Alas, Green Wash it is.

Recently on an outing to find better, greener products for the smallest member of our family I made the mistake of purchasing two seemingly decent products. Labelled ‘Eco’ on both packages I merrily made my way to the till and it wasn’t until I got home that the warm fuzz of doing the right thing was sharply taken away from me in much the same manner as a bucket of iced water over the head takes away one’s feeling of calm and warmth.

Alas, I have been the unsuspecting mug of ‘greenwash’. Products that contain one or two genuinely eco-friendly ingredients or remove one or two of the damaging ones can be marketed as superbly ‘green’ despite the fact it may not have any other remarkable features whatsoever. In fact, some companies go as far as using the colour green on their packaging to hoodwink you into thinking they actually care about the environment. Don’t be fooled. Thankfully legislation regarding labelling is currently under review but there are still a lot of products flying the green flag that are bending the rules pretty much to breaking point. DEFRA’s guide endeavours to unify how manufacturers label environmentally friendly products (and even what that term actually means). For the average consumer there are a myriad of quesitons that greenwash glosses over. Is recycled packaging better than that which can be recycled? Is organic better than Fairtrade or vice versa. For those who do not spend every waking hour discerning which products can be bought guilt free and which should be simply put back on the shelf, here are some simple rules to go by:

1. Recycled, reusable packaging. Is cardboard better than degradable plastic? As a rule of thumb no packaging is best. If it is recycled go for post-consumer waste (less goes to landfill that way) and that which can be recycled can only be done so if you have facilities in your area. However, paradoxically packaging that is sent to China from Britain to be 100% recycled can produces less CO2 than sending it to landfill in your local area. Yes that really is how bad landfill is, sending those used plastic bottles 10,ooo miles is the better option; shocking but true. Plastic made from corn oil that can be thrown in your own compost is better (cut out those airmiles) but it isn’t always regularly available.

2. Parabens,  Benzoates,  Sodium Lauryl Sulphate (SLS), Sodium Laureth Sulphate (SLES),  Phthalates. How do you know the good chemicals from the bad and what the choices are. Well you may find products that market themselves as  ‘No Parabens’ where previously they were. This is blatent green wash. The point about chemical additives is that they can be safe in one product, but add that up with every other product you use and you have a cocktail or frighteningly prolific nasties in your shopping bag (and worse on your skin).The rule of thumb here is natural is usually best. Add it all up, decide if you really want to consume all those chemicals and if not (why would you?) then put them back on the shelf.

3.The best way to avoid the chemicals is to look for simple products (and by simple I mean the ones with fewer ingredients and not the brand ‘Simple’ which I simply would not endorse) and natural alternatives. For example olive oil can be used as a cleanser, moisturiser and conditioner. Essential oils can be used in a bath instead of chemical bath scents or in place of chemical clothes softeners in your laundry (the addition of a spoonful of white vinegar will also naturally soften your clothes and not leave any vinegary odour on them) and they are far kinder to your skin.

4. Shop at ethical sites (ethicalsuperstore.com, ecotopia.co.uk, Nigel’s Eco store) that purposely stock eco and ethical products. Companies that care about the big picture will generally go the extra mile in reducing carbon emissions, questioning their supply chain and contributing to a better planet. However, even they can do with a little consumer push which leads me onto number 5;

5. If you’re not sure: ask. Email, ring or write to companies whose products/service you know and love and ask them what they are doing to be more ethical. Do they have a CSR strategy that is implemented throughout their business practices? When are they going to make organic/Fairtrade alternatives? Putting consumer pressure on companies to improve their practices and products/services is the best way to bring about change. Start a group on Facebook about it, tell your friends on Twitter. Talk about it on your blog. More and more companies are listening to social media groups and are only too happy to keep you, the customer, happy.

6. Shop locally and ask those local shops about their supply chain. It’s false economy if your local shop buys everything in from China and clocks up airmiles. Checking out a supply chain is as simple as asking them, you might find that internet company actually produces less CO2 than the local shop you can walk to. Again, if you’re not sure: ask.

