Eco Friendly House And Garden

Your choice of festive gift could mean the difference between survival or big changes!

But in this case – both choices can have huge effects down the line – I mean do you choose between losing local services or losing the fight against poverty, animal cruelty and climate change?

It needn’t be that huge a choice – but we already know that buying off the Internet can have a negative effect on the high street and local stores as they are losing customers – but what about shopping for ‘invisible gifts’ instead?

By this I mean the ‘keep giving’ gifts like a one-off donation to a child overseas, the gift of a farm animal to an African farmer, sponsorship of an endangered animal or annual membership to a conservation society.

The recipient of the gift doesn’t get the gift itself – they just get proof of this great donation from you.  They will know that the money you have spent on their behalf will be invested in the future and help whichever cause that was chosen.

photo credit: Effervescing Elephant

I have received and given many such gifts myself over the years: I was given sponsorship for Mr Crusty the donkey last year – (and he is doing fine!) and joined up my niece and nephews to the RSPB as well.

What About The High Street?
As you can imagine these types of gift don’t involve shops on the high street – you mainly buy them online or direct from the charity or organisation.

But then the gifts available in the stores could be said to be less eco friendly in the sense that they have an eco footprint.  They are manufactured somewhere and transported to your stores.

Yes, you can choose only those gifts made locally, out of sustainable materials or eco friendly related for the home or garden – but they are still gifts in the sense that they need to be made, used and then disposed of at some point.

However, the very act of going into Town can be locally supportive.  The carpark fee, train fares, bus tickets – they all go towards supporting local businesses as well as the fact that you might stop for a coffee while you are there – and hopefully buy things to boot!

Supportive Gifts:
When you sponsor a child or donkey – it’s all done online in a few seconds.  No need to travel anywhere.

You still use up paperwork and postage with these gifts for the confirmation letter, but no need to travel into town, or wrap things up with bows and labels!

I mean, these gifts really are the ethical and the more eco friendly when compared to games, ornaments and ‘silly’ presents that we seem to see in the stores – as these types of gifts are those most likely to need batteries, have excess packaging and be thrown away after a few months use.

But when you think about helping local business people or distant wildlife or habitats – the line isn’t quite as clear.

I must admit that I feel a bit better about myself when I support distant projects such as rainforests, tigers with WWF and cross river gorillas with FFI as they seem ‘more important’ in the sense that they are the last of their kind on the edge of extinction - whereas you can open a new shop in 2 years time.

However, if the stores aren’t there to sell me gifts – will they be there to sell me other things when I need them?  I’m getting a bit sick of giant out-of-town superstores these days – so I need the high street to stay competitive and still stock everything I need all year round.

I think this one is stil undecided!

Eco friendly and Fair Trade products are on the increase – and you can be a part of their success!

The only reason manufacturers never really use eco friendly resources for their products is because consumers as a whole were never really ‘that’ bothered where things came from – as long as we liked them in the first place and they were not too expensive. 

Even today, you may well still be buying products that don’t have a branded logo on them, like ‘fair trade’ or ‘FSC certified’ – even though these products are available.

Why?  Well, you can answer that one yourself.  I bet it’s the simple reason that they aren’t always available in your local shops, and if they are available there is very little selection for you to choose from.

The Problem:
Lets take, for example, tea for this first problem.  Fair trade tea has been available for years, but it started out as just the one type.  Basically you had to choose to have fair trade tea in the only flavour that it came in, or you could have non-fair trade tea in any flavour that you wanted (and had probably been drinking your whole life).  Not such a difficult choice for most: they went for flavour.

Secondly, with the example of shoes; one pair of plain, non-offensive brown shoes may have been made by a community of Fair Trade workers in India.  However, because they were made with care and a premium paid for their certification, they were usually a lot pricier than their non-fair trade equivalent shoes that came in a huge variety of shapes, colours and styles.  Again, factors were working against the new products.

Yet others were so hard to get hold of that they would never be seen by over 80% of the population.  Whether they were only stocked by online stores or only found in ‘hippy’ or ‘alternative health stores’ it didn’t matter.  If they weren’t on the shelf in Boots, M&S or Tesco – most people wouldn’t ever see them – and so most people wouldn’t buy them.

And ultimately, their scarcity and high(ish) prices meant that no-one could really recommend them to the general public as so few people wanted to risk their money on an unusual of slightly different product.

Step Into Today’s Market:
However, as we find today, there are now a whole host of ethical or eco friendly alternatives to almost every product available today.  They are still only really a small slice of the market, but at least now people are starting to actually ‘like’ and search for these products.

And we know that retail responed to this by stocking more – so by using such products ourselves, we are creating a better future market for these types of products.

Whether you prefer to help the planet by buying organic products, or you want to help distant farming communities with your support of Fair Trade doesn’t matter.  What matters is that you are buying these things in the first place.

And, the more support these products get, the cheaper they become too.  The reason why a lot of organic or fair trade products were not for sale in high street stores is because their retail price was so expensive compared to existing alternatives that there was no point taking them on – they were a ‘waste of shelf space’.

But now demand has made these product more reasonably priced and able to compete with known brands.  Take for example Ethletics cotton sneakers.

These cotton baseball boots look virtualy identical to a well known brand of baseball boots and shoes.  They come in the same huge array of colours, both for kids and adults, short or long, and even personalized designs – and they are even the same price.

However, Ethletics shoes are made with only organic cotton, use an FSC approved rubber source, offer a Fair Trade price for both the rubber, the cotton and the workforce and are 100% vegan and contain absolutely no plastic.

The other brand make none of these claims.  It doesn’t have to, it’s been selling it’s footwear for years based on the brand alone.  It may well use these same workers or forests for their supplies, and their shoes might also be free of animal derivatives – but they just don’t need to tell us.

Your Choice:
Whether you personally support the manufacturer who offers you certified proof of all their ethical attributes doesn’t really matter.

What matters is that we have got to a point where you can’t say you didn’t have a choice. 

But doing the right thing no longer means walking around in sandals, wearing a baggy t-shirt eating lentils.  Being ethical is now a lifestyle choice without the compromise.

Being ethical today means having everything you are used to, but sourcing it wisely!

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……