Bananas

Having tried for about 40 years to buy as ethically as possible, I would say these are recurring dilemmas, with no correct answer. The Ethical Consumer website is very useful and you can look at different criteria. I would praise her thoughtfulness, suggest she makes her own decision ( I'm sure you did!) and say that you respect her reasons and would like her to respect yours. That is how our family rubs along! And how lovely to have such a thoughtful granddaughter and thoughtful school as well.

I admire your efforts to reduce your carbon footprint! But I would say that there are so many other items you could refocus your attention to, such as clothes and cars vs public transport, beef farming!

My concern with denouncing bananas to someone so young is that she might not want to eat healthy snacks like fruit if they have been imported, when Cadbury's is made just down the road!

Out of the mouths of babes........ She had a wise head. This is why climate needs to managed internationally at government level. Economies need to be changed if mass starvation and want is to be avoided. There's no simple solution.

Go and buy her a banana. Global warming does not preclude eating a banana, sopecially when it is Fair Trade and is giving money to households that might otherwise starve.

But if we buy fewer garments then we reduce the number of workers needed, so some families would starve. And we pay what the shop charges - it is their judgement as to what the market will stand. The joys of unfettered capitalism.

I was watching something on carbon footprints the other day.
Bananas travel by boat so their carbon footprint is low. Hope that helps.
Lucky girl wouldn’t it be nice if we were prepared to pay more for our clothes and buy fewer. Then the carbon footprint and waste and pollution would be a lot less but the workers could earn more.
It could be done if there was a real will.

Agreed, Luckygirl.

I think she has hit the nail on the head. The complexities of international trade make it very hard to know how to behave with integrity.

I often wonder about these boycotts of companies that import cheap garments on the grounds that their employees are exploited - this may be so, but a poor wage may be a great deal better than the alternative of no wage at all, when that is the only choice on offer.

Go into the nearest town to find carbon footprints-----cars/lorries/buses, spewing the stuff out.