IT may only cost a few pounds but, please, put down the cheap t-shirt. Tempting as it may be, have you considered how much its makers were paid, what chemicals were used in its production, or how many other cheap t-shirts you already have in your drawers.

What’s called either conscious or ethical consumerism is on the rise. More and more of us are showing an interest in buying sustainable products that don’t hurt humans, the planet, or animals. It’s a trend that is mostly driven by young adults. One UK report found that 70% of Millennials considered a brand's ethics when making a purchase.

But is this changing corporate behaviour? And how can anyone even begin to make confident ethical purchases in a complex globalised world? Next month the Edinburgh International Science Festival hosts an event titled An Easy Guide To Ethical Shopping. Among its guests is Jen Gale, an ethical business coach who lived for a year without buying anything new. She is just one of several experts we talked to in order to compose this, our guide to the frequently mind-boggling challenge of how to consume ethically.

Being an ethnical consumer is hard. There’s much to think about, and in those moments when you’re standing in a supermarket wondering whether to choose cheap, Fairtrade or organic bananas, it’s hardly surprising if your brain decides to melt into a pool on the floor.

Ethical consumerism: What’s the point?

Think of the famous quote, attributed to Mahatma Gandhi: “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” This approach is more like 'shop the change you wish for'. Or, sometimes, don’t shop – because many of the chief recommendations revolve around not buying. “Ethical business coach Jen Gale says: “I can choose who I give my money to and, where possible, I choose to give my money to people and companies who are line with my values and ethical stance. There’s a brilliant quote by sustainable food advocate Anna Lappé: ‘Every time you spend money, you are casting a vote for the kind of world you want to see’.”

Where do I even start?

Do you ditch fast fashion? Buy an environmentally-friendly bamboo toothbrush? Get a veg box? Boycott tax avoiders like Amazon? There are so many issues to tackle that, as Jen Gale puts it: “It can feel completely overwhelming. You can feel like you need to do all of the things.” Her advice, therefore, is to pick just one thing and start with that. “By making that start, it’s like you take one step and it gives you the momentum to keep going. I see it as very much a journey rather than a destination.”

That said, the one thing that Gale herself picked was such a huge issue that most people wouldn’t even begin to contemplate it. She resolved to buy nothing new for a year, and wrote about it in a blog, My Make Do And Mend Life. Short of not buying anything at all, she couldn’t really have got more extreme. Though that’s exactly what she did a few years later, when her resolution was to buy no clothes at all for a year.

It still sounds complicated. Isn’t there a simple answer?

Yes. But but that doesn't mean it's easy. Though Tim Hunt of Ethical Consumer magazine does advocate following the guiding principle that “less is more”. “Cutting down on what you buy is a great way to save money and the environment, do you really need another pair of shoes or trainers?”

Do I really have to give up the convenience of my local supermarket?

Tim Hunt of Ethical Consumer magazine observes: “Supermarket shopping is not the most ethical way to get your groceries but we understand that not everyone has easy access to other types of stores. Even in the least ethical stores (ASDA according to our ratings) it still possible to buy Fairtrade and organic products and you can do other things like cut down on the amount of meat that you eat. In our rankings the Co-op and M&S come out on top of the rankings.”

Many products claim to be ethical – but how do we know to what extent they are?

As you browse the aisles dazzled by products that look so green, healthy and wholesome, it’s sometimes difficult to know what’s truly ethical. Tim Hunt recommends looking out for independent accreditation and certification, like the Fairtrade or Soil Association mark. “It’s a great way for consumers to know that they are buying from a brand that has taken some degree of responsibility.” He points out that “there are environmental criteria within the Fairtrade label” and also that there is “some degree of workers protection in, for example, the Soil Association's accreditation”.

With more complex, multi-part products it’s also often nigh impossible to get a full picture of their ethical profile. Technology is starting to help us here. As Jen Gale points out: “There’s a clothing social enterprise called 'Where Does It Come From?'. Everything they sell comes with a barcode and you can put the barcode into their website and it will tell you where the cotton was grown, who harvested it. It will literally allow you to trace your garment all the way along the supply chain.”

Startups are also turning to developing technology that traces products. Among those at the forefront is UK startup, Provenance, which has been devising means of following tuna from “hook to fork”, and, with the London-based designer Martine Jarlgaard, of creating an app that creates a digital history of a garment’s journey.

Wouldn’t it be easiest just, like Gale, not to buy anything new?

To some extent, yes. Stick with what you’ve got, or buy something used. Many activists observe that this is often the best option even when the newer products promise to have lower emissions or be more energy efficient, even when buying new seems like upgrading your eco profile. As Edinburgh-based ethical consumer Duncan Wallace points out: “Research has shown that the carbon footprint of making a new car is so much more than driving an old one around.” Mike Berners-Lee, for instance, has calculated that for a Volkswagen Golf, the total amount of carbon dioxide produced in five years’ motoring was only half that involved in buying a new car.

