Dear Businesses: Tell Me More
Mar. 9th, 2015 10:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livingdebI have the terrible habit of buying based almost exclusively on price and taste or looks. For some purchases, I will also research durability before making a decision.
However, now that I am bringing home a little more income, I want to stop encouraging certain kinds of cost-reducing corporate behavior. So I want companies to tell me when they are charging more because they can't bring themselves to do some of these horrible things that all the other companies are doing.
Unfortunately, companies communicate very little of this for some reason. And when they do, well, it's good for the bottom line to be able to imply that you're avoiding bad behavior without actually having to pay the costs associated with that. Thus, we have claims of "all-natural," which means nothing, and "fat-free" for things like hard candy which would never have fat in it.
So what I have to do is look up legal definitions of terms of interest to me and look up certifying organizations to see what their certifications mean. And I have to do this repeatedly because it is in the best interest of the bottom line to water down the terms over time.
Here are some descriptions I like to see on products I buy:
* USDA organic certification - many standards; I do wish they could give animals antibiotics when they are sick, though
* Fair Trade Certified - many things including fair prices/wages to producers, sustainable growing methods, no GMOs, no hazardous chemicals, no child labor
* Rainforest Alliance Certified (for agriculture) and Forest Stewardship Council certified (for timber) - sustainable methods protecting workers, wildlife, and the environment (lower worker pay than Fair Trade)
* Marine Stewardship Council Certified - sustainable fishing, not dredging up everything
* Wheatsville Coop - not everything there is humane and sustainable, but they try
* Natural Grocers - they don't sell antibacterial soaps, non-organic produce, or anything with GMOs, with hydrogenated oils, or given bovine growth hormones, among other things
* Trader Joe's private labels - no partially hydrogenated oils or GMOs among other things
* pasture-raised - better than free-range which, in turn, is better than cage-free (for poultry) which, in turn is better than no label on commercially sold eggs and poultry
(And of course buying used is good for the environment as well.)
While looking up those links, I also found these cool-looking certifications:
* Whole Trade Guaranteed - decent pay and working conditions, and no hydrogenated fats, among other things
* Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center's "Bird Friendly" certification - sustainable farming methods (organic and shade-grown coffee)
* American Grass-fed Association certification - certifies that ruminant animals are feed only grass and hay (as they would normally eat), and pasture raised using sustainable methods among other things.
How about you? Do you look for minimal humanitarian, environmental, or other similar traits for which you are willing to pay more in any products?
However, now that I am bringing home a little more income, I want to stop encouraging certain kinds of cost-reducing corporate behavior. So I want companies to tell me when they are charging more because they can't bring themselves to do some of these horrible things that all the other companies are doing.
Unfortunately, companies communicate very little of this for some reason. And when they do, well, it's good for the bottom line to be able to imply that you're avoiding bad behavior without actually having to pay the costs associated with that. Thus, we have claims of "all-natural," which means nothing, and "fat-free" for things like hard candy which would never have fat in it.
So what I have to do is look up legal definitions of terms of interest to me and look up certifying organizations to see what their certifications mean. And I have to do this repeatedly because it is in the best interest of the bottom line to water down the terms over time.
Here are some descriptions I like to see on products I buy:
* USDA organic certification - many standards; I do wish they could give animals antibiotics when they are sick, though
* Fair Trade Certified - many things including fair prices/wages to producers, sustainable growing methods, no GMOs, no hazardous chemicals, no child labor
* Rainforest Alliance Certified (for agriculture) and Forest Stewardship Council certified (for timber) - sustainable methods protecting workers, wildlife, and the environment (lower worker pay than Fair Trade)
* Marine Stewardship Council Certified - sustainable fishing, not dredging up everything
* Wheatsville Coop - not everything there is humane and sustainable, but they try
* Natural Grocers - they don't sell antibacterial soaps, non-organic produce, or anything with GMOs, with hydrogenated oils, or given bovine growth hormones, among other things
* Trader Joe's private labels - no partially hydrogenated oils or GMOs among other things
* pasture-raised - better than free-range which, in turn, is better than cage-free (for poultry) which, in turn is better than no label on commercially sold eggs and poultry
(And of course buying used is good for the environment as well.)
While looking up those links, I also found these cool-looking certifications:
* Whole Trade Guaranteed - decent pay and working conditions, and no hydrogenated fats, among other things
* Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center's "Bird Friendly" certification - sustainable farming methods (organic and shade-grown coffee)
* American Grass-fed Association certification - certifies that ruminant animals are feed only grass and hay (as they would normally eat), and pasture raised using sustainable methods among other things.
How about you? Do you look for minimal humanitarian, environmental, or other similar traits for which you are willing to pay more in any products?