Fairtrade
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You can’t buy an ethical smartphone today
Any ethical, non-🍏 📱 recommendations? It all started with a WhatsApp message from my friend, an environmental campaigner who runs a large government sustainability project. She's the most ethical person I know and has always worked hard to push me, and others, into making a more positive impact on the world. Always ahead of the curve, she steered me clear of products containing palm oil, as well as carbon-intensive manufacturing and sweatshop labor. That day, she wanted my opinion on what smartphone she should buy, but this time requested an ethical device. Until now, she's been an HTC loyalist, but wanted to explore the options for something better and more respectable. My default response was the Fairphone 2, which is produced in small quantities by a Dutch startup, but I began to wonder -- that can't be the only phone you can buy with a clear conscience, can it?
United Pepper unveils eco-friendly webcam, USB hub
At first glance, suckers for all things cute may fall for Lili and Oscar even before knowing the story behind them, but these two peripherals not only provide animalistic replacements for those vanilla USB hubs and webcams, they promote eco-friendliness, too. According to United Pepper (which is partnering with EuroTech), Oscar (the USB hub) and Lili (that'd be the webcam) arrive in four different colors, are constructed from recyclable materials, and are produced "in a fair trade environment." Moreover, the webcam touts a 1.3-megapixel sensor and a built-in microphone, while Oscar boasts four USB 2.0 ports for connecting up an array of input peripherals. Both creatures are slated to land in the UK this month, and while Lili will cost £30 ($60), Oscar will be available for just £20 ($40). [Warning: PDF read link][Via SciFiTech]
WoW Moviewatch: Machinima with a conscience
Hugh Hancock from Strange Company (one of the coolest ideas for a company on the planet: they produce machinima professionally) sent us his latest work, part of a campaign in support of Fair Trade, the foundation that works around the world against inequality and exploitation for Third-World farmers. I wasn't sure what to expect when I first loaded it up, but it turned out pretty good. That poor troll! What is Runecloth selling for on the AH now? Somehow I doubt the corporations that take advantage of farmers around the world are orcs in suits saying "Monopolies FTW," but it seems close enough. Kudos to Hugh and company for bringing social and economic ethics to the world of Azeroth.
