As the World Turns

The Reverend X lent me her copy of The Better World Shopping Guide. It's a pocket guide to socially responsible companies, broken down by product (banks, bath, meat, shoes, etc). Each company in each area is given a grade, based on their environmental practices, human rights record, animal testing practices, community involvement, and a few other categories. It was short enough to read on the bus to work this morning.

I was curious about some of the rankings, and wanted to see some of the background research or even reasons some companies got better grades (they're not always given in the book), but either the Better World Shopper website has been having issues all day, or it's my unknown benevolent neighbor's wi-fi connection that is wonky. At any rate, I was unable to see why Chipotle was the only fast food chain given an A+. (The only time I ever ate there was about a year ago, in D.C., fleeing the aggressive HRC clipboard canvassers in Dupont Circle. It was about 5:55, and I thought their shift ended at 6, so that by the time I got out they'd be gone. Alas, their shift ended at 6:30, so they all converged on me. One even said "We saw you go in there. We were waiting." This is all the long, rambling way of saying I'm shocked that a company with incredibly, incredibly crappy burritos is apparently the most socially responsible. For some reason I thought they were owned by McDonald's. Now if only they could work on flavor....)

Good news: I'm doing great on food across the board (everything from meats to seafood to produce to juice to milk to booze), and bath/body products, and cleaning and laundry supplies. My record is fairly OK on financial institutions, mainly because La Madre has worked for credit unions for the past decade, so that's where all my meager savings are.

Bad news: Clothes and shoes. But I knew this. Sigh. I'm not giving up my Freeport stop this weekend....