21st January 2024
Mail order with care
As is so often the case, making ethical or ecological choices are seldom black and white. For example, does one buy the organic but imported carrots or the UK grown non-organic carrots?
Having given the arguments in favour of shopping locally, there will be times when what is needed is not locally available. Mail order often fills this niche.
I buy flour for bread making by mail order – the flour is organic, chosen for attributes that make it suitable for bread-making, is milled in a wind mill and comes from farms local to the mill!
One mail order company that has expanded rapidly is Amazon. It is a multi national company which uses less than ethically sound business practices. Ethical Consumer has written on this at length and has set up a boycott including the option for individuals to pledge a month at a time not to use Amazon.
https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/company-profile/amazoncom-inc
The Guardian also reports frequently on ethical issues relating to Amazon – https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/may/10/next-day-delivery-unethical-amazon-workers-pollution?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
The Green Tau 