Ethical Spending in this Economy

While there has been growing interest and commitment to ethical shoppping in the last years, our tough economic times will certainly put pressure on many and cause them to re-evaluate their spending, especially on "green" items which usually are at a premium cost.

Some have embraced ethical shopping (or lack thereof if you're truly embracing a minimalist lifestyle) out of deep personal conviction, others because "green is the new black" - a cool fad to go along with, and still others a little bit of both, going along with the fad and along the way developping a new awareness of the impact of their decisions on our planet earth.

Whatever the motivations though, our shrinking economy is sure to present a few spending dilemmas to many. Faced with an ever-stretching family budget, how do you decide whether to keep splurging on fair trade, organic coffee or revert back to your more moderately-priced, generic old standby? How do you justify spending $12 a bottle for environmentally friendly laundry detergent when you can get twice the amount of a popular brand for half the price at Costco? What about that 100-mile Christmas turkey which will certainly cost more than your average Butterball?

So, are more or less of your dollars going towards green purchases? Or, has nothing changed?