Consumer Ethics

[Borachio]

Caffeine is a serious drug, OK? Stop drinking it entirely. Or restrict your consumption severely.

Just because it is socially acceptable and doesn't, apparently, turn you into a raving lunatic, doesn't make its consumption a good idea.

Then there's the whole Fair Trade and global trading issues of this commodity.

But go ahead, anyway. I just love the smell of it.

 

[Terxpahseyton]

Vilification of coffee. Long time no see.

 

[duckstab]

The more Good you do, the better a person you are, obviously... Consistency is not necessary, but the more consistently good you are, the better a person you are (again, obviously). I'd rather be good most of the time but occasionally accused of hypocrisy by people who are evil all of the time. Even if Fair Trade doesn't work, it at least has a chance of working -- whereas you know that buying from companies with bad labour practices will be bad.

I agree completely.

For example, I eat vegetarian, even vegan, whenever possible, even though I can no longer classify myself in one of those categories. If someone cooks a meal for me I'm not going to turn my nose up at the rice because they put chicken broth in it. After all, the chicken's dead at that point whether I eat its rendered remains or not. And even veganism is not totally free of harm to sentient beings; even harvesting a head of lettuce is going to kill a bunch of aphids or whatever. The reality is that you can't possibly live completely harmlessly. The best you can do is to minimize your impact.

That logic carries over for me into other aspects of consumption, so I try to live as simply as I can. The fact is, every single one of us who is enjoying a first-world living standard is able to do so only because some people are being paid ridiculously low wages, or working in unsafe conditions, or lacking basic human rights, or seeing their local environment raped for raw materials. Only a few really dedicated individuals can manage to contend with all of those issues on a daily basis. But the rest of us can still make choices that at least lessen some of the suffering that happens on our behalf, and that counts for something.

 

[El_Machinae]

The reality is that you can't possibly live completely harmlessly. The best you can do is to minimize your impact.

This is why I agree with some of Christianity's philosophy; it's impossible to live a perfectly good lifestyle - and some of that is merely due to the laws of physics. "All have sinned ... "

(Where I disagree with the Xtian thought is what to do about the fact that we're all sinners ...)

 

[Tecknojock]

You could always get the k-cup filter basket and then use normal coffee. It ends up costing less and broadens your selections. that's what I do.