Eco Friendly House And Garden

Can working in your local bakers be just as eco friendly as saving whales in the Pacific?

Yes, of course it can!  Just because you aren’t out there on the front line fighting deforestation and humanitarian crimes – doesn’t mean you aren’t making the best choices for your environment.

Don’t get ‘ethical’ issues confused with ‘environmental’ issues – the latter being active for the planet – and the people and communities benefiting from the ethical side of things.

How Can You Help?
Well, working closer to home is an easy one for starters.  Why travel miles to work if you can get a job within walking distance of your front door.  I mean, there will be people driving past you as they work in the offices or stores near your home, and you spend the day working close to their home!

It’s not always working for an eco friendly business that makes your individual job more eco friendly either.  I mean travelling 20 or more miles a day in your car to get to an eco friendly workplace by no means compares to someone who walks 5 minutes to work in a local bakers – even if the baker doesn’t use the most eco friendly equipment! Over a year the difference is more obvious.

And if you are eco minded – then you could help to implement changes to your workplace to make them more eco-friendly in themselves.  I mean if you could work locally to promote eco friendly practices in a locally run family business in your own community – what could be more eco friendly!

Look At Yourself Now:
Even if you aren’t planning on changing jobs – there are plenty of things you could look at in your current role and help to change.  And with the shortage of truly ‘green’ jobs about – you are probably better to become a mini activist in your current role!

However, it’s not all the same green!  Just because the charity you work for helps wildlife conservation – it doesn’t mean that everything else is a given.  For example, if you are working in a retail outlet on behalf or the many charities out there – is that really green at all?

Retail stores are a massive polluter and creator of waste – I mean you only need to look out the back of a store to see the tonnes of waste cardboard and other packaging being used.  All the pricing, stock holding and transportation add up to something huge – so can you really call this an ‘eco friendly’ job?

Ideas For The Future:
Start to think about everyday things in your job as well – rather than the large sweeping achievements of the great big companies.

I like to think that the people who are working for their community are making as much of a difference as those campaigners on the other side of the world.  It’s the people who just plod along day after day thinking of all the things they could do – but not doing them!

I know now isn’t the time to be giving up your job on a whim – but you could start to work through all those little things that have been nagging you.  Find out about local funding for certain projects that might apply to your business.  Promote communication methods that save energy and canteen options that can reduce food miles.

And, trying to find an eco friendly business improvement that can save your company money will always go down well with the boss – so try to find an cost effective eco friendly angle for everything!

Whether you are buying crisps, pet food or office equipment – look for the logo!

The Ethical Accreditation Scheme has been running for many years, helping to identify the most ethical companies in all areas of the market.  All those who pass the basic criteria can then display the Good Shopping Guide Logo on their products and websites so that you know you are choosing from the best out there.

For example did you know something as simple as choosing Sainsbury’s over Spar or Teacher’s whisky over Bell’s could be affecting the environment and even peoples lives?

What Is The Scheme About?
The Ethical Company Organisation runs the UK’s leading ethical accreditation scheme to help identify companies and brands that are one step ahead of the competition in terms of their impact on the environment, animal welfare issues if applicable, human rights, responsible marketing and suppliers and their ethical investment policies – amongst other criteria.

The ‘scoring’ takes into account many aspects of trade and staffing, and then allows for full accreditation if all categories are met.  It also allows for other companies to be listed as ‘almost there’ and those that are no good at all really!

The History Of Ethical Shopping.
In the past 2 decades – ethical shopping has come along in leaps and bounds.  People as consumers are actually asking where their ‘stuff’ comes from.  And are finding out that Brother make more ethical products than Samsung or Xerox for example.  Where products are not that different in appearance of function – it’s good to know that your choice can help make a difference.

Picking one brand of toaster could help support the sale of armaments and abuses of human rights where as another could be preserving habitats and helping to encourage fair trade.  The difference to you could be just 50 pence, but the difference to the whole chain of people associated with the raw materials and production could mean life or death!

1986 saw the boycott of General Electric for it’s involvement with nuclear weapons, 1989 saw Avon in the public eye for animal testing, then in the 1990′s Nestle were forced to rethink their Baby Milk marketing after the truth was exposed.  1994 saw the timber trade in the spotlight and France itself had to do some serious ‘fixing’ after it’s nuclear tests were thrown into the news during the following year.

Since then, there have been some serious changes in policy for most major areas like animal testing, the timber trade, marine and dolphin fishing, fair trade coffee and chocolate becoming mainstream and many many more – including the new palm oil certification.

Consumers want to know everything – and they know that they can make a change now.

Visit www.gooshing.co.uk for some information that can help you decide if Hula Hoops are a more ethically responsible choice than Pringles; whether your cooking oil manufacturer is supplying weapons to troubled countries or whether your sewing machine is harming animals!

Take a look……