Green Brolly from M&S

My brolly got mangled in the wind recently, so I popped into Marks & Spencer for a replacement. I was delighted to find I could get one made out of recycled yarn. It didn't cost any more than the others, in fact less than some equivalents, so it begs the obvious question - why aren't they all made of recycled material?

Guilt trip TV...

Mea culpa. On Friday I bought a new TV. A 32" flatscreen telly to replace our 25 year old set that had gone on the blink and was too small to watch modern programmes without pressing your eyeballs to the screen. 32" looked modest in the shop and with a toddler in the house we don't get to the cinema much and watch a lot of movies on demand, but since we've got it home it's given me a massive guilt trip, dominating a corner of the room - a big, black, earth-crushing monolith of consumerism...

Except it's not really.

Its power consumption is 100W - a traditional light bulb's worth. OK that's almost twice its teeny predecessor, but it also includes a digital receiver which we'll need in a couple of years when analogue signals are switched off - that cuts out using 38W of digibox and unlike the latter it has an easily accessible off switch, avoiding even shortish stints on standby. And we don't leave the TV on in our house unless we are actively watching it (hint: check the TV schedule first before switching the thing on). So the difference between this and our old set up quickly disappears if we redouble our efforts to switch off unnecessary lights through the winter.

I'm not trying to paint this as a green move - it is a carbon sin, but on the grand scale of things it's a teeny-weeny one. Yes, we could have stuck with our tiny old flickering picture, we could have bought a smaller set, we could have tried to go without (tried that, OK for a while, but wait until you're ill and/or shattered and just want to veg out), but we decided differently.

So, why do I still feel so damn guilty? Where do we draw the line in luxuries? Deep green living in a teepee, or light green life-as-usual with a green electricity tariff and ecover at the sink? It's the space in between that's much more difficult, if you, like me, want to benefit from the joys of modern life but want to make a difference to the planet. I've insulated the loft, replaced the windows, walk and cycle for most trips, work from home, eat local and organic food, use manure on the allotment, feed the birds, work to cut emissions from 100s of clients, avoid foreign holidays - can I not have the TV? And the DAB radio? And...

The guilt trip continues...

Cheaper is not better in a recession

The papers are chock full of ways to save money in the recession and the reduction in consumption has been notcied at the petrol pumps and power stations. As I've said before, while this is giving some ecological breathing space, it is not the thriving low carbon living that most of us want to see. And we appear to be seeing a tendency to buy similar amounts of cheaper stuff - which is usually a false economy as cheap things often wear out quicker.

I believe we should be buying less stuff, but better quality stuff when we do. I'm currently dressed head to toe in YSL, which few people would think of as 'green', but this suit has lasted twice as long already as the cheap one I bought from H&M about 6 years ago. Quality beats quantity every time.

Weekly Tip #18: Don't Go Window Shopping...

About ten years ago, I was in the habit of walking into the local town centre every Saturday, 'window' shopping, having lunch, walking home and depositing the bulging carrier bags from my 'window' shopping on the floor. Now, I rarely go into the town centre for no reason - I buy less stuff I don't want, using fewer resources, creating less waste and I don't miss it.

If you look, you will buy...

Co-op, Body Shop and M&S Top Ethical Poll

Readers of my Sustainable Business Blog will have seen this before, but I thought it was very relevant to Eco-living as well.

In a recent survey green/ethical brands, this time of 3000 UK adults by GfK NOP, the Co-op, Body Shop and M&S held onto the top three spots, but Sainsbury's lost out to Tesco at the foot of the table.

Rank 2008 Rank 2007

1 Co-op 1 Co-op

2 Body Shop 2 Body Shop

3 M&S 3 M&S

4 Green & Blacks 4 Traidcraft

5 Ecover 5 Cafédirect

6 Traidcraft 6 Ecover

7 Cafédirect 7= Green & Blacks & Tesco

8 Innocent

9 Divine 9 Oxfam

10 Tesco 10 Sainsbury’s

The surprises for me are:

1. The Body Shop's brand has survived the loss of founder Anita Roddick, who, even though she had sold the organisation to l'Oreal, was still associated with it in the press.

