Ethical Living

Simplicity, a philosophy,

Makes way for mindful shopping

Each purchase given moral test

Of how, from where, at what cost

It journeyed to existence

For paper we cut down trees

Pesticides kill bees

Orangutan lands despoiled,

To make way for palm oil,

Food miles heighten CO2

Flowers need land, water too

As workers slave in hard labour

Chocolate loses sweet flavour

Responsibility is grave

Rights, peace, land, to save

The task can feel without hope

Like pushing boulders up a slope

Disconnect is mostly great

Between the growers and the plate

Let’s re-connect, co-create

Land and labour that we see

Might be graced with dignity

A chink of light through the haze

Act local first, the only way

Fran Brady