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Home  News Latest Shopping
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Written by OCF Member
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Thursday, 24 April 2008 |
Shopping</p>
<p> <span class="style51">You are important as a Consumer – what you buy matters! </span></p>
<p class="style51"><strong>What we're really here to do</strong> <br />
To build, as <a href="http://www.natlogic.com/vision/www.bfi.org">Buckminster Fuller</a> put it, "a world that works for 100% of humanity, <br />
in the shortest possible time, through spontaneous cooperation, without ecological offense, or the disadvantage of anyone." <br />
Are the companies that make or offer this product you are purchasing – or supporting - making positive efforts for the Triple bottom line?<br />
The 3 E’s = ENVIRONMENT, EQUITY, and ECONOMY, or <br />
The
3 P’s = the Planet, People + Profit</p>
<blockquote><ul>
<li class="style51"><u>Environmental responsibility </u>– how does the product relate to the planet? - extraction (mining?), materials (healthy?), manufacturing (pollution?), packaging (plastic?), shipping (how far?), recycling (what happens at the end of it’s life?) </li>
<li class="style51">Social <u>Equity </u>– are the people/workers, on all levels, paid and treated fairly </li>
<li class="style51"><u>Economy</u> – it has to be sustainable economically – make a profit </li>
</ul></blockquote>
<p class="style51"><strong>Fast Facts – </strong>are we supporting a sustainable world by buying …?</p>
<blockquote><ul>
<li class="style51">Paper or plastic, polyester or cotton? No clear winner unless the product is from recycled content or the cotton is organic (regular cotton is very polluting) <a href="http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2007/04/02/8403423/index.htm">http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2007/04/02/8403423/index.htm</a> </li>
<li class="style51">The more serious the Safety Warnings on Household –wearing gloves or keeping windows open for ventilation - the more likely the product has real environmental hazards to your health and the environment <a href="http://www.greenerchoices.org/products.cfm?product=greencleaning&page=RightChoices">http://www.greenerchoices.org/products.cfm?product=greencleaning&page=RightChoices</a> </li>
<li class="style51">A WRI report: "Our research discovered that a majority of people agreed with the statement, 'I believe my own buying habits have a negative effect on the environment.' <a href="http://www.newdream.org/newsletter/kickoff.php">http://www.newdream.org/newsletter/kickoff.php</a> </li>
<li class="style51">If every household in the U.S. replaced just one 4 pack of 400 sheet virgin fiber bathroom tissue <em>with 100% recycled ones</em>, we could save: 1,450,000 trees, 3.7 million cubic ft of landfill space (= 5,500 full garbage trucks, 523 million gal. water, and 89,000 lbs. of pollution!) <a href="http://www.seventhgeneration.com/making_difference/consumer_education.php">http://www.seventhgeneration.com/making_difference/consumer_education.php</a> </li>
<li class="style51">Fish is one of the best foods we can eat but California’s fishing fleet is half the size it was 25 years ago. Many species, like rockfish (also called red snapper), are so depleted that the federal government declared the entire west coast rockfish fishery a federal disaster in 2000. <a href="http://www.oceanconservancy.org/site/News2?abbr=issues_&page=NewsArticle&id=8731">http://www.oceanconservancy.org/site/News2?abbr=issues_&page=NewsArticle&id=8731</a> </li>
</ul></blockquote>
<p class="style51"><strong>Actions you can take - </strong>"There is no beauty in the finest cloth if it makes hunger and unhappiness." Gandhi</p>
<blockquote><ul type="disc">
<li class="style51">If you buy only one or two organic items, make them milk and meat (if you eat meat, eat less). Most conventional milk and meat are produced on factory farms that feed the animals massive amounts of pesticide and fossil-fuel intensive mono-crop corn, and at the same time creating massive manure lagoons that contaminate local ground water. </li>
</ul>
<ul type="disc">
<li class="style51">Be as conscious about the packaging as you are about the product. The production and disposal of packaging takes a heavy environmental toll. You can eliminate 1,200 pounds of carbon dioxide (CO2) every year by simply reducing your waste by 10%. While you're at it, bring your own shopping bags. </li>
</ul>
<ul type="disc">
<li class="style51">Buy local and regional, or at least USA-grown, whenever possible, to reduce energy and pollution from long transportation. But of course some products are not produced in the US.. For overseas products, look for the organic and Fair Trade label. <a href="http://www.newdream.org/consumer/marketplace.php">http://www.newdream.org/consumer/marketplace.php</a></li>
</ul>
<ul type="disc">
<li class="style51">Buy in bulk. If you regularly buy a certain product, consider buying it in bulk. It usually has less packaging, is more affordable, and requires fewer trips to the store. </li>
</ul>
<ul type="disc">