2. The position of Tesco on the table given the recent controversies over landbanking, competition and treatment of suppliers by the Big Four supermarkets. I wonder how much their position relates to their huge market share of the retail sector - does anyone want to admit they shop at an unethical store?

Weekly Tip #10: Go for quality, not quantity

In these days of semi-disposable furniture and fashion, choose quality, timeless purchases over cheap and cheerful everytime.

Weekly Tip #6: Buy secondhand

Whether it's records, books or clothes that rocks your world, there are some excellent secondhand and charity shops around. Buying second hand is guilt-free - I consume dozens of second hand books every year.

My tip is to visit shops in the poshest area of your town and you'll benefit from (and mitigate the impacts of) someone else's conspicuous consumption.

The Story of Stuff

The video above is a trailer for "The Story of Stuff" - an on-line video about consumption and its effects on society and the environment. Great stuff and I learnt somethings I didn't know, like the deliberate planning of consumer society in the post war years. The full thing is 20mins, a little bit US-polemical, but worth watching.

Which type of green are you?

DEFRA has released a weighty report dividing the population into the following 7 segments (with my slightly less subtle interpretations of what they mean):

1. Positive Greens - 18 % of us - will do as much as they can.

2. Waste Watchers - 12% - naturally dislike waste but not environmentally motivated.

3. Concerned Consumers 14% - would like to do more, but struggle with lifestyle choices.

4. Sideline supporters - 14% - concerned, but not acting.

5. Cautious Participants - 14% - will follow the crowd.

6. Stalled Starters - 10% - don't know much about the environment.

7. Honestly Disengaged - 18% - Jeremy Clarkson.

Which are you?

The report also sets 12 headline goals running from "install insulation" through to "eat food locally in season". It then plots which of these goals each type of person is most likely to be persuaded to achieve and by what method.

Interesting stuff... but I'm sure the reactionary and the paranoid will have a field day - "They're trying to brainwash wash us into this liberal-lefty green stuff!"

How do you know what you're buying?

...you read the label of course!

Lucy Siegle wrote this interesting piece on the plethora of eco-labels in Observer on Sunday. It is very interesting which labels have resonated with the public and which have fallen by the wayside.

In the report on Greenwashing I mentioned recently, the authors chided 57% of 'green' products they reviewed for only reporting a limited number of green benefits (eg recycled content) and not covering the whole impact. However, if you look at the labels that have caught the public's attention (soil association organic accreditation, FSC for timber and the energy ratings on white goods), they do just that. On the other hand, the more comprehensive labels like the EU 'daisy' have pretty much died a death.

In other words, the public wants simple, clear guidance on their products rather than full life cycle assessment style studies. The downside is that the product's designers and manufacturers could hide big environmental impacts behind a lesser benefit.

I can understand the desir for simplicity and clarity, but we have to be very careful we don't get the wool pulled over our eyes.

Greensumption Video

This vid is very provocative and entertaining, but it is wrong in a number of places including linking the Prius to ecological damage around the Nickel factory. The Mail on Sunday ran this story earlier this year and had to retract it.

On the bigger picture - if only the big problem was too much green consumption. Global damage is being caused predominantly by non-green consumption (the lady's family would probably buy 7 non-hybrids instead).

Anyway, enjoy it, let it make you think, but don't take it as gospel!

We're all getting greener...

The Co-operative Bank is reporting that ethical consumer spending in the UK has doubled to 5% of total expenditure since 2002. This backs up the recent DEFRA survey on the general public's attitudes.

Food in particular is one sector where consumers are choosing fairtrade, organic and sustainably sourced products, breaking through the 5% 'glass ceiling' to hit 7%. Interestingly the cash spent by people choosing to shop locally has increased by 50%, although I could imagine a little guilt inspired exaggeration could have crept into that one...

