More ethical shopping (was: Not Sainsbury's!)

[Guest guest]

I'll admit to being too idealistic, but then I have high expectations

of myself.

 

But I just can't see non-vegans choosing the vegan/ethical products

from a supermarket. For a start most of them are more expensive, even

if they are cheaper than in the 'specialist' shops, and they're not

really given the same prime postions in the supermarket (supermarket

suppliers spend lots of money researching where to put their products

and checking that supermarkets are giving them enough space in the

right place).

 

My local council has a recycling scheme, whereby you can leave paper,

cardboard and plastic containers in a special bag on bin days and

they pick them up. The special bags are clear. First off only about

10% of the people in my street bother with this, but of those that do

I've never seen any evidence of an " ethical " product in anyone's

recycling bag apart from mine. It freaks me out and makes me despair

that so many people just go along in their closed consumer trance.

 

The supermarkets are also more likely to stop stocking

the 'specialist' items if demand falls. So then you turn around and

go back to the old healthfood shop and find that it now only stocks

meal supplements and steroids and no real food at all (I've

experienced this also).

 

You have to wonder why there is such a price difference. First off

the 'specialist' product shouldn't be said to be more expensive,

rather the 'normal' product is subsidised in various ways. For

example a cleaning product will have been mass produced from bulk

chemicals (often themselves a by product of some other manufacture).

And what happens if during manufacture the factory pollutes the

nearby river - we all end up paying (financially and in loss of

environment) to clean up the mess if that is possible at all. We also

end up paying when 5 years later it turns out that this product or

the pollution it caused has a long term health risk. I think there

should be an ethical and environmental impact assessment made of such

things and the products taxed accordingly. Yes that would probably

mean price rises in the short term, but in relative terms food etc in

this country is very cheap (in my opinion precisely because its cost

does not consider the long term). When you realise what some

companies spend on advertising and marketing their products, and

developing " new-improved " versions, you realise how cheap the

production must be. I'm unsure how to help the low/unwaged in this

case - maybe the ethical producers could be given more (governmental)

help to get established and bring their costs down. I would hope

economies of scale would then come into play.

 

By the way, I'm not intending to be purposely argumentative. I'm kind

of using this to figure out my own position on issues such as these,

and its good to hear different or challenging ideas from others (I

don't normally get the chance).

--

Rob

 

 

 

 

vegan-network, Hilary Thornton <hilary_thornton>

wrote:

>

> <but its better to organise yourself so you

> <don't need this type of convenience and all the

> <(hidden) problems it

> <causes.

>

> In an ideal world...

>

> I don't consider myself to be one of those " wimpy "

> vegans, but when it comes down to it, there *is* quite

> a big price difference, Sainsbury's being cheaper, and

> for the unwaged, this can make all the difference.

>

> Also, we can look on the bright side and hope that

> meat-eaters and vegetarians will buy some of the yummy

> vegan stuff that the supermarkets start selling and

> realise what a great way of eating and living we

> actually have, n'est-ce pas?

>

> Hilary

>

>

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>

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