Ert þú illur neytandi?

Ég hef oft áður vitnað til pistla Margaretar Wente.  Pistillinn hennar í dag skemmti mér ágætlega, en þar fjallaði hún um hvað væri "pólítískt rétt" að innbyrða.  En það er býsna oft vandratað í heiminum hvað það varðar, ef viðkomandi vill hafa "hreina samvisku", alla vegna ef mark er tekið á þeim sem predika hvað harðast "pólítíska rétttrúnaðinn".

Það er alveg ljóst að neysla á hvalkjöti fellur ekki innan "ásættanlega" rammans. En það er ýmislegt annað sem þeir með vilja vera "meðvitaðir" verða að varast, t.d. vatn úr flöskum (sekur), ferðast með flugvélum (sekur) og þar fram eftir götunum.

En grípum nokkra búta úr pistlinum:

"I was glad to discover that my new yoga T-shirt from Lululemon is made out of soy. It says so right there on the label. I'm not sure if I paid extra for this feature, but it's a good thing. Now I know my T-shirt is 100-per-cent organic. It was made from renewable resources by people who, I assume, are decently treated by whatever Third World textile factory happens to employ them. I would expect no less from Lululemon, which has improved the lives of millions of Canadians by making it permissible to dress in clothes that feel like pyjamas and pretend that you're on your way to yoga. Besides, in a pinch, I could probably eat it.

My cup of Timothy's Coffees of the World fair-trade coffee comes from Colombia, where it was bought on a fixed-price contract from a democratically run coffee co-op. That means the growers don't get hammered if commodity prices tank. This is also good. If I can help improve the livelihoods of industrious Colombians as I stimulate my nervous system, I'm all for it.

Like everyone else, I'd rather be an ethical consumer if I have the choice. But that's not as easy as you think. Take salmon. Which kind should I eat, wild or farmed? David Suzuki says farmed salmon are bad for the environment because they spread sea lice. But overfishing is depleting the oceans. I used to eat sea bass, and look what happened to them."

" Even water isn't easy any more. Although I've been congratulating myself for staying hydrated, it turns out I've been wrecking the planet. Bottled water is the devil's drink, and drinking it is about as close to mortal sin as you can get. According to environmentalists and the United Church, people who drink bottled water are responsible for depleting the water tables, polluting the air (because they truck it to the stores) and generating huge amounts of non-biodegradable plastic water-bottle waste. I am allowing water companies to make obscene profits on something that should be a gift from God, and I am undermining confidence in our public water systems. Okay! I repent! Not one more drop of demon water shall cross my parched, chapped lips.

In Britain, the church is after other sorts of sinners. The Bishop of London has declared that people who fly off on holiday without a thought for climate change are committing a sin against the planet. So what am I supposed to do now? Stay home? Take one vacation instead of two for twice as long? Plant a tree as a form of carbon offset? "

" I try to do my best on the home front. I only run the dishwasher when it's full, preferably after midnight. I've unplugged the freezer. I shave my legs in the shower and wash undies on warm/cold. The thermostat is set at 20, except when my husband sneakily turns it up. I bought fluorescent light bulbs, which I wouldn't recommend, since, as someone else said, they make your house look like a bus station bathroom. I've insulated the electric outlets and weather-stripped the doors. I have worms in the basement composting the fair-trade coffee grounds. I swear I'll start bicycling to work next spring.

But should I really go out and splurge on Product Red? I suppose it's a good thing that you can buy red cellphones and lots of other nifty stuff to help save Africa. I just wonder if it's really necessary to line the pockets of Motorola, the Gap and Emporio Armani along the way. Why not just send the money straight to Stephen Lewis? I know Bono is all for it. But isn't that the same Bono who's moving his headquarters out of Ireland to avoid taxes? How ethical is that?"

Pistilinn í heild má finna hér og heimasíðu Project Red hér.