To celebrate another year of not shopping Extra Ethical is offering you a chance to win one of two limited edition, organic, hand screen printed T-shirts, absolutely FREE!!!

That's right. These T-shirts are so damn ethical we practically knitted the cotton ourselves...

And all you have to do to WIN is tell us about something you think is ethical AND why (in less than 50 words).

For example:
Kiva, because loans can change lives.

or something a little more close to home like:
Filming the police to make sure they don't kill, because it seems to help get a decent autopsy.

Whatever resonates with you as something to do with ethics, be it harsh truths or something truly inspiring WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU.

The Small Print:
Entries will be judged on ethicality, current relevance and quality of typing. The competition will be judged when 100 entries have been received and the judges decision will be final. There shall be only one entry per person. Two winners will be chosen and they can argue about who gets the adult medium and who gets the 4-5 year old sized T-shirts.

Enter your ideas in the comments field below - Good luck!

This crazy, radical idea to 'Celebrate Your Neighbour' is being organised in Highbury this weekend.

OK, sorry for the short notice, but it's not like you can't Celebrate Your Neighbour every day of the year anywhere in the world!

As they say: "It's easy to participate! Just introduce yourself to one neighbour you have not previously spoken to. If enough people play this game the whole area could be alive with conversations, opening up a new world of opportunities and community."

WOW!@£$%^&*()_

Check out Celebrate Your Neighbour and get inspired, get involved and get out there and meet your neighbours.

Actually the team here at Extra Ethical are a bit worried the folk at Celebrate Your Neighbour are going to undermine our market share in Real Life Tools but we're too ethical not to give them a plug anyway - crazy I know!

btw it's 'Neighbour' with a 'u'*.

*The whole concept fails if you forget the 'u'.

It's always been a worry; the day the mainstream media declares "don't worry about global warming, political perversions, racial genocide and runaway capitalism, just carry on shopping - but do it ethically and everything thing will be alright."

The insinuation that we can shop our way out of the mess we have got ourselves into is not only misleading it's a hideous lie. A lie which perpetuates materialistic greed whilst attempting to justify the rampant consumerism, which is killing our precious planet, on the grounds that it might make the world better one day, which is simply not true.

Well, unfortunately, that day has arrived, albeit in a kind of middle-class-lefty sort of way, with the launch of this scary new venture from the Guardian:

Their opening lines claim:
"Welcome to the Guardian's eco store. Browse our fabulous collection of products specially selected to promote ideas for a better world..." whilst simultaneously fucking up the existing one.

Yes that's right folks, all those Monbiot lovers that think they're free of the 'machine' because they once read an article on Chomsky, will now be flocking like lemmings to the perfectly positioned lefty eco store.

Check out Madeline Ashby's story 'βoyfriend', a cool little post set in an informed, 'eco-conscious' future. Featuring smart tags and other eco-techno delights! Entertaining and ethically thought provoking at the same time! - what is the world coming to!!!

--clip from the notes:

The use of smart tags as backstory drives actually came from a conversation with WorldChanging Canada editor Mark Tovey and contributor Jordy Gold, while talking about green-washing. Mark argued that smart tags could tell the story of an object, effectively open-sourcing the item. This may come true to some extent, depending on what kind of smart tagging we're talking about: RFIDS or smart cloth. Our appliances may dictate how we choose: our washing machines will keep us posted.

--

If you really want to shop ethically you need information.
Here's some sites working on Ethical Indices:

Ethical Consumer

Easy Ethical

gooshing

Knowmore

Consumer Gadget

Citizens Market

Better World Shopper

The Carrot Project

alonovo

Good Guide

The Fair Tracing Project

Karma Bank

There are a bunch more corporate sites doing similar things but not really providing consumers with useful information... like:

Ethisphere

Ethical Reputation Index

Ethical Corporation

FTSE4Good

Ethical Markets

Know some more? Add them in the comments!

So, true to form, the Space Hijackers took over Top Shop as planned, confusing, bemusing and entertaining all concerned with their own brand of Extra Ethical imagination.

"30-40 swappers turned up and traded clothes, TopShop filled up with an army of Police, Security, PCSO's and undercover goons and stacks of ant-corporate literature were handed out. Once eventually ejected, the swapping continued on the streets before turning into a roving street party."

A true demonstration of practical non-shopping. Something the Police couldn't quite understand...

"How was it organised then?"
"Well, apparently it was all on the internet..."
"Oh, you mean like one of those 'flash mobs'?"
"Well they've clearly got nothing better to do with their pathetic little lives..."
"Move on now please ladies..."
"We should have cattle prods, that would sort them out..."

The patient protesters explanations of corporate ethics fell on deaf ears with the Police, their gormless faces grappling to comprehend...

There were way to many of them and not enough people to arrest for anything, so they claimed their time was being wasted and waddled closer for a better look.