RE: Your best 5 green tips?
If we dont have the proper facts and just not the spin, we arent going to be able to make any informed choices.
i agree entirely with this. that's one of the reasons i started my ethical living blog, to give people access to good informations so they can make informed choices.
I also agree with you regarding the morality of some supermarkets 'going green' bandwagon, but what really matters are actions. if a supermarket takes positive actions that genuinely help the planet, then their motives are pretty unimportant i think - 'every little helps' as they say.
as for the other countries, china is taking real steps to reduce its CO2 emissions with set targets and strategies. the usa on the other hand is trying to avoid any responsibilty forits CO2 emissions on a national level, but at a state and local level measures are being taken.
RE: Your best 5 green tips?
I dont agree that their motives are unimportant. For example, Tesco who are heavily promoting "green" products, make clothes that are made in sweatshops.
Asdas organic clothing range which has save the planet on them, are also made in sweatshops where kids as young as 13 are often forced to work 20 plus hour days.
Primark also heavily promoted their "eco range", again, these are made with sweatshop labour where people are paid a pittance and sacked on the spot and worse if they complain.
How can they justify calling this "ethical", the point is people are often misled into thinking that green and eco friendly means ethical when it means nothing of the sort.
Tescos own range of eco friendly products arent approved by the BUAV, neither are Ecovers products.
People may be buying these products by the bucketload thinking that they arent contributing to animal suffering in any way because the packaging says not tested on animals but this isnt the case.
There have also been major question marks regarding Tesco selling live animals abroad. So, if Asda, Tesco and Primark to name but 3 really care about the planet, including animals and the people who make their cheapo eco clothes, they could certainly do something about the conditions of the people who make clothes for them.
The I am not a plastic bag designer bag to raise eco awareness was made in a sweatshop in China.
I do much of my shopping on the natural collection website because it is ethical.
I dont want to jump on some green bandwagon and make peoples lives worse in the process just so I can wear an eco friendly T shirt.
RE: Your best 5 green tips?
i agree with you crystaltherapy, many organisations are jumping on the 'green' bandwagon, and their token efforts are nothing more than clever use of words with no substance behind them.
some other organisations have actually taken steps which will have a positive effect on the planet, even if their reasons are more for commercial purposes rather than genuine concern. an example i can think of is Dell computers charging an extra couple of pounds for a computer to help plant a tree to compensate for 3 years worth of CO2 emissions. i have no doubt that this is a marketing ploy, BUT if they plant the trees, does it matter why they planted them? the trees will absorb the CO2 regardless of why they were planted. thats the point i was making, people need to be informed and to choose wisely.
RE: Your best 5 green tips?
In the case of Dell, no I dont suppose it does but in the case of large supermarkets who potentially could change conditions for their workforces, to me it does and the fact that they treat people who work for them appallingly while promoting themselves as eco aware, that really gets on my nerves big time.
People should stop and think, if asda can make a so called eco friendly T shirt for a fiver, what will the person who made that eco T shirt get paid?
Buttons.
RE: Your best 5 green tips?
crystaltherapy
i have looked in my compassionate shopping guide by naturewatch and low and behold Ecover products are not endorsed as cruelty free
here is what they say
'Ecover promotes itself as environmentally sound, yet its 5 year rolling rule policy means it isnt endorsed as cruelty free.
Ecover justifies its position saying they cannot adopt a fixed cut off date, as this would prevent it from using newly developed ingredients which may be beneficial to the environment. yet other companies do manage to produce effective, environmentally friendly cleaning products, and do not have to resort to newly developed ingredients'
i have today written an email to them (ecover) saying i have just discovered this and that i want their position clarified. if this is still the case i will no longer buy their products and look into others. thanks for making me aware of this.
oh and just to add i have posted a free downloadable link for a cruelty free shopping guide on the general discussions forum today