So far this week, I've been talking about some ways in which ethical concerns manifest at work, but what about daily encounters with ethics in the personal sphere?

(and, yes, I know I'm being simplistic in assuming a binary -- personal and professional often intersect!)

Let's start with finance. A few years ago, I closed my bank account because my bank had been involved in unethical activities that I didn't want to support, either implicitly or explicitly. I moved all of my money elsewhere.

In choosing a new bank, I looked for an institution that had branches in both the UK and the US, since I am a dual citizen and go back and forth. Unfortunately, I realized too late that the bank I chose had those geographical options because of its colonial history. Ack!

Another interesting example is food. I'm vegetarian because of a digestive disorder, but before committing to that diet I had increasingly reduced animal products for ethical reasons -- primarily eco-ethics and also the ethics of animal welfare.

However, research shows these topics aren't black and white. Growing enough veg for everyone requires huge amount of land that might otherwise be used for wildlife, for example. Also, some research suggests that plants might 'think' and 'feel' -- and therefore suffer.

When we die, our remains will be decomposed by other organisms (and, even now, little critters live in and on us and make use of various of our...products). So why should there be shame in being a same part of that process, as omnivores, while we are living?

These are just a few of the questions that people could ask themselves about their diet. To ponder these fully, I think you ultimately end up asking things like 'what is consciousness, and in what does it reside?'--and I'm not sure we have convincing answers yet.

(There is fascinating thinking on these points, however, and it is very rewarding to read about these sorts of metaphysical issues and consider their relavance to ethics! Feel free to share your own questions, answers, and suggested reading in response to this thread.)

One final area I'll mention is near and dear to my heart: cats. I wrote an article about the negative ecological impacts of cats for @ccmagazineindia, and in that piece I made it very clear that the literature shows that cats should not be allowed to roam outside.

Yes, many cats love to be outside, but when they are there they can get into fights and contract infections/diseases, they can get run over by cars, they can kill native wildlife, and they can infect other organisms with, e.g., Toxoplasmosis. This causes lots of suffering.

Shortly after writing that piece, I adopted a cat that had been feral for years. He was to be an indoor-only cat, but he was so neurotic that he scratched himself and tore out his own fur because he was so depressed and anxious being shut up inside.