In this episode, Kyla and Kristen talk about everyone’s favourite work drug: coffee. Topics: how coffee is made; coffee history; the coffee industry; working conditions on coffee farms; what is a fair price for coffee; the environment and coffee growing, brewing, packaging, and accompaniments; what you can do.
Read More“The Ghost of Christmas Present’s call to action is… yikes.”
In this special Christmas Carol-themed holiday episode, Kyla and Kristen are joined by Robert Miller to discuss ethical consumption’s past, present, and future. Kristen shares the story of Florence Kelley and the anti-sweatshop White Label Campaign; Kyla canvasses 2020 for good news (yikes); and Robert imagines alternative futures.
In this episode Kyla and Kristen spill the tea on tea production. Kristen tries to make chai and vows to leave future attempts to the experts. Kyla disses George Orwell’s formula for the perfect cup of tea. Topics: what is tea; how tea is produced; the tea supply chain; tea and the environment; tea and human rights; what to do about it.
Read MoreFor part two of the forced labour series, Kristen and Kyla discuss what consumers should do to address forced labour. Kyla is sad about how Christmas lights are made. Kristen learns about three different kinds of forced labour in rice production. Topics: forced labour in global supply chains; leading big brands; fair trade; boycott?; use your voice to promote human rights; our challenges.
Read MoreIn this episode, Kyla and Kristen are joined by Alexandra Sundarsingh to discuss the topic of forced labour. Alexandra (Lex) Sundarsingh is a second year PhD student in the department of history at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Topics: what is forced labour; the scale of forced labour; where it occurs; who is affected; and causes.
Read MoreIn this episode, Kyla and Kristen discuss palm oil production and people, as well as what you can do about it. Topics: working conditions; Indigenous peoples; food security; the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil; boycott versus labelling; what you can do.
Read MoreIn this episode, Kyla and Kristen uncork the topic of ethics and wine. Topics: South African wine and Apartheid legacies; Fairtrade wine; migrant labour and wineries; pesticide use on vineyards; organic wine; biodynamic wine; salmon-safe vineyards; climate change and wine; boxed versus bottled; and animal welfare and wine.
Read MoreIn this episode, Kristen and Kyla are joined by Alix Jansen to talk about COVID-19 and inequality. Alix is a PhD candidate in Political Science at the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on work and social policy in advanced industrial democracies. Topics: COVID-19 and racial, gender, social, and economic inequalities; the white collar quarantine; the economic crisis and COVID-19; social policy responses; and possible long-term legacies of the pandemic.
Read MoreCOVID-19 is a health crisis, but it isn’t only a health crisis. In this bonus episode, Kristen and Kyla discuss ten unexpected effects of the pandemic.
Read MoreKyla runs the show for this special collaborative episode on movies, featuring Kieran and Matty D. from Potential Spoilers (a podcast that predicts the plot of movies from the trailer). Topics: diversity in Hollywood; the environmental impact of the film industry; animals and film; child actors; baby burlesque used to be a thing and it is just as horrifying as it sounds; what you can do to help; Kyla, Kristen, Matty D., and Kieran see independent movies.
Read MoreSocial distancing! In this bonus episode, Kyla and Kristen each shout out three problems and three champions as the COVID-19 pandemic asserts itself in Canada. Kyla notices how pandemics change our lives and routines in unexpected ways. Kristen realizes she had no idea what a week’s worth of groceries looks like.
Read MoreIn this episode, Kristen and Kyla unravel the problems with fast fashion. Kyla learns that making clothes really is that hard. Kristen calls out Jay-Z and P-Diddy. Topics: what is fast fashion; we are buying (and throwing out) so many clothes; how the fashion supply chain works; offshoring; FDR, labour hero; sweatshops; garment industry disasters; forced labour; child labour; why is everything so shitty; is it getting better; what you can do.
Read MoreIn this episode, Kristen and Kyla are joined by food, migration, and labour historian Alexandra (Lex) Sundarsingh. Lex adds her knowledge about historical human rights abuses in sugar production — which, unfortunately, look a lot like present-day human rights abuses in sugar production. In their discussion, Lex, Kyla, and Kristen explain sugar production and why human rights practices are so fraught. They also discuss what you can do if you want to combat human rights abuses in sugar. Topics: indentured servitude in the British empire; sugarcane versus sugar beets; sugarcane is still a human rights hellscape; there’s some baggage in the history of Canadian sugar beet production; Stevia and biopiracy; Kyla goes through sugar withdrawal; Kristen struggles to find fair trade; Lex is giving out Sweetness and Power like it’s a car and she’s Oprah.
Read MoreIn this episode, Kristen and Kyla tackle the question on every millennial’s mind: will I be sent to the Bad Place for drinking almond milk? TL;DL: no. Topics: alternative milks and their amazing rise; the alt-milk OGs; and which alt-milk is best for people, animals, and planet. We also provide amateur-tips on making your own alternative milk, so you can avoid our mistakes. No dogs were milked in the making of this episode.
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