Publication

In an economic system that prioritizes profit, humanitarian and ecological ethics often get disregarded, because to many giant corporations the mere consideration of them is a detriment to manufacturing productivity. Thus, making conscientious consumerism the norm is imperative to holding companies accountable, and making the world a more equitable place. While in general, consumers are willing to spend more money on ethically produced goods, they are often unaware of the ethical scoring of the products they purchase. GoodBuys is a social justice mobile application that allows users to scan consumer goods’ barcodes using their mobile phones or tablets in order to view information about how ethically the products were produced by displaying which Ecolables the products or the products’ producers have obtained as well as what obtaining or lacking each of those labels entails. As this information can drive consumers towards or away from specific products, producers, and distributors, the large scale adaption of Good-Buys and similar technologies will encourage the adaption of United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12: "Ensure[ing] sustainable consumption and production patterns" through target 12.6: "encourage[ing] companies, especially large and transnational companies, to adopt sustainable practices and to integrate sustainability information into their reporting."

Published in: 2020 IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference (GHTC)