Back in April I was getting ready whilst watching a morning TV show, GMTV. I don’t make a habit of watching this show (and now I know why) and so what I was about to see came as a quite a shock.

Apparently GMTV run an annual high street fashion award recognising different types of fashion labels and giving the viewing public a chance to vote for the winner. The particular feature I happened to catch was ‘best budget fashion’ category which included Primark and George at ASDA as nominees as well as a few other well known names. This was enough to stop me in my tracks, I couldn’t believe this TV show was actually going to reward fashion labels which have been linked to such negative reports about sweatshops and manufacturing practices. I was even more horrified to hear the TV presenter Lorraine Kelly, pop star Rachel Stevens and Paula Reed (style director of celebrity gossip and trashy fashion magazine Grazia) sing the praises of these cheap shops. Lorraine Kelly even said something to the effect of “It’s great that you can pop into the supermarket and buy a toilet duck and a dress for just a few pounds” (this isn’t exactly what she said but very similar). What?!!!

Just to clarify, I don’t have anything against bargains per se. I love them just as much as any girl who likes to shop but there are a few things here that really make my blood boil:

1) Anyone who knows anything about fashion and clothes shopping must have come across the high profile, negative press on such budget shops as Primark. Additionally there are many reports about the dangers of conventional cotton farming for lower and lower prices (if you’re wondering what I’m talking about see the references at the end of this article). I would be very surprised to find that the researchers at GMTV, Lorraine, Rachel and Paula are unaware of these things, yet not only do they ignore the issues but they actively promote these shops anyway.

2) How opportunistic and irresponsible, in a time of economic instability and money worries, to tell a mass audience that this is the way to enjoy fashion cheaply; Not to mention patronising coming from a group of women who earn salaries most of us could only dream of. If they wanted to promote fashion that doesn’t cost a lot of money why not talk about charity shops, vintage shops, customising clothes and even the high street shops with more positive ethical credentials? Traditional values of designer fashion were to create beautiful, well made and stylish garments that would last for years, not some throw-away item to be bought for one night out.

3) Where was the ‘most ethical fashion label’ category? Why don’t GMTV and these celebrities use their far reaching voice to tell consumers about the fashion labels working hard to use green practices and create a safe and fair environment for workers?

I just couldn’t believe what I was seeing. All fired up I decided to write to GMTV and Rachel Stevens to let them know my disappointment, ask them if they were aware of the issues around such cheap, throw away fashion and ask them for any comments that I could share on Green Girls Global. About two weeks later I received an e-mail from GMTV saying that my message had been passed to Lorraine and her team. I’ve heard nothing since and nothing at all from Rachel Stevens.

There’s no doubt that celebrity endorsement can help a product. When Madonna announced that she loved Timothy Taylor’s Landlord beer (and so do I) the brewery were delighted, knowing the new markets it could open and exposure it would bring.

I guess what I’m wondering is am I justified to be so annoyed by celebrities endorsing infamous products and companies (I also despair at Davina McCall’s Loreal campaign)? Of course anyone has the right to promote whatever they want and with the wonderful world of the internet anyone can. But if a popular personality says a product is great I can guarantee that would have a lot more clout than if I did.

Should those with a louder voice be using it more responsibly? Should those with more opportunities help those with less?

In stark contrast to the above is Vivienne Westwood who appeared on Jonathan Ross’ talk show last week. She had specifically requested to visit the show to talk about climate change because she knew it was the way to reach a lot of people. She tapped into the mainstream media to spread an impirtant message. It’s best said directly from Vivienne so do take a few minutes to watch the videos below. All I can say is “good on ya Vivienne” I wish there were more celebs as smart as you!

