Business
Palm oil is a complicated issue which has dominated recent headlines. This week on the podcast I'm joined by Ruth Strange from Ethical Consumer to unpick the issues involved. Ethical Consumer is an independent, not-for-profit, multi-stakeholder co-operative with open membership, founded in 1989 and based in Manchester. For over 25 years they have been the hub of the ethical consumer movement, helping consumers to shop ethically, campaigners to challenge corporate power and businesses to improve their supply chain. Their mission is to make global businesses more sustainable through consumer pressure. Each day we all make choices according to our personal ethics. Ethical Consumer provides the tools and resources you need to make these choices simple, informed and effective. They've developed the world's most sophisticated and simple to use, personal ethical rating system to give you the information you need, based on detailed research of over 40,000 companies, brands and products.Consumers can access this data via their unique product guides, on their website and in a bi-monthly magazine. In today's episode we discuss what makes the palm oil issues so complex, whether you should boycott or buy responsibly sourced, and how you as a consumer can have a voice against exploitation and deforestation. Find out more about Ethical Consumer here: https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/ Find their resources on palm oil here: https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/food-drink/palm-oil-and-consumers Read my thoughts about the Iceland Christmas palm oil campaign here: https://ethicalhour.co.uk/icelands-orangutan-do-we-really-need-a-cuddly-toy-to-remind-us-to-care/ Sabine from From Scratch shares her advice on how to challenge brands effectively using social media here: https://ethicalhour.co.uk/how-to-challenge-brands-on-their-use-of-plastic/ If you're interested in starting or growing a business with purpose, you can access tailored training, advice and support inside the #EthicalHour community: https://ethicalhour.co.uk/our-community/