What does it mean to be an ethical consumer?

What does it mean to be an ethical consumer? Depending on whom you ask, you'll get a different answer. Some would argue that an ethical consumer would refrain from buying anything from China. Another would suggest that the ethical consumer should only buy eco-friendly products, or local products, or refrain from buying things made of plastic. Others still would argue that the ethical thing to do is to refrain from buying at all.

I spent twelve months pondering this question as I undertook an experiment in non-consumerism. For one year, I refrained from buying any new durable goods. No new clothes, no new books, no new gadgets, nothing. Instead I spent my money on charities, on dinners out with friends, on plays, on indie rock concerts. As the year progressed, I became more and more convinced that things don't make people as happy as experiences.

But, I also found that my ethical notions were continuously challenged. What about the person in China who depends on my buying a new plastic umbrella? Or the woman in Bangladesh who can now afford to send her children to school because she has work in a garment factory. What are their prospects in a world with less "stuff?" And if I purport to be an ethical consumer, how do I deal with this tension between poor people's livelihoods and environmental sustainability?

I still don't know what it means to be a truly ethical consumer. But I do know this: being an ethical consumer requires adopting a nuanced, flexible view of the world in which we live. Because the truth is, the world we live in is not a world of blacks and whites, but one of complexities. I'll be posting here on these complexities, and I invite you all to join me for the ride.