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itsmeamethyst's review
5.0
"You won the coin flip and got assigned the role of rich Monopoly player in life, even if you're only rich in a global sense, and you can either get complacent and eat all the cookies, or you can fight your way out of that mental trap and use your privilege for good."
Tanja Hester offers intersectional and approachable ways use money to create change, with a top priority of decarbonizing. She recognizes that change will take individual efforts as well as collective action. One of the tips that will stay with me is rethinking financial decisions as a "wallet activist" by asking who it serves, can everyone do it, if it's too cheap, and what I'm helping to create by contributing profits to an entity. Instead of focusing on what to consume, she asks us to consider whether to consume, with practical tips for choosing everything from your bank to your groceries.
For people who want to do better for earth and each other and avoid upholding deeply unjust and harmful systems - this is a great resource that will ask you to aim for actual progress, not perfection or easy wins.
Tanja Hester offers intersectional and approachable ways use money to create change, with a top priority of decarbonizing. She recognizes that change will take individual efforts as well as collective action. One of the tips that will stay with me is rethinking financial decisions as a "wallet activist" by asking who it serves, can everyone do it, if it's too cheap, and what I'm helping to create by contributing profits to an entity. Instead of focusing on what to consume, she asks us to consider whether to consume, with practical tips for choosing everything from your bank to your groceries.
For people who want to do better for earth and each other and avoid upholding deeply unjust and harmful systems - this is a great resource that will ask you to aim for actual progress, not perfection or easy wins.
camilleberedjick's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
medium-paced
bluestjuice's review
4.0
To be honest, this was better than I was expecting. We all know that ethical consumption is an oxymoron, but we all live in a capitalist society anyway, and have to figure out ways to marry our identities as consumers (however uncomfortably we wear them) with our other identities as idealists, environmentalists, activists, humanitarians, and humans. None of this is easy work, and it's impossible to achieve perfection in this arena. The thing I liked best about Hester's book is that she doesn't try to pretend that this isn't a messy, complicated, constantly-shifting landscape in which there are no great choices, only degrees of less-bad. She also makes a point not to talk down to her audience or engage in absolutism, but instead does a decent job of acknowledging that individuals have to act according to their own abilities AND priorities.
Ultimately, Wallet Activism acknowledges all this and mostly doesn't try to determine the answers. It provides a framework for the individual to conduct further ongoing research, while raising considerations and topics they might not have considered previously. Hester reiterates over and over again that what the 'best' choice might be will vary depending on the specifics, so it's not enough to simply accept one person's decree about what constitutes a good or bad choice. It's not even enough to do your own research once and consider the matter settled. You have to keep engaging with the questions over and over and over again, in each new circumstance. Often enough, she points out, the most ethical choice is to avoid consuming whatever and wherever you can.
Ultimately, Wallet Activism acknowledges all this and mostly doesn't try to determine the answers. It provides a framework for the individual to conduct further ongoing research, while raising considerations and topics they might not have considered previously. Hester reiterates over and over again that what the 'best' choice might be will vary depending on the specifics, so it's not enough to simply accept one person's decree about what constitutes a good or bad choice. It's not even enough to do your own research once and consider the matter settled. You have to keep engaging with the questions over and over and over again, in each new circumstance. Often enough, she points out, the most ethical choice is to avoid consuming whatever and wherever you can.
kymccall's review
4.0
Could've done with another perspective at times... if she presented a counterargument, her points would have actually become even more persuasive. Overall, however, this was a very informative book that delved into the complexities of our consumer decisions under capitalism. I recommend (although, remain a critical thinker throughout).