Ethical Consumer magazine has been publishing information on the social and environmental impacts of business, developments in the ethical market place and political consumer activism since 1989.
Irresponsible and unsustainable behaviour by banks, driven by greed and kept unchecked by a failing regulatory system, has been at the core of the financial crisis. Read our abridged version of Banktracks major report.
From Ethical Consumer, Issue 118, May / June 2009
Carbon Calculators are essential tools for the growing movement of voluntary carbon reduction, but they can also misrepresent the costs of climate change. Dan Welch investigates and recommends some of best…
From Ethical Consumer issue 109, Nov/Dec 2007
Two not-for-profit campaign groups, both dedicated to fighting climate change, offer very different
prescriptions – for and against the principle of carbon trading.
From Ethical Consumer Issue 128, Jan/Feb 2011
In November 2006 the Oxford-based campaign group Corporate Watch published an important critique of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). This short feature has been extracted, with permission, from the report.
From Ethical Consumer, Issue 104, January/February 2007
We can collectively challenge the power of the banks – and local loan sharks – by taking financial services into our own hands. Katy Brown investigates credit unions.
From Ethical Consumer, Issue 118, May / June 2009
As western consumers lose confidence in attempts to certify sustainable palm oil, Rob Harrison describes the latest campaigns and outlines a possible Ethical Consumer response.
From Ethical consumer issue 124 April / May 2010
Rob Harrison explores the evidence around ethical consumption and social class.
From Ethical consumer issue 129 March / April 2010
The consumers are ready but where are the products? Natasha Khamis examines attempts by jewellery producers around the world to catch up with the demands of of ethical consumers.
From Ethical Consumer, Issue 113, July/August 2008
With The Body Shop’s acquisition by L’Oréal, the rate of takeovers of smaller ethical companies by multinational corporations is increasing. Ethical Consumer magazine asks whether we should be alarmed or jubilant.
From Ethical Consumer, Issue 101, July/August 2006
A growing range of forest protection organisations are criticising the Forest Stewardship Council, claiming that it’s not a cast-iron guarantee of sustainability. Ethical Consumer asks Simon Counsell of the Rainforest Foundation/FSC Watch and Andre de Freitas of FSC International about consumer choices on sustainable timber.
From Ethical Consumer, Issue 110, January/February 2008
Export processing zones or exploiting people zones? Ethical Consumer Magazine gives the low-down.
From Ethical Consumer, Issue 106, May/June 2007
Recently – as much by accident as design – several new Fairtrade certifications and fair trade projects have tried to bring benefits to producers in confict zones. Sarah Irving finds out about the challenges they face.
From Ethical Consumer, Issue 123, February/March 2010
The gold mining industry’s response to a growing reputation problem has been corporate social responsibility (CSR). John Childs travelled to Ghana to investigate the reality behind the CSR rhetoric.
From Ethical Consumer, Issue 118, March/April 2009
Dan Welch looks at the tremendous amounts of money spent by companies to green up their image, but finds it doesn't always wash...
From Ethical Consumer, Issue 113, July/August 2008
To many in the ethical consumption movement, marketing is a dark art synonymous with greenwash. So what to make of a marketing guru who wants to use “green marketing” as a Trojan horse, smuggling ethics and green lifestyles into the citadel of consumer society?
From Ethical Consumer, Issue 122, January / February 2010
Even with the recent demise of the Dunfermline Building Society, it is widely accepted that mutual building societies generally have weathered the credit crunch better than banks. Rob Harrison asks to what extent mutuality offers a solution to the broader crisis of capitalism.
From Ethical Consumer, Issue 118, May / June 2009
Engineered nano-particles are very similar to genetically-modifed organisms in terms of the issues they raise around democratic control of the development of potentially risky technologies. Jo Southall investigates.
From Ethical Consumer, Issue 119, July / August 2009
Our rating of the world's most oppressive regimes which resulted in a list of 38 countries which we now use in Human Rights rating column.
From Ethical Consumer, Issue 131, July/August 2011
Ethical Consumer Magazine: Is pornography a human rights issue? Workers rights? Irresponsible marketing? In the light of the complex and extremely heated debates over the rights and wrongs of portrayals of sex, why do we feel that pornography is worthy of criticism?
From Ethical Consumer, Issue 102, September/October 2006
Ethical Consumer Magazine looks at how the UK government could spend public money in support of social and environmental objectives.
From Ethical Consumer, Issue 103, November/December 2006
In this extract from his new book, George Marshall challenges us to think differently about climate change before we take the “Carbon Detox”.
From Ethical Consumer, Issue 111, March/April 2008
Palm oil is found in 10% of supermarket products. Ethical Consumer Magazine asks what to expect from The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, a voluntary organisation to promote sustainable practices in the industry.
From Ethical Consumer, Issue 112, May/June 2008
The People's Economy
Arthur Potts Dawson of the People’s Supermarket and Ed Mayo of Co-operatives UK explain today’s resurgence of interest in co-operatives.
From Ethical Consumer, Issue 112, May/June 2008
Tim Hunt looks at the price of ethical goods and de-bunks the myth that it is always more expensive to buy ethical.
From Ethical Consumer, Issue 127, November/ December 2010
Dr. Nicola Scott looks at the full range of fair trade and alternative ethical trading standards.
From Ethical Consumer issue 105, March\April 2007
As Ethical Consumer magazine reaches its 100th issue, Rob Harrison takes stock and asks whether the pace of cultural change is really increasing.
From Ethical Consumer, Issue 100, May/June 2006
In September 2001 we published the Ethical Consumer Manifesto for Change. six years later, in 2007, Dan Welch took a look at which recommendations had made it into policy, which areas had progressed and which areas saw no movement.
From Ethical Consumer issue 107, July/August 2007
New evidence from market research suggests that the doom-sayers have got it wrong.
From Ethical Consumer issue 116, Jan/Feb 2009