Sustainability Bingo – A Hypocrite’s Thoughts on Ethical Choices

As sustainable and ethical options are becoming increasingly available, and pushed in consumer markets, it becomes difficult to decipher the varying issues that help us to make choices about our purchases, what we eat, and where we source our products. In the food world, veganism is often forwarded as the most ethical and responsible way of living and eating, yet even that can raise issues depending on an individual’s reason for making that choice: it is easy to see the animal rights argument, yet the environmental argument raises further issues about how far people should go to ensure ethical consumption. For example, the production of popular items such as quinoa, avocado, almonds, cashews, and soya raises further dilemmas, with the environmental impacts potentially complex and damaging. As demand increases for some so-called superfoods, so too will the destructive consequences. Yet they have become a staple in many people’s diet, whether you are vegan, vegetarian or not.

With soya, it is clear that its production and expansion has resulted in deforestation in places like the Amazon. Saying that, a large majority of it is imported as animal feed, meaning it is actually further contributing to the meat industry; so it is fair to argue that by consuming soya equivalents you are taking such a need out of the equation. Soya is yet another hidden source of environmental damage from animal consumption; but could we all do more by reducing the amount of soya we consume?

Palm oil is also perhaps one of the most insidious: extremely difficult to totally avoid, and a product which is increasingly fuelling displacement, human rights abuses, deforestation and habitat degradation. Palm oil seems like an invisible ingredient, and its consequences, though clearly visible to the countries it affects, such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Myanmar, are largely ignored by those who actually consume it, primarily in the West. People in such countries are often pushed off land, and then forced back to work in the palm oil industry on low wages and unfair conditions, resulting in exploitation and a spiral of poverty, sometimes fuelling civil conflict.

This is not intended to be a critique of any person’s choices, but instead I would aim to highlight how difficult it is to be truly sure that all your consumption is sustainable and ethical; therefore, everyone is a hypocrite in some respect. Nonetheless, this should not deter people from making a choice to try to do better and to educate themselves on the issues that will affect us in many years to come.

In our current lifestyle, it is very difficult to source products entirely locally and with a low-carbon footprint, so issues are far less black and white than some might imagine them to be. As a life-long vegetarian, who has over the years started considering veganism, I do find myself realising a hypocrisy in my choices. Yet even still, while I try to question this, I also try to think of my general lifestyle and how I could take small decisions every day to impact the environment less or to ensure cruelty-free options of production. To become wholly and morally sustainable would be an impossible task; anyone who claims to be is being disingenuous.

Recent issues surrounding the manufacture of the new £5 notes in the UK, only proves how insidious animal products have become in our everyday lives, with products such as plastic bags, candles, tires, some glues, fireworks, cleaning products, and even sugar and toothpaste containing traces of animal ingredients in their production. If we become vegan then do we also make a conscious choice to cut out all of these products entirely? This is of course an individual choice that some people try to make, yet I am sure that not everyone who lives by that lifestyle does; however is there anything really wrong with that? I guess it depends on your views of morality; I tend to see it as a spectrum, and I don't believe it is not necessarily for someone else to judge the moral accountability of anyone else.

Of course, there is a place for forwarding such views as a method of raising awareness, and often through positive dialogue and action there is more chance of making a difference. Indeed, if people had not done so throughout history then I believe that as a society we would have made far less progress on social, political and environmental issues. For this, education is key, and starting a conversation is important; in that way activism, has had a vital influence in our recent history. Conversely, in some cases, it is unhelpful to adopt aggressive or shaming tactics or to assume a moral high ground while trying to force views on others, without often considering the various nuances and societal issues that impact peoples’ decisions. In fact, such methods may only dissuade some from making the small changes that could make a greater impact in the long-term. If everyone takes small steps to improve their personal sustainability, then large strides can be made in improving our environment; we only have one planet after all.