As holiday shopping begins, be sure to consider the impact of your shopping choices. Take a look at the following shopping guides to help you buy responsibly. Avoid purchasing items from countries known to use child or forced labor. Check out this list produced by the US Department of Labor.
Ethical Shopping Guide from Free the Girls--this guide from the previous FAWCO Target Project provides options for purchasing from an ethical or fair-trade company or one that supports and empowers women in North America or in other parts of the world, a purchase that you can trace back to the actual person on the other side of the product.
Fairtrade supplies a list of products certified to be in compliance with Fairtrade International Standards that correct power imbalances and encourage business relationships based on trust and transparency. Because producers of different products have specific challenges, Fairtrade Standards are unique assuring the greatest impact for farmers and workers. These social, economic and environmental standards apply to the full supply chain from the farmers and workers to the traders and companies bringing the final product to market.
Rainforest Alliance awards a seal to farms, forests and businesses that meet rigorous environmental and social standards. They stand for biodiversity, conservation and sustainable livelihoods.
Utz merged with Rainforest Alliance in January 2018, joining forces in order to have a greater impact and be a better partner to their many stakeholders. In 2019, they will publish a single, new agriculture certification program that builds on the best of both existing programs. As a first step, they adopted in July 2018 the Terms of Reference for the new sustainable agriculture standard designed to maximize positive social, environmental, and economic impact, while offering farmers an enhanced framework to improve their livelihoods while protecting the landscapes where they live and work.
Better World Shopper is a site dedicated to empowering people to make the best possible choice as consumers and to help build the world we want to live in. It provides users with a comprehensive database of over 2000 companies and utilizes 50+ reliable sources of data so they can use it in a practical way, every day taking into consideration the following categories: human rights, the environment, animal protection, community involvement and social justice.
Refugee Council USA has a list of organizations selling refugee made projects.