Eco Friendly House And Garden

An eco friendly business doesn’t just talk about it – it acts on it!

Depending on the type of business that you run, or the company that you work for, there could be a certain amount of long-distance travel involved.  And long-haul means wasted time, staff not working and carbon emissions!

So Climate Care Day is asking: ‘Why not consider a ‘travel free’ day as part of your current business plan?’  This initiative supported by the WWF is trying to give you the opportunity to look at the alternatives, and make businesses more eco-friendly.

By asking you not to travel as part of your working day, they are trying to get businesses and individuals to think about the impact that their decisions can have on not only their business itself, but also on the wider environment.

What Are They Asking?
Basically, the idea of Climate Care Day is to get businesses to not arrange any long distance travel for that 24 hours.

So, on the 26th of March 2010, they are hoping that corporations will communicate via other means rather than face-to-face.

Whether this means individuals will communicate verbally by telephone, digitally via the internet or virtually with live video conferencing – it doesn’t matter.  As long as they haven’t flown or driven hundreds or thousands of miles to do it in person!

There are plenty of technological alternatives available to businesses today that can eliminate or reduce the need for business travel – and can save a lot of money in the process!

However, a lot of people are not thinking of these alternatives as they plod along doing everything as they have always done it.  Added to this is the problem of the changing market, where something that wasn’t really a viable option a few years ago is now readily and very often cheaply available.

Sometimes things that have always happened a certain way are seen as static – with no real reason to change it – well, if it has always worked like that – why change it?

But we have seen with the impressive speed with which cell phones have morphed into a huge array of handheld mobile technology gadgets that make phone calls, give you directions, display whole journals, film events, take pictures, search the internet and even play games.  Why would you still want to do all these things separately and as slowly as we used to do it?

Would you rather go to a library and scan through the paper index and individual paper journals to find a certain fact, when you could use the internet instead?  And why would you want to carry a camera, your cell and a laptop to review new products for your company, when a smart phone could do all 3 jobs in 1?

The same could be true for your business if you worked smarter – and it makes economic sense.  Save time, save money and reduce carbon emissions – but also create a better work environment and help society change for the better.

Why Do It?
Climate change is said to be the biggest threat to nature and humanity in the 21st century, and has now become a serious business issue.  Ignoring this could have detrimental effects on not only your own business itself, but on the way we work as a planet at the moment.

Coastal cities are having to make 25-year plans to move whole industries away from threatened coastlines.  You can’t just change the country’s infrastructure overnight!

And supplies and raw materials are changing – for example landfill sites are being raided for their raw ingredients which were buried in the past decades, and old computer parts are being harvested for the precious metals they contain.

We also know that in general things that stay the same are left behind.  I mean if you ran a business today that was based on using only dial-up internet- you would not be able to compete with others in the same market.

You don’t always need the newest inventions, or the most expensive – but you need a viable alternative that suits your business needs.

So, even if you can’t take part in this event, consider looking again at some business improvements – and become more eco friendly along the way.

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.