Cognitive behavioural therapy speaks about how ‘all-or-nothing thinking’ can lead us to depression and inaction. It is something that I personally have had to guard against as I have struggled to lead a more sustainable life over the years. There are always compromises, and that nagging voice says ‘I cant do enough, so I may as well not try.’ Reading Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett’s response to Vivienne Westwood in the Guardian, ‘Living ethically isn’t cheap, Vivienne’, made my inner voice rear its ugly head again – she finishes with the words ‘people don’t seem to care … or don’t have the energy to care. Caring is a luxury’.
Living an ethical life is always a messy compromise, influenced by (lack of) power, time and money to varying degrees, and balancing it with our other needs and wishes in life. It can be difficult to live up to one’s own aspirations. And it can be even worse when others try and impose their standards on you, with the implication that ‘you aren’t ethical enough, so you are a bad person’. A natural response is to avoid thinking about it. I care, but I cant do enough so I’ll forget I care.
While it is true that few people care with the passion of an activist – a caring which can shape life decisions profoundly, and is so intense it is necessarily focused on some issues to the exclusion of others – there are many people who passively care. They would rather factories didn’t fall down. They would rather workers earned enough to live on. They care a bit, and would like things to be different, but aren’t going to change their actions or think a lot about it. This is partly because there are many other more immediate cares and concerns on their mind and partly because they feel powerless and guilty if they do think about it. Better not to. However, such people are profoundly important in enabling a shift of the system to be more ethical. For many of us, simply the small act of saying that we care is a valuable contribution, and all that need be expected of us.
Specialist ethical companies play a valuable role in the system. As well as the value they provide in the lives of those they touch directly, they act as ethical outriders, exploring what is possible beyond the mainstream. Those who actively care enough, and have the money to support them (such as Vivienne Westwood) do the world a great service in doing so. But the biggest value of such companies is that, over time, what was radical moves into the mainstream. What was only possible through mail-order to Traidcraft in the 70s is now commonplace (and often unnoticed) in supermarkets today. Such shifts in the system are brought about through collective and diverse action. More is needed, and anyone can play a small and valuable part. You don’t need a lot of money. You don’t need a lot of time. You are not acting alone.
Companies are not monoliths with a single opinion. External pressure and accountability – from NGOs, unions and other activists – are important in pushing companies to act. But the most skilful, progressive and effective responses come when the tempered radicals within the company are empowered to do so in a creative way. The empowerment comes partly from this external pressure, but also partly from management recognising both a business case and a moral imperative to act. (Many senior managers, like the rest of us, passively care about these things.) Many actions are not costly but require political will in a company. And costs and risk can be reduced and effectiveness increased when several progressive companies act together.
But what companies care about most is the opinion of their customers. Their actual customers, the ones that buy the stuff. Simply knowing that customers care about these things – not in a big activist way, but a bit – helps strengthen the progressive voices for more action within companies, and cements in the gains that they make over time.
So, wherever you shop, tell them you care about what they do socially and environmentally. Not in an angry judgmental way, simply say you care and ask questions. You could phone, tweet or email them, or drop a note to a store manager. No need to find out a lot about what they do, but if you are interested then do. In some cases you might find your favourite brand is doing more than others, but every business could do more, and they will, if we simply say that we care.
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