Thinking about "How Then Should we Live" Issues

When I started exploring questions of justice in more depth a few years ago I was quickly struck by the fact that what I was learning was going to either force me to change how I live or I would have to make a conscience decision to live in apathy or worse. One thing I do not want to be is self righteous. I've pretty much discovered after 54 years that my righteousness is just what scripture says it is in Isaiah 64:6, filthy rags. That's because my own efforts at being righteous create self righteousness. It is only when I understand that Christ has provided a righteousness for me and allowed His Holy Spirit to convict and cleanse me that I begin to get it right. We are called as Christians to walk in a righteous way. My way may look a little bit different that yours just because the things that I am convicted about and convinced of may be a bit different. Of course I'm not talking about the things listed in scripture. Instead I am referring to those things we can call points of conscience. Since I know that chocolate is mostly produced by child slave labor in the Ivory Coast can I buy chocolate if I know it was most likely produced using slave labor? Aren't I then becoming part of the problem? How about buying a beautiful rug from India or Pakistan that is not labeled child labor free? What about sugar, coffee, tea and cotton? How far do I have to go not to abuse my conscience? Does buying fair trade coffee or chocolate make a difference? What do you think?  I'm going to take a stab at discussing all of these issues. Hopefully the process will help me solidify my own convictions...