"Ethics, too, are nothing but reverence for life."

"Ethics, too, are nothing but reverence for life. This is what gives me the fundamental principle of morality, namely, that good consists in maintaining, promoting, and enhancing life, and that destroying, injuring, and limiting life are evil." - Albert Schweitzer

Recently my best friend made a trip down to Adelaide for a week. I always enjoy it when she visits because I only get to see her maybe 2 or 3 times a year if I'm lucky. When she's down we spend lots of time going places and hanging out and having lots of fun. We discuss life, her studies, what's going on here, what's going on there and lots of other great things. Needless to say I don't get much else done or see many other people while she's around because I'm trying to make up for 52 weeks of the year in 1.

While she was down this time she put me onto a website that shows how ethical individual companies are. My best friend is really good and has basically memorised this website and doesn't use any products that test on animals or cut down rainforests or use child labor etc. Her devotion to her ethics has motivated me to be more consumer aware about the things I purchase.

The website is www.ethical.org.au and has information on just about every product you will ever need to buy. You can search by product type, catergory, brand or company and it sorts it by the good and the bad. The companies range from good companies to ones that are suggested to boycott altogether.

You should check it out, you might be interested by what you find. For example, did you know that Coca-Cola is involved in human-rights abuse and selling bottled water that contained only tap water but P&N is a good company who are a signatory to the National Packaging Covenant, a voluntary agreement to encourage waste minimisation. Or that part of the Samsung Group, makes armoured tanks and other weapons for the South Korean army and the Turkish army.

It's extremely detailed and worth checking out. You just might be able to do your part to help make the world a better place.