Category Archives: Ethical shopping

Ethical shopping

My new sneakers

8 Comments

No, those aren’t two unbaked baguettes, but my new sneakers. Despite their dull, middle-aged character, I think they’re rather special because

  1. they’re not made of leather
  2. they are made in the United States
  3. they came in size 12AA

My new, long, thin white sneakers

My nearby New Balance store got these in today and I was happy to pay $90 for them. Because I demanded certain qualities — relatively ethical manufacture and a proper fit — I had to give up the convenience of getting shoes off the shelf, a sexier style and paying bottom dollar. (Not that they’re aren’t sweatshop-made sneaks at twice the price.) Some trade-offs are worth making.

My point is not that everyone should shop like me, or only buy New Balance 811s but I would ask you to consider what you value before you buy it, and not what an advertiser thinks you should value. With a little research and some patience, you can have what you really want. Or decide you didn’t really want the thing at all.

Ethical shopping, Linux, Technology, Ubuntu Linux

My laptop, what it has

Leave a comment

Since I made a big deal about getting a used laptop a couple of weeks ago, I wanted to share what I got for my $350. I’m quite happy with it.

Dell Latitude D600 with bag, original software (who needs it?), USB mouse, charger cable and (here’s the really random bit) a plug-in floppy drive. There’s no date of manufacture on it, but I know its not new. It is, per Ms. Theologian’s concerns, made in Malaysia.

It has a Intel Pentium M 1.6Ghz processor and 250 MB of RAM. A 20 GB hard drive, but I don’t have much on it, and have 14 of the 20 gig free.

Again, the operating system for those who are interested. I loaded Xubuntu — because the laptop had a hard time with the current Ubuntu 7.04 (Fiesty Fawn) live CD — then installed ubuntu-desktop and removed xubuntu-desktop, giving me the lucious Ubuntu Linux experience geeks and semi-geeks worldwide have come to know and love. (The difference between Ubuntu, Xubuntu and Kubuntu for that matter are the desktop environments, meaning in a nutshell the user experience and default associated programs. Xubuntu is lighter and better for old machines. But I like the GNOME environment that comes with standard Ubuntu.)

I loaded Automatix for media codecs (for compression/decompression data sets) and Audacity, which I plan to use at Day Job to help with podcasts. Most everything else is default, which itself would be dandy for many, many users.

Church administration, Design and typography, Ethical shopping, Linux, Open, Pastoral care, Religious architecture, Ubuntu Linux

Best links for June 29

Leave a comment

Well, best for me, but I know some of you will like them too.

  • Michelle Murrain, writing from her Zen and the art of Nonprofit Technology blog, points out how the United States Social Forum is running on free and open source software. Fabu. Drupal and Linux (Ubuntu and Debian) love all around.
  • Several writers (here, here and here among others) note Linux users can have Google Desktop too, but not all are convinced it is either necessary or adequately private. Better says one commenter, perhaps, for those using the Xubuntu version which works on older computers but has fewer of the bells and whistles.
  • Chuck Currie, a United Church of Christ minister blogger, reviews what ministers may say in a campaign season.
  • Richard Layman (Rebuilding Space in an Urban Place) — writing about the neighborhood a scant few block to the east of me — revisits the role of churches in urban blight.
  • No bottled water on San Francisco’s official dime, according to Treehugger.
  • MAKE Magazine’s blog suggests using shower wallboard for making giant white boards.
Ethical shopping, Linux, Technology, Ubuntu Linux

Laptop saga: reader, I bought it

Leave a comment

After much brow-knitting and consternation, I bought a laptop. I’m ready to blog from GA 2008.

I decided to go with a used, but not obsolete machine: a Dell Latitude D600. $350 with mouse and case, which is in line with what comparable machines were selling on eBay. Thank you, Craigslist.

Used, rather than a new, more powerful Ubuntu Dell because I

  1. didn’t want to pay that much, even for a cheap laptop
  2. didn’t want to contribute to our national export debt
  3. didn’t want to contribute to the global electronic waste pile
  4. wanted to prove that Linux can extend our resources, as I’ve written before

To that end, I was willing to spend a bit more to than perhaps a cold, financial eye would think is fair to get a laptop. Even so, I think I did pretty well. I went with a Dell Latitude because of their reputation for robustness and asked ahead of time about its wireless card — Intel — since that’s one of Linux’s Achilles ankles.With only 256 Mb of RAM, it bucked at the Ubuntu live disc, so I tried out the lighter Xubuntu live disc which made for a usable, if slow, desktop. Installed it, ran very well and fast, but I kept looking for software and features that you loose with Xubuntu, so decided to upgrade to Ubuntu (apt-get install ubuntu-desktop for those who grok these things.)

I made the GNOME desktop, the hallmark of Ubuntu over Xubuntu, the default. I’m now updating it. Will note any additional software and problems, if any. Oh, and there wasn’t a lick of problem with wifi.

Lastly, I removed xubuntu-desktop and added ubuntu-serverguide.

Ethical shopping

Finding sweatshop-free underwear

2 Comments

Ms. Theologian is currently considering sweatshop-free clothes here and here, beginning with a confession about underwear.

I’ve written about men’s underwear here, here and here. (Is it any wonder I’m banned in China? And why I attract the most interesting spam?) But I don’t know a dang thing about women’s underthings. Which is why ‘d refer someone to the following, which has more for my women visitors:

“The sweatshop free underwear thread” at Vegan Represent

District of Columbia, Ethical shopping, Sustainable living

Local buying guide for my neighborhood

1 Comment

Or close enough. New American Dream released the first in its series of Local Buying Guide geared for the kind of green and responsible shopping (without the consumerism) that speaks to a guy like me. And this first one covers the Adams Morgan, Dupont Circle and Foggy Bottom neighborhoods, which is good enough for me — I know Logan Circle, our neighborhood well enough — and doesn’t pretend to cover the whole city, which it doesn’t. I have a hard time getting excited about Starbucks, which they include, even if they do offer some green and fabulous coffee by request, but there are ideas and resources in it I haven’t thought of. Lastly, you can download it — no paper to keep up with.