7. Shout about the good stuff. Those companies who get it right, who you feel happy to back, are worth shouting about. Don’t just moan when something is bad, tell everyone when it’s right. The more people that buy the product, use the service or talk about it with you, the more consumer power you have.

So if you are worried about getting caught up in the tide of ‘greenwash’ that is spreading across our products, do something about it. Just because it’s in green coloured packaging doesn’t make it good. Beware the ‘organic’ labelling that misleads you to thinking everything in it is organic. There’s only one way to bring about the kind of change that stops such false advertising persisting: use your voice, your feet and any other part of your body (within reason) that shows retailers that you, the customer, is a force to be reckoned with, or at least pandered to and catered for.

The ethics of name calling..

The social web is a thing of beauty and fun to be had until you realise that posting an off hand comment on the likes of Facebook or Twitter or part of a blog is more than just making a throw-away comment out of earshot of the political correctness police. So really, what is the ethics of name calling when it comes to the web?

That which pertains to racisim, prejudice or derogatory comments which cause offense or harm are indeed bad etiquette (netiquette?) to say the least. The things that are acceptable behind closed doors are rarely acceptable in a fishbowl with a public forum all waiting to comment. Take for example a recent comment between myself and a friend from Manchester. I was born in Liverpool and generally consider myself to be a Scouser, although I grew up in Ormskirk (West Lancashire) giving me the nomenclature of ‘Woollyback’ from those outside (something to do with the high number of sheep in the lush green fields) and slinging a well worded yet derogatory comment at a fellow Scouser on Twitter made me realise that actually online ethics is a double-edged sword.

Firstly is the argument of censorship. Something I am completely against if it is censorship from authorities. The case of Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand at the BBC is a prime example of a knee-jerk reaction that catered to a smaller number of people (those who took the time to complain) than those who regarded the comments as poor taste but nevertheless funny. I think that censorship is only acceptable when it is from parents in the case of their own children or images/language deemed universally offensive by an overwhelming majority (take for example, child abuse, it takes a long stretch to make that funny). In general, people should be able to choose whether or not to view/use language or accept certain things as offensive. I agree with a watershed for television broadcasting (given the vain hope that your children will be in bed by that time and not begging you for just 5 more minutes viewing time) I agree with parental channels and policing of the internet where possible but I emphatically do not agree with censorship that prevents adults from making their own choices.

Secondly is the obvious (yet rarey considered) point that one person finds a term offensive. Another uses it as a term of endearment or empowerment. Take for example, the usage of ‘Gay’ to denote a homosexual man. It is used  pejoritively by those who are homophobic but it is also used as a well chosen word (given its connotations) by homosexual men with pride to overturn the prejudice laced within our language and acts as a subversive kick in the homophobic’s groin.

So if someone calls me a ‘Woollyback’ I think of the long hours spent wandering through sheep filled fields with a chocolate labrador by the name of Maud (well it is a proper name) in two, and the happy childhood I spent there. Woollyback is a term of nostalgia but it does not define me. Similarly when referred to as a Scouser (as I invariably was when at University in Scotland) I feel proud of my heritage. I’m not likely to live up to an outdated stereotype of a Scouser as the Artful Dodger (although once in Univeristy, exasperated by such name calling I did try to ‘borrow’ a friend’s hubcaps with the intention of replacing them in the morning only to realise they were alloys) and I’m even less likely to produce a gutteral accent in conversation (although I love the variety of scouse accents). I fit into Liverpool and it is a place I will always come back to so criticism of my birthplace is immaterial to me. However, and this is the caveat that I think nails down the ethical argument: I wouldn’t pressume that other people are of the same opinion as me. I wouldn’t call someone a Woollyback or Scouser or Manc or anything derogatory that stems from those terms and stereotypes because it is not the word itself which is at fault, it’s the usage. I’m not saying I’ve never done this, I have and obviously it is such an action which has led me to rethink my ethics.