References

GreenMyStyle
Expect Primark protests this Saturday over 7p worker rates (30/04/2009)

Katharine Hamnett
Why Conventional Cotton is Such a Killer

The Independent
The real price of cheap clothes: Bangladeshi sweatshop labourers paid just 3p an hour

People Tree
Pesticide suicides. The cotton farmers’ tragedy

No Sweat
ASDA, the £4 School Uniform and the Sun Sings the Praise of Sweatshops

International Labour Rights Forum
UK supermarkets’ ethical clothing standards ‘a sham’

BBC
Primark Linked to UK Sweatshops

Canvass Your MP is all about tackling climate change and was masterminded by a group of bloggers (including our very own Asi, a Green Guys Global editor) who came up with this great idea just last week.

The campaign aims to inspire members of the public to engage with their local MP and encourage them to support a new target of 80% cuts in CO2 emissions, strengthening the Climate Change Bill.

Well that’s a very brief explanation anyway. You can find out more at the website www.canvassyourmp.com which was created & built by Jez (also a Green Guys editor) here at Make Hay Ethical E-media.

Asi’s posts over at Green Guys Global tell you much more about the beginnings of the campaign, the thinking behind it, how it works and most importantly how you can get involved. Visit Green Guys Global and keep up to date.

Keep checking back at www.canvassyourmp.com for campaign updates and progress.

The 70s had the Hippies, the 80s had the Preppies, the 90s had the Yuppies now the new millennium has the Scuppies.

It’s a new term I just read about – it stands for Socially Conscious, Upwardly-mobile person, a term coined by Chuck Faila, president of a Manhattan based financial planning firm.  He says he’s tired of being called a yuppie and hopes this new term will take its place in the American lexicon as the natural progression from Hippie-Preppie-Yuppie to Scuppie!

These days, more Americans not only want to live well, but want to also do good (or at least do no evil). They still love money and conspicuous displays of affluence. But now, the way to achieve status is to trade in the Beemer for a Toyota Prius, spend $50,000 putting solar panels on the roof, shop at Whole Foods for $7-a-bunch organic endive, and acquire a chic new wardrobe fashioned entirely of hemp, soy fiber, and recycled tires, Failla says.

He hopes to get the word out through a national promotional campaign and he is also writing a guide: “The Scuppie Handbook: A practical guide to living well while doing good.”

Visit the website and read “A Scuppie Believes”, it’s funny!

Have you ever considered whether good lives have to cost the earth? Well a diverse group of people have considered the question and their answers were documented in a book (with the question as the title) edited by Andrew Simms and Jo Smith.

Before I started reading the book I already had an answer to the question myself and that is No. It has always been my belief and my experience (even as a child) that a good / happy life does not have to cost the earth. To me the simple / free pleasure are always the best for example:

* Just peacefully being with my loved ones

* Volunteering my time to help people and also the planet

*Breathing the fresh air of the countryside

*The taste of freshly picked organic food from my garden

*The beautiful sound of bird song

*Walking along the beach with my fiancé

As you may have gathered from some of my posts I always aim to consume as little as possible in life as it is my belief and the book also supports this that….

“people who consume above their fair and sustainable source of the Earth’s resources is no more likely to be satisfied with life than someone who is living within our collective environmental means”

(Quote within book and sourced from the European (un)Happy Planet Index, 2007)

The book has some interesting contributors all of whom have focussed on different areas of what makes a good life. Below you will find my favourite quotes from all of the featured contributors:

Tom Hodgkinson (Editor of the Idler): “Good lives are cheap, cheerful and will save the planet to boot”

David Boyle (Author): “Victorian economists calculated that the average English peasant in 1485 needed to work fifteen weeks a year to earn the money the needed to survive. In 1564, it was forty weeks. Now of course it is questionable whether we can manage to afford a reasonable life in
Britain without two salaries all the year round”

David Goldblatt (Author) “Step forward motor sports: Seriously, guys, yes you in the fast cars, peak oil is here or near. What are your great-grandchildren going to think a hundred years from now when they look back and see you spunking up the last precious drops of gasoline”

Phillip Pullman (Author) “Environmentalists need to know something about basic story telling in order to make their words effective”

A.C Grayling (Philosopher) “The environment has suffered in pursuit of wealth”

Oliver James (Author) “We talk of needing these things (i-pods/cars etc), but really we only want them”

John Bird (Creator of the Big Issue) “What we need today is to keep monopolies out of our life. Whenever we have a monopoly, whether public or private, you have the limitation of choice.”

