Ok, well, not all university students. Just some. And maybe it's not even university students. Maybe it's those types of people who label themselves "activists", or "environmentalists", or "socially aware". It seems to me that that is an all or nothing proposition. If you care about the environment, great! Reduce, reuse and recycle, all that jazz. And if that's just not a huge issue for you (for whatever reason), then okay! I can respect that, too. But I think that is one of those issues where you can't talk out of both sides of your mouth.

Case in point. I met this week with a woman for coffee. After initially making our arrangements, I received an email from her asking if we could switch venues to somewhere that sells fair-trade coffee. Sure thing. If that's something that you believe in, I'm more than happy to oblige. So we met, and she told me about a documentary she saw about fair trade, and thought it was just terrible that stores don't use fair trade products, etc, etc.

I know little about it, so I nodded and smiled, and sipped my coffee. I respect people (like my friend Vicks) who genuinely are passionate about their causes, and live their life accordingly. Vicki will quietly turn off lights when she knows they're not being used, she's vegetarian, she uses cloth bags, and the list goes on and on. She is not perfect - it's hard to be when you live in North America. But she does the best she can.

Back to the coffee. We had our coffee, we chatted, and parted ways. I had to run some errands, and then I headed home. As I walked home, in front of a series of windows at the mall, I saw Ms. Fair Trade EATING AT MCDONALDS.

Am I crazy, or is there a hipocracy there? I mean, McD's just seems to be on the completely opposite end of the spectrum when it comes to fair trade.

Sure, it's her choice, I get it. But to actively make a socially conscious choice, only to completely negate it a half hour later just makes me thing you're a big poser.