THE DILEMMa I would like to consume more ethically, but some elements of ethical consumption - like flying in Fairtrade items from overseas - seem paradoxical. Is it worth doing, and will it help?  I love saying I don't own a car because it seems to afford me loads of hypothetical green points. But is my lack of car attributable to my desire to de-link humankind from oil, or to the fact that I don't need one, as I live near a station? I shall never tell.  What I can say is that there is now a whole load of research on the fickleness and self-interest of "eco" private-sphere behaviours. This is coupled with a trend within the green movement for denouncing "green" personal activities and choices as pernicious. The thinking is that because you buy a pair of hemp pyjamas you will feel so virtuous that you'll wear them on a long-haul flight to the Maldives - global warming be damned. But this is to credit the population at large with the collective brain of a gnu.  Yes, there are paradoxes. Many consider "ethical consumerism