Adair Turner (Vice Chairman at Merrill Launch Europe) “Population stabilization will be crucial to our long term success in dealing with climate change and other global environmental impacts”

Dame Anita Roddick (Founder of the Body Shop) “Providing for these vital human needs requires another kind of economy altogether, which emphasizes beauty, community and creativity”

Ann Pettifor (of Advocacy International Ltd) “We live in a global community that worships the god ‘Money’”

Larry Elliott (Financial Journalist) “The idea of personal thrift has gone out of the window, to be replaced by a culture in which it is not just permissible but commonplace – acceptable even – to live beyond our means”

Colin Tudge (Author) “The people who get to be in charge are the people who like power and the people who like power are not necessarily on the side of humanity”

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (Writer, broadcaster, campaigner) “Buy local food and almost by definition your buying seasonal produce with a low environmental impact”

Rosie Boycott (Writer and Broadcaster) “How you live is just as important as what you say. We argued (the feminist movement) that by changing the way in which we lived, we would in time influence the larger world around us. Now, I believe that sentiment is back”

Kevin McCloud (of Grand Designs) “I think that human beings are of our own environment, we are the problem but we are also the solution: the cause and the cure of our own environment”

Wayne Hemingway (Creator of Red or Dead and the Land of Lost Content) “We cant change the fact that new things stimulate us. But if we are really to achieve sustainability, then durability is incredibly important”

Stephen Bayley (Design Correspondent of the Observer) “Man is homo faber, a divine monkey who makes tools. While saving the planet it is a priority no one should ignore, its important to remember that since we stepped out of the primeval glop on to the dry shore and started the journey that ended with reality TV, the world has been constructed by us”

Nic Marks (Founder of the Centre of Well-Being at nef) “The language of well being doesn’t rely on an economic model that assumes that more consumption is always better”

David Cameron (Conservative party MP) “The greatest responsibility in the fight to save our planet lies with the Government, which must give a lead on the issue and set the right framework”

Hilary Benn (Labour party MP) “Transforming our economy, our cities, our way of life and cherishing our countryside and wildlife is something that we have to do”

Caroline Lucas (Green Party MEP) “Whether good lives are defined as happy lives or lives of well being, the bottom line is that living a good life and sage guarding the climate are not only simply compatible, they are inextricably connected and mutually dependent”

As you can see the book really does have a wide range of contributors, each providing their own insight in to whether good lives have to cost the earth.  I found the book an excellent read as it provided different perspectives on the green movement, I highly recommend it – however to be green and frugal get a copy from the library, a friend or second hand.

If you have already read the book what did you think? If not what are your thoughts about the featured quotations? And a question for everyone ‘do you think that goods lives have to cost the earth’?

Let’s all discuss….

This is my final instalment of articles about our experiences at Make Hay of working to be a green and ethical company. This article is related to my previous posts where I talked about using ethical suppliers and encouraging others with your ethical policy.

Just to recap, the previous articles were:

Part 1 – Powered by the Wind
Part 2 – Waste? What Waste?
Part 3 – Be a Smart Consumer
Part 4 – Live your Policy

PART 5 – MAKE ETHICAL FRIENDS

Starting out with an ethical business was sometimes an isolating experience for us. At that time there was not the huge number of like-minded entrepreneurs around us and we were often told that what we were trying to do was a bad idea.

If it wasn’t for the enthusiasm of the people we met via green blogs, directories and networks life would have been much more difficult.