<li class="style51">Switch to environmentally friendly cleaning supplies. The use of conventional cleaners exposes your family and our environment to some very nasty toxic chemicals. <a href="http://www.newdream.org/consumer/cleaners.php">http://www.newdream.org/consumer/cleaners.php</a></li>
</ul></blockquote>
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<td><strong class="style34">Green companies</strong></td>
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<td><p class="style51">Forbes Magazine recently highlighted 10 companies that have gone beyond what the law requires to operate in an environmentally responsible way. Hewlett Packard was included – from the article: “they own massive e-waste recycling plants, …. HP will take back any brand of equipment; its own machines are 100 percent recyclable. It has promised to cut energy consumption by 20 percent by 2010. HP also audits its top suppliers for eco-friendliness.” </p>
<span class="style51">Decades before recycling became common practice another company, Patagonia, was reusing materials. It was one of the first companies in America to provide onsite day care, both maternity and paternity leave and flextime. It used its beautiful mail-order catalog to speak out about issues like genetically modified food and over fishing, proving that a company can benefit from having a voice and a moral compass…. </span>
<p class="style51">They discovered that conventionally grown cotton was especially bad for the environment (a lot of bad pesticides, insecticides and defoliants are used for regularly grown cotton). "To know this and not switch to organic cotton would be unconscionable," Chouinard, the President of Patagonia, said. In 1994 he gave his managers 18 months to make the change. Given that organic cotton, rare at the time, cost between 50 percent to 100 percent more, and that a fifth of Patagonia's business came from cotton products, this was no small risk. There was pushback from the ranks; suppliers defected. Chouinard delivered his ultimatum: Do it, or we never use cotton again.<br />
The gamble paid off. Patagonia's cotton sales rose 25 percent and, more important, established an organic-cotton industry so that other companies could cross over. Demand grew and prices decreased, leading to even more demand. In 2006, Wal-Mart became the world's largest purchaser of organic cotton.<br />
In the early 2000's, the Japanese fabric company Teijin, a partner of Patagonia's, invented a process by which used polyester can be almost endlessly recycled. Patagonia, which makes a line of polyester undergarments known as Capilene, encouraged customers to send back their worn-out underwear. (It now also accepts products made from fleece, nylon and organic cotton.) Recycling polyester, Chouinard says, is a home run: "We use 76 percent less energy than if we'd made it out of virgin petroleum."<br />
It became the first California company to use renewable sources like wind and solar to power all its buildings and one of the first to print catalogs on recycled paper. <u>Airfreight requires more energy than shipping by ground or sea - at least eight times more</u>, according to Luke Tonachel at the Natural Resources Defense Council – so the company advised customers to "ask yourself if you really need that pair of pants sent overnight." <a href="http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2007/04/02/8403423/index.htm">http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2007/04/02/8403423/index.htm</a></p></td>
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<td><strong class="style34">Beware of "Greenwashing"</strong></td>
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<td><p class="style51"><strong>Beware of “Greenwashing”</strong> - the word is a play on “whitewashing”, and means that somes companies and salespeople will exaggerate about the environmental benefits of a product, just to sell it. As an example, some paint companies have “low VOC” paint on the label (VOC = volatile organic compounds – the lower amount the healthier and less stinky the paint is), but “low” may just mean a little lower than their average. Better to go with “zero VOC” and be confident (or work with a store that you trust and let them recommend). How can you tell if a product you like, or are looking for, is truly “green”? Check out some of the links in this category. You might look at the “Green Pages”, a publication updated regularly that lists companies that meet independent criteria (link to Coop America- Green Pages)<br />
<strong>Learn about Certification</strong> – you know the USDA “organic” certification? That gives you confidence that the food is free of pesticides and other toxins. Fair Trade Certified is another – showing that the product is via a company that pays a fair wage to the workers (coffee + chocolate are certified because those workers have been unfairly paid in the past years due to corporate over-competition). Other products also have certifications – the FSC wood certification lets you know the wood you buy is from sustainably managed forests. </p>
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 30 April 2008 )
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