Energy efficient white goods continue to grow ever more popular, up 44%, aided by easy-to-understand energy ratings. Micro-renewables are doing much better, but are still low in priority, up from £0 per household in 2002 to £6. The ongoing problems with renewables grants and the news story today that micro-wind turbines in urban settings can produce less energy than they take to make won't help that one...

Green Living Conferences

There seems to be a sudden rash of sustainable living type conferences and exhibitions recently - the latest being the Ethical Shopping Conference in December.

I missed the Sustainability Show at the end of October because I had a client commitment and I haven't heard how it went. If any readers were there, please let the rest of us know your opinions in the comments.

About 18 months ago I went down to London village to see a similar show, but it was cancelled due to lack of ticket sales. Interestingly the Sustainability Show was free entry, so obviously they had a more sensible business plan.

Supermarkets still after your green pound...

Tesco have announced today that they're funding an Institute of Sustainable Consumption at the University of Manchester. Sounds like they're spending big bucks on it too - one Prof, 5 academics, 20 researchers and 30 Phd's - a cool £25m.

Great, but, hold on, you've got the UK's biggest retailer, which takes about £1 out of every 6-8 out of our wallets, asking a team of 56 people to redesign consumption patterns - are they really going to say the answer is:

"Return to lots of independent retailers within walking distance of their customers' homes and whose buying power is not crushing our indigenous farming industry making it rely on state handouts and intensive unsustainable methods of production."

or, more succinctly,

"Abolish all the features of the system that made Tesco so rich."

Meanwhile, internet grocer Ocado is claiming that each of their delivery vans takes "20 cars off the road". Hang on, the Department of Transport claimed the figure was 3*. Could Ocado be overstating it slightly? Surely not.

* as quoted in Heat.

Patio Heaters, Grrrr!

You may have seen in the press that the Energy Savings Trust estimates that sales of patio heaters are likely to double in the next year. Just after hearing this on the BBC, I got a call from a local radio station looking for my views. I usually try and give a balanced view on any environmental issue when talking to the meedja, but when it comes to patio heaters I have to be scathing. From a green point of view they are evil incarnate and I told them that straight.

I suspect, like with 4x4s, public opinion will start to turn against such heaters and trying to heat the atmosphere just so you can finish your bottle of rosé will become unfashionable again.

BTW, the best solution to living an outdoor lifestyle in a cool climate I have seen was in Copenhagen where pavement cafes provide you with a big fleecy blanket to wrap yourself in while you enjoy your Carlsberg. Fantastic.

Less Is More?

Writing in today's Guardian (but unfortunately nowhere to be seen on-line), our old friend George Monbiot rips into "Green Consumerism" saying that it never suggests you consume 'less' and only focusses on consuming 'better'. His saves his particular disdain for the well off telling us how to live our lives from the comfort of their country piles (where they have space for their own cow).

As usual I half agree with him. While I agree that most of the 'ethical living' press is promoting the "keep on buying and save the planet" message, there are several ways that you can spend as much as you like and be eco-friendly:

1. Buy second hand. Most of the novels I read have been sullied by other eyes. I have no qualms about walking out of a second hand bookshop with bulging bags of paper diverted from landfill. My partner indulges her clothes buying urges by trawling charity shops and simply returning what doesn't work out in practice.

2. Buy services rather than products. Pamper yourself with posh haircuts, massages (not that kind, cheeky), yoga, keep fit etc, etc. If you're filthy rich, employ a cleaner, gardener etc. Rent DVDs or watch pay per view movies rather than buying lumps of plastic.

3. Buy very low footprint products such as MP3s, ringtones, eBooks.

BTW: my favourite part of the Monbiot article is his reference to the mountain of 'ethical' shopping bags by his front door. We have got at least 4 - 3 more that we need really...