Making ethical business friends does not necessarily mean you are running an ethical business but it certainly motivates you to keep learning and working harder to improve. Seeing more and more new ethical businesses appear shows that the market is growing and consumers want more responsible services. I strongly believe that there’s power in unity and making links with these businesses allows us to share ideas, good practice and collectively raise the profile of ethical entrepreneurship. If, collectively, ethical businesses can influence business practice as a whole then eventually ethical business won’t be unusual or alternative but just the way things are done.

Community Working

Another way that we have made friends here at Make Hay is by getting involved in local community groups and activities.

Some businesses align themselves with a charity and donate a percentage of their profits to that charity. This can work well for larger companies but for small businesses like ours there is another, more creative way to provide useful, substantial support; and that is to volunteer your expertise.

We are actively involved with a few community groups in this way. For example, we provide free Green Hosting and voluntary web designs services to All Ours. This is grassroots service which holds social sessions and cooks healthy, organic meals for people experiencing mental ill health. For the Gedling Fairtrade Group we provide voluntary web services and work on the steering group to raise awareness of Fairtrade issues in the local area. Additionally, we are currently providing voluntary web design and consultancy to the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust and have built them a brand new content managed site.

Whatever type of business you run it is highly likely that you have a product or service that you can donate to someone who needs it. You don’t have to have lots and lots of spare money (and most small businesses don’t) just be able to give up a little of your spare time.

Making friends with individuals and groups within your community allows you to make tangible changes by doing what you do best – your ethical business.

What do you do?

Well I’ve talked quite a lot about Make Hay and the things we do to be an ethical business but there is always room for improvement and new things to learn.

I’d love to find out about other business owners’ experiences (good or bad), practices and ideas. Contact me at Make Hay, I’ll look forward to hearing from you!

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is having a photo contest for Earth Day, April 22.  They are asking for photos in three categories:

• Enjoying the environment
• Protecting the environment
• Nature and wildlife

If you have a photo of a day you enjoyed in the woods, or a wild animal that caught your attention or your community having a “clean up” day, then send them in.

The contest is open to anyone in the world, but you must be at least 18 years old.  In order to maximize participation it is being host on Flickr.com.

• March 24 – entries due
• April 1- finalists announced public voting begins
• April 15 – voting ends
• April 22 – winners announced

Winners and finalists will be featured on the EPA website.  For more details including how to enter click here.

Good Luck!

There is is fascinating new book titled Earth: The Sequel by Fred Krupp, President of the Environmental Defense Fund and Miriam Horn.  I have to admit I have not read the book- yet- but I have been receiving so many emails and hearing a lot buzz surrounding it, that I finally went to its website to see what all the hype is about.

It’s about hope, inspiration, ingenuity, entrepreneurship, and optimism, plus the biggest explosion of wealth for whoever wins this race (their words not mine)!

I even found the few minutes of the video educational, as there are many things happening as we race to end global warming and reinvent energy; that I have never heard of; and from what I gather the book is about all these innovative technologies and the inventors behind them.

The book tells us we can’t wait for governments to change the world, it’s the thinkers, risk takers, and innovators who will save the planet, in other words it’s us – the people!

In my first two installments ‘Powered by the Wind‘ and ‘Waste? What Waste?‘ I talked a lot about saving energy and materials. In this third part I want to highlight how businesses can be greener by thinking carefully about where they buy.

PART 3 – BE A SMART CONSUMER

I remember hearing a news report a little while ago which said that whilst people regularly buy environmentally friendly and ethical products for their homes they didn’t do the same for the workplace. I couldn’t help wondering why – its just as easy to be a smart, ethical consumer at work and the wealth of suppliers out there prove it.

Here at Make Hay, our ethical web design company, we always aim to choose suppliers who have positive green credentials. This includes all aspects of running our business from the stationery we use and the equipment in the office to the advertising we buy and banking.

