Eco Friendly House And Garden

Here we continue on from our debate with a look at what Organic and Fair Trade mean in terms of our food. 

One is more concerned with the health of the environment and ecosystem, while the other places more of it’s attention onto the growers and the farming communities of developing countries.

Organic:
Many governments have strict laws regarding the use of the word ‘Organic’ on food and feeds and they must be registered with a certified organic body.  However organic food can be imported from any country in the world, as long as it also has a certified organic body. 

The aim of organic farming is best described as optimizing the health and productivity of linked communities of soil life, plants, animals and people. 

As a result the environment is better treated; livestock and crops are not injected or sprayed with chemicals and the resulting food is as natural as can be and ultimately contains more natural ingredients and nutrition.

As a result the animals that we farm will be better treated (ie. have more space and more natural diets), the wildlife and watercourses will not be exposed to intensive farming and overuse of chemicals and associated problems, and the resulting food will be more nutritious and virtually chemical free.

Fair Trade:
This heading is more directed at the workers themselves, rather than the nutritional value of their foods.

Basically, it promotes the equality of workers in all countries by guaranteeing certain prices and certain working conditions that benefit small farms and local farming communities.

As it offers better quality of life to people, it therefore offers a great alternative to non-fair trade products from the same locations, for example fair trade bananas.  We can’t grow them here and have to import them; so why support poor working conditions by buying non-fair trade products?

The amount you pay is not that different, but more of the money can go into schools and communities rather than an international firms pocket!

Your Conclusion?
It is still very difficult to decide when you should by organic and when fair trade?  And can local produce even be fair trade?

You need to decide what is important to you first for each food type (as sometimes you will have little choice apart from not eating that food when you want – but when it’s available!).

1) If you want to reduce climate change then only buy locally and seasonal to prevent carbon emissions from extra resources and from flights and shipping long-haul.

2) If you want to be more environmentally friendly, then choose seasonal to reduce growth enhancers being used; and organic which will reduce the chemicals and fertilisers being used en masse in the countryside and waterways.

3) If you want to support developing countries and small farms, then buy fair trade (and possibly organic) to reduce their stresses and exposure to multi-national abuse and chemical overload!

4) If you want to ‘be healthy’ and reduce your families exposure to chemicals then buy locally and organically to reduce your exposure to artificial ingredients and chemical in your foods, but also from exposure from exhaust fumes from transported goods from elsewhere.

Sometimes, it’s not that easy – or that clear cut, but if you want to seriously make a difference, you are going to have to start making some decisions.

Do you know if what you feed you dog or cat is good for the environment or have you never even thought about it?

You have no doubt seen the huge array of pet foods available these days, either in the supermarket or the pet shop but is there much difference in their impact on the environment?

Basically there are a list of arguments as to why commercial wet food is not so good for anything really: it’s costs more to feed, it contains various sugars and salts, it costs more to transport, it uses a lot of metal and processing, and the standard of nutrition is less than in premium dry foods.

Lets take a look at the main points:

Packaging:
When you buy a tin of cat food; it will usually feed you pet for 1 or 2 meals – then you throw the can away or recycle it. When you buy a small bag of dry food it will feed your pet for many days or weeks, then you throw it on the compost heap or reuse it for rubbish. But how do they actually compare?

Lets use a cat as the example for this one. Basically a bag of premium dry food is usually around 3kg – that’s 3000g of food in the one bag. An average 3/4 kg cat would need around 40g of food a day, so the bag would last 75 days (nearly 11 weeks).

Needless to say that the same amount of days food in tins would be up to 75 cans per cat! Imagine the wasted packaging here!!! Lets break it down over a year.

The cost of making the tins:
The tins for the pet food need to be made in the first place. Because pets need to eat so many tins of food – there are thousands of tins made each day.

Wrapping the tins:
Each tin needs to have a label made, printed with the brand name and the ingredients and directions. This needs to then be glued onto the tins.

Packing the tins:
Pet food normally gets packed in bulk for transportation, and tins are normally sat on a cardboard (printed with branding) and plastic wrapped in a tray of 12. They are not usually displayed in this packaging so it is discarded before sale.

