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@TheBloodWraith This is an interesting idea, I don't know about finding things that meet all the qualities of Cheaper, More Ethical and better. But, if say we found something that met 2 of those requirements, I'd say that'd be worth recommending.

I often buy things which are slightly pricier than the more popular alternatives, but are more ethical and better.

I 100% agree that people hate being told what they do/see/say is flat out wrong. At best, it annoys people, like you said, but at worst it can cause the opposite effect and actually radicalize people under certain circumstances. It can also make them deaf to hearing critiques of potentially worse things that they otherwise might've listened to or heard you out on.

For example, people being told not to use things like plastic straws or being demonized for little things like that as if they are literally swimming out to the oceans and stuffing the straws in the turtle's noses/throats themselves. As if they're just as bad, if not worse as the companies who dump literal tons of garbage into our oceans/atmosphere without so much as a slap on the wrist. That's something I think is stupid to complain to people about.

Now what we really need is an actual decent alternative to plastic straws. I have tried metal, silicone, paper and even bamboo straws. Paper actually disintegrates inside your drink, metal is cold, uncomfortable and, if you're not paying attention, will hurt your teeth/gums and silicone feels awkward in your mouth and will collect so much dust I'm convinced it generates its own. Bamboo seemed the closest to plastic straws, but the ones I tried were too fat and short for my reusable tumbler. So, I wasn't really able to give Bamboo a fair shot.

But if there was an actual alternative that was more ethical and better or even reusable and thus cheaper. I'd snatch those up in a heartbeat because I find having to rebuy plastic straws to be inconvenient. But they're just the only thing that works for me.

I see a lot more people using reusable bags now, for example. I think that's because they are now super easy to get (they're in like every grocery store) and they are often better (more sturdy, hold more). So, people are buying them. Sometimes people forget to bring them and thus need to use a plastic bag, but that's okay because all those times when they remembered they were helping out a little.


We should stop trying to expect everyone to be perfect at absolutely everything. People make mistakes, people have weaknesses and people sometimes just prefer something that is frankly not good for them or the environment and I think that's okay. For some people, there's no changing their mind, however for those who would have listened, we need to meet them with compassion and understanding as humans, not as “an enemy” of “us” or “the planet”. We need to hear them out on why they enjoy what they enjoy, and see if there's a way we can help them that also just so happens to help in other ways.