Others are on the way: an odd mix of area, perhaps due to where they could get local teams. Good to see Nashville on the list and — of all places — Meadville, Pennsylvania, birthplace of a third of what’s now Meadville Lombard Theological School.

New American Dream: Buying Wisely

HT: “Going Green in DC”  (Treehugger)

Ethical shopping, Labor unions, Linux, Technology

Ethically-sourced laptops: just finding vendors

1 Comment

Following up on Ms. Theologian’s comments about who really makes laptop computers (Surviving the Workday), I thought I would point out two sources. These really are the exception to the rule, and even these use foreign-made components, including those sourced from China. But at least you can email someone and get a straight answer.

  • Like at Union Built PC. This link is to a laptop noted as”Union Final Assembly in USA from domestic and foreign components by members of CWA Local 1101 or IBEW Local 17.” Those locals are in New York City and Southfield, Michigan. (Note: the locals sites may cause headaches and unpleasant questions about web design, particularly the former.)
  • One of the interns at Day Job showed me his laptop that he got from a “mom n’ pop” (and Christian, it seems) supplier of generic laptops — since they’re nearly all made in Asia anyway — and it had held up well, with good customer service. I’ll investigate them since at least you can identify your model with a real factory. They also sell laptops without an operating system, desirable for Linux users. Again, no points for web design, but you can’t have it all.

I’m getting the gruesome feeling that the best laptop, in the end, is no laptop. I mean, do I really need one this badly?

Ethical shopping, Sustainable living, Technology

Ethically-sourced laptops: two links

Leave a comment
  1. Victoria Weinstein (PeaceBang) hopes for a Mac, but I’m not so sure. I’ll be following up on sweatshop reports, but first look at this page following Greenpeace’s campaign (“A Greener Apple”) urging Apple to produce products without toxic materials and to institute a global consumer takeback. I’ll believe the success when it happens, not just because it has been promised.
  2. Christian Kreutz (crisscrossed) summarizes in English a session at the re:publica conference in Germany in April concerning fair trade laptops. If you read German, you can find out more, but the English title should inspire you: “Fair trade laptop – an extra 30 euro would be enough” But will the thin margins of the laptop business allow that? Or is there room for an innovative manufacturer, provided a market can be cultivated?
Ethical shopping

Buying US-made clothing, so far

8 Comments

Welcome BeautyTips readers. You might be interested in my articles on US-made goods, sustainable living, cooperatives and unions, too.

Ms. Theologian is talking about not buying clothes from China. I’ve written at length about my hunt for US-made, union-made, non-sweatshop-made clothing. See here, here and here.

Let me plug three vendors.

  1. The mystery US-made underwear manufacturer is Skiviez. (Search for USA.) Enjoy the ordinary briefs while they last, in limited sizes; I just ordered (closeout, sigh!) boxer briefs. They also sell fancy underpants, evidently for the gay and metrosexual market, also US made: these are more expensive so should be available in the future.
  2. I got a pair of slacks — dark olive, cotton, wrinkle-free — and walking shorts — olive drab, cotton — at ZebulonUSA, something of a one-stop-shop for US made clothes. Well made of sturdy cloth, comparable to department store prices. Alas, the slacks are old stock from Quantum Cotton; they’re now out of business. [2009. And ZebulonUSA is also out of business.]
  3. I’ve mentioned Pangea, a vegan clothing and accessories firm in the Maryland suburbs. (Locals and visitors: it is an easy walk from the Twinbrook Metro station.) I got my US-made, vegan (polyurethane and cotton fiber) dress shoes and belt there. Note, they don’t sell Chinese-made goods on principle.

Some days I come within an undershirt of having all my clothes made in the United States. It can be done with a little effort.

Cooperation, Ethical shopping, Right living

Things to consider when you’re shopping ethically

2 Comments

When I go shopping — whether its for lentils or a vacation — a string of self-reflective questions run through my mind. (Was I Quaker in a past life? I doubt my Puritan ancestors would have approved. The Baptist ones might have coped.)

  • Do I need this? can I put off buying this?
  • Do I even really want it? or could the same money provide something I want more?
  • Does this item or store appeal to my vanity?
  • Was someone harmed in making this item or service? A community? A valued institution? an animal? Is its manufacture toxic?
  • Can I choose something that was grown or made close to home? Took less energy to produce or transport?

I could go on, but these are probably the biggest concerns. From these questions, I try to buy US or Canadian made and union and cooperative made goods because our laws and location cover more of these than not; it isn’t about jingoism or nativism.
That’s not to say I start from scratch thinking every time. After a while, you know yourself well enough to shorthand the process. Most people I know would never (knowingly) buy dog fur clothing, so it’s not a question of thinking which dog fur clothing manufacturer treats its workers the best, improves the local economy or has the greenest factory: you just avoid it, and perhaps give the retailer an earful for good measure. And, in time, you find reliable vendors and products. (I want to share these, and I’ll ask you to share your favorites.)

But remember, the idea’s not to get paralyzed negotiating between options to find the one that’s infinitesimally better than another. We should begin to reshape our lives in all ways, understanding that what we buy and how we buy or don’t buy is a reflection of our character and grows out of our vocation as faithful people.

We’ve seen the alternative — I want it, I have to have it at all costs — corrupt individuals and societies. Indeed, societies have died under less strain.