 Transporting the tins:
These trays will then need to be taken to a main distribution centre first and then transported again to a warehouse or supermarket warehouse when ordered. They will finally then be transported to the actual store that needs them.

Transport to your home:
When you buy the tins yourself (an average of 7 at a time because they are so heavy), you will need to package them up for transportation – usually in a plastic bag – and travel with them to your home.

Assuming you need those 75 tins, that is one 400g tin a day – that is 365 tins for the year. Bearing in mind you usually buy around 7 tins per shopping trip, that is 52 trips a year to the store, thats 52 journeys of your time and money to carry home your pets food.

If you live in a street where several of the residents also have a cat, (say a total of 10 cats) thats about 3650 tins a year that need to be produced for just your street. Your neighbourhood could need 5 times that – 13,322,500 tins a year for just 50 cats! Your recycling bins are going to be filled in no time!!

Water:
Dry foods do not waste money on transporting water half way across the world. They are dry foods because that is a better way to produce and transport high quality foods.

Wet foods can contain over 60% water – usually added back to the animal derivatives before canning – and you could argue that this is the same a real meat. But why should you pay for that water to be transported across the country when you can add your own water at home?

If up to 60% of a tin of wet food is water – then you are only getting 40% or less of actual ingredients – and bearing in mind most commercial wet foods contains vegetable material as well – how much of what’s left is actually meat?

Most cats prefer rainwater or water from your bathroom tap as they don’t contain as many minerals as our tap water – and will appear as though your pets are drinking more water when you start feeding them a dry food – but that’s not a bad thing. It just means that there was so much flavoured water in the wet food that it didn’t need to drink before!

Organic & Fair Trade?
Well, there isn’t really a commercially branded wet food that offers the choice of organic food for your pets – although there are several in the premium pet food market.

The pet food market in general is certainly lagging behind in the need for organic and fairly traded products and they will not start to branch out until people start asking and ultimately buying anything that does come out.

Don’t be fooled by ‘natural’ foods in the pet market, or ‘made with fresh chicken’ as all meat was fresh before it was cooked and all meat is natural too – they are false claims for a bit or ‘green-washing’. Never believe the advertising on the front of a product for the truth about a food – look at the actual ingredients so you can judge for yourself!

To Conclude:
Wet pet food uses a lot of packaging and wasted transport costs and energy – and you waste a lot of energy and money going out to buy it. If you want to reduce your impact – reduce your pets dependence on tinned wet food – and switch to dry – preferably a premium dry food (there are different types of dry food available).

Dry food is not bad for your pet, it is actually more nutritious. I know this because if your pet ever gets really ill or drastically overweight – your vet will recommend a prescription diet to fix the problem that is a dry food. So if vets use dry food to make sick dogs and cats better – why not use it when they are still healthy!!!

Have you ever wanted to know more about sustainable living, and get advice on converting your house and garden into more energy efficient and chemical-free environments? Well here is your chance.

The Homes For Good show in April this year, is all about offering advice and suggestions for every householder, offering new products and new approaches to old concepts that will make your life more ‘green’.

Why Change?
The choices we make can have a profound effect on the toxins in our home, the environmental impact of our house and garden and the effect on our local community.

Whether you are building a new house, garage, barn or other outbuilding from scratch – or redecorating or modernising an existing room or premises – you can make better choices. However, rather than researching everything from scratch you could always ask the experts, people who have been working in the industry for years.

You will also have the opportunity to talk to others like yourself, who are new to many eco-friendly concepts. We are all here for the same thing, so make sure you are prepared to talk to exhibitors and other visitors to get some answers regarding your concerns or interests.

What’s There?
There will be over 100 exhibitors including Eco Trust (sustainability), Neate (wind turbines), Green Stuff (IT solutions) and many many more covering solar, water, electricity, house-building, architects, conservation of old, lime suppliers and many for the eco garden.

There will also be free demonstrations where you can get your hands on some new and revolutionary technology. There will also be talks from experts and trade workers as well as books for research and products to buy.

All this for only £5 entry fee (£2 for students and senior citizens) and it’s free to anyone under 16 as well!

Check online at www.homesforgood.info for more information and directions.