Just as anyone that starts a sentence with ‘I’m not Racist but…’ generally IS being racist anyone that believes such terms that identify a person by one trait (be it birthplace, skin colour, political views or otherwise) can, in the wrong forum, be perjorative. If you say it to a friend and neither of you find it offensive, it doesn’t necessarily make it right but it certainly makes it more ethical than posting comments online that thousands (and in some cases millions) of people may take offence from.

So does being personally and socially responsible involve never taking part in that happy banter that exists between all social groups? No of course it doesn’t. Ethics by nature require people to think, to consider and to act accordingly. Posting messages on the social web isn’t quite the same as texting someone a rude joke. Yet being mindful of what you say shouldn’t be the complete compliance with political correctness that construes language into a long winded fight to find the actual meaning (I’m short I’m not vertically challenged) and when considering something which you consider healthy banter, consider this: calling someone something on the web isn’t just making a joke, it’s broadcasting to the world that the comment (and that comment alone) is your ethical view on language.

Everyone has done it, starting with using swearwords as a child that you knew were bad but had no idea of the etymology or offence that they can cause (until a parent overhears, and then the realisation is abrupt) but those who consider themselves to be ethical should consider their online persona. The people who read your blog, or Facebook profile or Myspace don’t really care that you spent your last 3 paycheques supporting a charity, they don’t care if you help neighbours in times of need or frail old ladies to cross the street. They care what you call them, particularly if they’ve never met you in person. The language you use to begin with packs far more of a punch than the apologies you’ll have to dole out subsequently. If you don’t believe me, ask Russell.

Day 2 giving up plastic for Lent

Today is proving a bigger test than I anticipated. We need bread. It’s not like I can ignore it for another 38 days because our two year old will inevitably ask for tuna butties (sandwiches) for his lunch and I’m not the kind of mother to deny him. So I’m on to making my own bread. There isn’t an artisan  bakery near to me who will supply bread that is wrapped in a paper bag, it is all plastic wrapped and so I’m on to making my own bread today. Luckily for me a handy sales purchase rests on my kitchen shelf in the shape of Andrew Whitley’s ‘Bread Matters’ book, a relative bible on baking. Andrew set up the Village Bakery in Melmerby in 1976 (a fabulous artisan bakery that sells organic traditional breads and savouries) and I am more than happy to try it out.

Secondly we will need milk pretty soon, ugh. Short of procuring a cow and milking it myself I’m not quite sure how to go about getting milk without the plastic. I’m going to have to persuade the dairy to supply me organic milk in glass bottles. Last time we tried that the sneaks started delivering it in small plastic bottles and we stopped it (large plastic bottles just seemed less wasteful than 300 pint size plastic bottles at the end of the week).

Right then.. I’ve got some phoning and planning to do….

Do the right thing not nothing.

Writer for the Washington Post, George Will recently made spurious claims about climate change a myth and just noise from the ‘dark green doomsayers’. I must admit I was outraged (not least because I spend my life reading, researching and actively trying to minimise the effects of my family’s lifestyle on the planet) but most of all I think I was disappointed. It’s pretty sad that someone who can influence so many people would choose to ignore such glaringly obvious changes in the climate (you only need to open your eyes to see that things are changing, increased natural disasters, shifts in climate, floods, droughts etc).

What ever happened to erring on the side of caution? I mean, let’s face it,everyone can lie with statistics, but no one really stands to profit from climate change reports. Even companies such as Coethica, for whom climate change is an obvious but small part of the CSR drive, do not really profit from climate change. The point of a CSR consultancy is really the amalgamation of certian traditional consultancies such as managment support, staff recruitment, training and retention, waste management alternatives, renewable energy drives. All of which combine happily to help business profit more (through better efficiency, lower costs and happier staff) and do the right thing. The impetus for Coethica is simply to help businesses do the right thing because it makes better business sense, and if climate change statistics are actually true (and there is no doubt in my mind that they are) then it gives us some way to protect ourselves from the future disasters.

George Will is among a growing  number of ‘experts’ who make disparaging remarks regarding climate change and CSR in a bid to win popularity through controversy. The easiest thing is to do is simply nothing at all. Take his advice and continue to live a life that is destroying the planet, producing more waste than we have space for and ensuring that our future generations have no real future at all. George Will doesn’t profit from us doing nothing and neither do we.

