The Living Earth Ethical Principles: just livelihood and Mindful consumption.

AuthorAssadourian, Erik
PositionESSAY - Essay

The fourth in a series of essays on a system of ecological ethics for living sustainably. This and the remaining essays will discuss the 10 Living Earth Ethical Principles in detail. For references and additional information, go to www.worldwatch.org/ww/ethics/.

Just Livelihood. We must choose a livelihood that neither exploits people--in any of their many roles: worker, consumer, community member--nor the Earth, and ideally, a livelihood that actively heals the Earth and nurtures human society.

Many of us are committed to doing good with our lives and yet our jobs often work at cross-purposes to our volunteer work, our consumption choices, our political views. And now with unemployment increasing and the media scaring us with questions like "Could this be the next Great Depression?," few people are willing to even consider changing jobs, even when their work is unengaging, uninteresting, or--worse--actively exploiting communities, consumers, or the planet.

How do we change that? The best way is to choose a job that epitomizes your values. Instead of marketing junk food, create marketing campaigns for healthy foods. Instead of injecting foreheads with Botox, focus your medical skills on helping people to live healthily and heal life-threatening diseases. For entrepreneurs, convert your small business so it becomes a symbol of your beliefs. Advertise the fact that your store runs on renewable energy, sells fair-trade products, pays a livable wage--the benefit will come not just to your conscience but to your bottom line as customer loyalty and worker pride grow.

Of course, even at the best businesses, there will still be room for improvement, so one should still work within one's organization to challenge it to do more. That could mean efforts as simple as helping to "green" office operations, pushing for more eco-friendly fair-trade products to be stocked, or spreading an environmental ethic to colleagues.

What about the majority of workers who don't work for responsive companies or can't easily change jobs? Before answering this, one point to remember is that the more simply one lives, the fewer hours one will need to work, since personal spending will be lower. Moreover, this will free time for leisure and lower one's ecological footprint (since one cannot afford to consume as much when working fewer hours).

Suppose you have to work full time to survive, perhaps even more than one job; what do you do when working for an exploitive company...

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