely limited freezer space, is significantly less of a viable option.

[Deleted User]

hylian_elf wrote:

I don’t undestand why boycotting Brexiteers is an eithical thing. Someone explain to me please. Is it assuming that all Brexiteers are the anti-immigration stereotyping types?

I think it’s going on the safer assumption that they’re doing it in the full knowledge that it fucks most people over, but they will profit. It’s essentially down to what Brooks’ post alluded to.

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