Ethical Living

It's such a nice feeling when you trawl through cyberspace and come across a really good example of how the web can facilitate positive change. ReadItSwapIt is a free service which has 109719 books available for people to swap. Yes you can donate your old books to your local charity shops but then you go and buy new ones. Yes you can go to library to borrow books but 99% of the time the newer titles aren't available and range of books can be limited. With this website you also can track your book and see who else has read it and if they've enjoyed it. A great benefit for me who's always a little sad to say goodbye to some of my most loved books - come on I'm not the only one surely! Check out the site here

Labels: recycling

"The low prices enjoyed by shoppers at British supermarkets are paid for by poor wages, job insecurity and a denial of basic human rights for workers in some of the world's poorest countries, a report has concluded. The growing power of big supermarkets is the driving force behind a mode of doing business that is made possible by exploiting workers, particularly women, in developing countries, the report says." Read full article here...

Labels: Supermarkets

Adam Vaughan, editor of the thegreenguy blog pages has created a feed-friendly diary to collate and distribute all the ethical events in the UK. A very handy addition for the ethically minded - thanks Adam. View the calender here

I'm getting really annoyed with the whole green washing effect - where companies are selling products with arbitrary labels assigned to them which are incorrect, inaccurate and unrelated to the type of product they are selling.

To illustrate my point Michael and I went for a nice walk today and were happy to come across a shop selling furniture from reclaimed wood. Or was it?! When asked about the origins of the wood, explanations were both inaccurate about the process and sketchy about the details.

If you're importing furniture from Asia, marking it up and selling it in your shop just say so! There is no need to put inaccurate labels on the products claiming its one thing when it’s blatantly not. It not only confuses potential consumers who do care about such issues but also undermines those of us who are trying to change furniture production for the better.

grrrr...

(I'll come back to why I think the retail system in the UK is a disgrace and what some of the randomly assigned 'ethical' and 'fair trade' labels assigned to products by furniture manufacturers really mean)

Labels: eco-friendly furniture, Ethical furniture, Reclaimed wood furniture

A TripAdvisor survey of more than 1,000 travellers worldwide has found that 40% take environmentally-friendly tourism into consideration when making travel plans. The survey also found that 66% believe that environmentally-friendly measures in travel are making a difference. Nearly 25% believe that air travel should be avoided, whenever possible, to help preserve the environment, while 38% said would pay more to take an eco-friendly flight and 26% would pay a 5-10% premium. But only 3% have ever purchased carbon credits." Read full article here...

New research by Oxfam today for Fairtrade Fortnight reveals that although 92% of British consumers buy their food and drink at major supermarkets, just 11% of us actually want to do so. Instead, most of us would prefer to buy direct from farmers (69%), local independent retailers (54%) or to grow our own food (47%), according to the survey of more than 1,700 UK residents.


This reluctance to shop at supermarkets, fuelled by concerns that they are still not doing enough to tackle increasing ethical and environmental issues, is coupled with an acceptance that they are hugely influential. Almost half of us (48%) think supermarkets can do the most to change how we shop: one in three (30%) think consumers can do the most themselves, and just 16% see the government as having the greatest influence on our shopping habits.


The survey also reveals some of the increasing ethical concerns underpinning our shopping habits. Read full article here...

"Sainsbury's has said it will not hand out disposable carrier bags in its stores for one day later this month. The UK's third-largest supermarket instead plans to give its customers bags made from 100% recycled material - which usually cost 10p - for free. The move, on 27 April, will encourage customers to then reuse the more environmentally friendly bags on future visits, the company said." Read full article here...

Labels: Supermarkets

Tesco, Britain's biggest retailer, has reported a 13% rise in full-year underlying profits to £2.55bn."Read full article here...:

"The Government is using its environment policies to speed up secret plans to make Sussex poorer, senior politicians have claimed. Taxpayers in Sussex are set to foot a bill of at least £25 million a year from April 2008 via the Government's landfill tax scheme, according to new figures."Read full article here...

What crazy weather we've been having! It's very odd when the view outside your window of a baking hot summers day and the date on your calender don't quite add up! Still at Ethical Wood Furnishings we've got into the summer spirit and are starting to expand our range of garden furniture. Every single product is unique and beautifully made from reclaimed wood from the Brighton and Hove area. Most of our items are made to order so if you have an idea for a piece of furniture just drop us a note and we'd be happy to talk it through with you.



More garden tables and garden sculptures to follow!

Labels: eco-friendly furniture, Ethical furniture, garden furniture, Reclaimed wood furniture

"There are lots of innovative things you can do to help reduce your rubbish – check out some of the tips below to get started." Read full article here...

Labels: Ethical living, recycling

Zoe Wood, retail correspondent, Observer. The UK's biggest supermarket chain, Tesco, will smash its own national record this week when it unveils annual profits totalling more than £2.5bn, or close to £5,000 profit every minute... Read full article here

Labels: Supermarkets, Tesco

Welcome to my new blog - Ethical Living.
As co-founder of Ethical Wood Furnishings, Our Ethical Network and Web Editor of responsibletravel.com, I need to keep up to date with what's going on around the world in terms of ethical living.

There are so many different streams to get information and news now that it's quite boggling trying to remember where to go to get the best information and a pain to collate the useful bits. Therefore all the things i find interesting on the web and in the papers I'll copy here so we don't all have to search the media everyday.

Enjoy!

Jennifer

by Collin Dunn, Seattle on 02.19.07. Take Action
A new service that aims to rank how ethical products are is now available to individuals who want to be ethical consumers in the UK." Read full article here

These days, everyone is wittering about recycling. Why is it so important?

By Ali Cridland: Recycling has increased by more than 50 per cent at household waste sites.
Veolia Environmental Services has confirmed the public are becoming more eco-friendly since it began operating waste recycling sites in East Sussex and Brighton and Hove three years ago.
The company says the overall rate of recycling has grown from just over 30 per cent in 2002/3 to almost 48 per cent in 2006 /7."Read full article here...

An award winning recycling project is looking forward to a tenth year after the lease to its premises was extended. The director of Brighton's Wood Recycling Project, Richard Simpson, said: "It is great news for us and great news for the city. It means we can continue to prevent unnecessary landfill and continue to supply the people of Brighton with affordable, useful and interesting recycled timber. Read full article here...

By Lawrence Marzouk. "Kerbside recycling collections are being extended in Brighton and Hove
Weekly recycling collections are being extended to 13,000 extra homes across Brighton and Hove. From March 26, households in 220 more streets will have their kerbside recycling collected weekly instead of fortnightly."Read full article here...

Labels: Brighton, recycling