Call me a hippie, but I've become more and more concerned with how this world spins. While aware that I can't possibly change anything directly, I still feel like I can do a lot. Hearing people say 'one person can't change anything' makes me think of millions of people who wanted to act but didn't because someone told them that.
I'm already making moves towards starting to recycle paper, glass and plastic. But that's all I know for now. I've been looking online for websites that talk about boycotting certain brands, but most of them seem more hype than reason. I don't want to go crazy, but I would like to know whether the chocolate I'm eating came to me through fair trade or sweatshop labour.
And even this is not always possible. I've heard so much about the terrible work conditions in China- and yet every second bit of plastic in my life is made there. And what do I know about the Chinese economy and the true conditions? Does boycotting these factories make any sense at all? And how do I even know which brand to avoid? How do I know whether such boycotts don't make people lose the jobs they need?
Brandchannel.com is one of the few intellingent-sounding sites I've found(with this interesting article on brand names and sweatshops) but just because it sounds sensible doesn't mean it's telling the truth.
http://www.business-humanrights.org/Home is another one with a lot of info. Adbusters is most popular but it doesn't really tell me WHY I should boycott brands, other than to promote the Adbusters brand.
So can anyone give me any advice? I know there was a thread on TORC once that listed fair trade chocolate. I'd be more interested in knowing which brands I should definitely avoid, and why. I know there's no ready-made recipe for this, but there must be some general information I could find useful.