But it all sounds such hard work

Not really, say those who practice it. Duncan Wallace, for instance, argues that this is a misconception. “When you decide to use ethics in terms of shopping and being a consumer, it makes choices easier because there’s less choice. You’re no longer, for instance, faced with 58 types of phone, but one or two phone companies that would fit your ethics.”

Isn’t it just a luxury trend for posh people?

That certainly is its image, partly a side-effect of the fact that so many ethical products are marketed as luxury brands, and that items that are produced under good working conditions are more expensive. It’s also true that ethical consumption has become a marker of social status in the way that conspicuous consumption once was. In The Sum Of Small Things, Professor Elizabeth Currid-Halkett described such a trend amongst the “aspirational class” in America, who “earnestly buy organic, carry NPR [National Public Radio, seen as a liberal choice] tote bags and breast feed their babies”.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that an ethical approach is strictly the privilege of the rich. Indeed many very dedicated conscientious consumers don’t belong to that elite, and the fact that younger generations are shopping with this awareness, suggests it’s already beginning to shrug off some of that elite association. But there remains a danger that ethical consumption is just another consumer trend. Even the term suggests that it’s just part of a wider phenomenon in which we define ourselves through shopping.

And does it even work in the first place?

Some academics have argued that its impact is not significant. Dr Terry Hathaway of the University of York observes: “Ethical consumption is premised on the idea that what you buy and who you buy from will positively impact on how the world works. This can possibly work with small, local companies producing and selling simple products - particularly if you can actually talk to business decision-makers. However, with major corporations the impact of your decisions will sum to nil.”

He points out that when we purchase, or don’t purchase, no information as to why you are doing so it communicated to the corporation. Hathaway’s belief is that shopping can be a distraction from real political action. “Market outcomes are a product of how we have built markets. It is this that we should focus on - the rebuilding of markets so that goals beyond narrow profit-making are included.”

But, actually, ethical consumers agree with some of this. Often they talk of other means of pushing for political change. And many, in fact, in addition to voting with their money, advocate the importance of talking to brands and retailers. As Duncan Wallace says: “There is virtually no point in boycotting Nestle, unless you write a letter to Nestle, or to the supermarket that stocks Nestle. Because otherwise you are making yourself have a bit more pain without the company noticing it.”

What does work then?

There have been plenty of examples of large-scale company boycotts that have had a significant impact. Divesting from companies that are unethical also sends out a strong message – but again, only, if you communicate it. But, one of the most effective ways of producing change, is to work for infrastructure change within the shopping environment of you own community. A 2009 Economic and Social Research Council report found the best way of creating ethical consumption was not to push for individuals to shop more consciously, but to create collective projects like the creation of Fairtrade cities and towns, that make it easier for people to make more ethical choices.

And, if there’s a universal theme emerging, it’s that shopping local and buying from small suppliers is probably the best form of ethical consumption. “The more you shorten the supply chain,” Terry Hathaway says, “and get close to the people who decide on how items are produced the more capability you have of influencing through purchasing."

Ethical hacks

Switch banks

Where you keep your money matters, particularly if you care about whether your bank lends to fossil fuels and energy-intensive industries. Culpable on this have been Barclays and HSBC. The Banking on Climate Change 2017 report, revealed that these two banks scored badly on unconventional oil and liquid natural gas exports. There are, meanwhile, a few banks with strong ethical principles you can switch to. For instance, both Wallace and Gale, recommend Triodos, a Netherlands-based ethical bank with robust green credentials.

Ethical tech

We live in a tech world of constant new models and upgrades. Consider each time you buy new, that every mobile phone generates 94kg of carbon dioxide emissions in its lifetime. Only one mobile phone company markets itself as an ethical product and that’s the Fairphone, produced in the Netherlands, with clean-trading and sustainability at its heart. The phone, which looks like a normal phone, and uses Android, can also be taken apart, piece by piece, making it easily repairable, and the idea is that the device will stay with its owner for many years.

Or you can go second-hand. Jen Gale admits to being an iPhone user, but explains that whenever she needs to move on, because the model is no longer updating, she buys a used phone from eBay. She also recommends trusted technology refurbishers like The Edinburgh Remakery. “It feels like the tech companies are forcing you to upgrade a lot of the time. So it feels almost a little bit disruptive, a little bit rebellious to look for alternatives."

Get into your YouTube fixes

Rather than dumping that broken down washing machine or toaster in landfill, or even getting in a repair person to tell you it’s not worth mending, why not get an empowerment kick out of fixing it yourself? There are so many fix-it videos out there on YouTube that can help with this. “Manufacturers,” says Gale, “like to spread this thing that stuff isn’t repairable. More stuff is repairable than we are led to believe. For instance, our washing machine wasn’t working, and YouTube is awesome. We went on it and found there were these little brushes that had worn down completely. We got a new set of them off eBay for two quid and it’s fixed.”