You don’t have to be an activist to make a change. Small changes make a big difference.

Try this:

For one week, turn your heating down by 1 degree. It’s not a lot but just try it. Turn your TV off when you’re not using it (instead of leaving it on standby) and close your curtains (drapes) when it gets dark (keeping the heat in the room). Those three things will make you realise just how easy it is to employ small changes that make a big difference.

So go on do the right thing.

Giving up plastic for lent..

I have decided in a bid to reduce the waste we use to give up plastic for lent. I am not religious so giving up anything for lent is a bit of a stretch, BUT I’ll give it a go. I thought about giving up chocolate (admittedly not a bad choice but seeing as I only really eat organic, fairtrade dark chocolate it really won’t help anything) and then I thought how about I give up my love of baths. Again this is flawed as I’ve probably had 4 indulgent bubble baths since my son was born just over two years ago) then it struck me (when reading twitter, so not even my idea) what a great idea to give up plastic.

What could cause me to make my already busy life more difficult? Well it started this weekend, Sunday to be exact, when David and I ventured into the back garden (with plans of pulling up flags to make way for a veg patch) when we realised that just by our garden shed is the European mountain of plastic. Most of these are milk bottles (how much milk can one two year old consume without an iron deficiency?) with the odd fancy cosmetic product thrown in. It is shocking to say the least. Don’t believe me? Look:

So for the next 40 days I will not purchase anything that comes in plastic packaging. Not a single thing. No bottles of fancy moisturiser, no milk in plastic cartons, no stupidly over-packed fruit and veg. Today will be easy as we bought milk yesterday, but planning the shopping might be a bit of a bind.

39 days and counting!

Personal Social Responsibility..

Ok here goes…. the beginning of an addictive venture so I’m told. In the coming weeks, years, decades I’m going to be covering the more personal aspects of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR/CR). Why? Well in short, it all starts with an individual, and that individual is you. Congratulations. Now, onto saving the planet one person at a time..

So what is this Personal Social Responsibility I hear you ask?  It’s simple. Take responsibility. I’m not talking take on every corporate giant that you feel is destroying our planet (unless you’re that way inclined) no, Personal Social Responsibility (PSR) is about opening your eyes, taking a look around at your own community and thinking about how you fit into, what it means to you and how you can improve and sustain it. Those Thatcher days are over my friend. Now is the time to start thinking about where you want to be in the next week, decade or even 50 years. I’m guessing, like most people you don’t want to be immersed in water like a number of low lands will be pretty soon if we don’t start trying to halt and reverse the detrimental effects of climate change.

Anyway, enough of the scare tactics (even though they’re pretty fun to drop into the conversation – go on try it at work, casually mention whilst you’re standing next to the water cooler “The Met Office believes the Thames estuary is the most vulnerable place in northern Europe to major storm surges. The existing barrage could be overwhelmed at almost any time, and estimates suggest this could cause £30bn of damage to London and the surrounding areas”*.) the point is nobody has any time, we don’t want to spend hours pouring through the myriad of publications about how to be a better person, what does being ethical mean, how does CSR apply to you or your company. So come here, and read about some of things you can do that will make big changes with relatively little effort. Yes that’s right. It doesn’t take a lot to make a difference, and believe me it’s not as hard as it looks. The thing is I’m a little, well how can I put this? I’m obsessed with CSR and PSR, and when I’m not finding out ways to improve my carbon footprint, reduce, reuse and recycle pretty much everything I can, then I’m working for Coethica and shouting about how business can do the same. The thing about being ethical is that it makes sense, saves money, increases happiness (quality of life=fighting off that impending sense of doom) and makes the world a better place. Oh and I promise you, you don’t have to wear hessian and tie yourself to a tree to save the planet.

So enough of the tree hugging loveliness: Let’s start with people we love:

www.innocentdrinks.com

* read the rest of this article here:   http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2006/sep/05/greenpolitics.renewableenergy

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