Finding green or ethical suppliers only takes a little research and the great news is that it’s getting easier all the time. As more and more eco providers come into existence the more choices we have and vitally the greater clout ethical business can have in the market. I’ve always believed you can make a big statement about the things that are important to you by using your consumer power – this includes where you do and don’t spend your money.

Equipment & Stationery

With regard to office stationery there are many, many companies that now offer recycled items and vegetable ink printing. Just put ‘green stationery’ or ‘green printing’ into Google and you’ll be spoilt for choice! Here at Make Hay we use The Green Stationery Company for all of our recycled paper products as well as pens, diaries and so on.

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts buying second hand or using Freecycle is one of the greenest ways to shop. However, if you need to purchase new equipment take the time to research the producer or manufacturer and their ethical practices. We use websites such as Gooshing to find out how the bigger brands are improving their green and ethical ways

Ethical Advertising

Of course there’s a double bonus when buying advertising with ethical companies. The first being that you’re financially supporting a way of business that you believe in. Secondly your advert will likely be seen by a relevant market, specifically a selection of consumers who are looking for green and responsible products and services.

We’ve used a range of ethical advertisers in our time including New Consumer, Changing Times and The Good Shopping Guide and there are may more available.

Whilst we’re talking about advertising and marketing its also worth mentioning that green and ethical directories are another way to reach potential customers, often for little or no cost. Recently we listed a range of such directories in one of our Make Hay newsletters – “To Market, To Market”

Who looks after your pennies?

Banking your hard, ethically-earned cash is a big consideration too. Do you want a bank to invest your money in arms or tobacco? If you don’t then find out your bank’s ethical policy. We use The Cooperative Bank who are well known for their use of ethical investments and taking a stance against unethical practices such as cosmetic testing on animals. Fortunately we’re able to buy our insurance from the Coop too!

The directory ‘A Lot of Organics’ provides a good list of ethical banks, investment and insurance companies.

According to an article in the Guardian investors are increasingly turning to ethical products due to demand. What great news!

Maybe we are becoming smarter consumers after all!

Next instalment: Part 4 – Live your Policy

The other day, I was watching my 5-year old niece, Chloe, at work, and one of my coworkers asked me why I started Fridge Box. I turned to my niece and asked, “Chloe, what color is a mermaid’s hair?” To which she answered, “Red!”

Red. The only mermaid Chloe has ever been exposed to is Disney’s Ariel: a trademarked character designed to fit within a stable of characters that a multinational corporation owns. In Chloe’s mind, there is only one mermaid, and she looks a certain way, and comes with certain friends and accessories (an orange crab, a blue and green fish, a white dress with a gold crown). But most importantly, Ariel the mermaid has red hair. Why does she have red hair? Because at the time, Disney already had a raven-haired character (Snow White), two blondes (Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella), and a brunette in the works (Belle from Beauty and the Beast). Ironically, their logic was probably, “Children like variety.”

Ask any child the name of an orange and white fish. 99% of them will answer, “Nemo!”

I’m not knocking Disney. I grew up on Mickey Mouse and Cinderella, and if you asked me, when I was 5, what an elephant’s name was, I would have said Dumbo. But, when I was 5, global media conglomerates didn’t control almost every story I heard as a child. I read a lot of books without pictures or movie tie-ins, so the pirates in my imagination weren’t advertisements for a whole division of merchandise made in China. I could make a pirate sword and hat from newspaper without feeling inadequate because my parents didn’t buy me the Jack Sparrow Deluxe Pirate Kit from the Disney Store. Most importantly, I had an imagination that was strong enough to see a Deluxe Pirate Kit where grown-ups could only see the Sunday Times. It’s a great thing, the imagination.

I hear a lot that technology will save us from global warming. What no one asks is, “Who will own that technology?” Because whoever owns it, will control the world, literally and figuratively. Disney owns Ariel, and it controls, in a very subversive way, what our children think about mermaids. And what will happen to those children, who have inadvertently sacrificed their imaginations in exchange for packaged solutions? They will be running the planet in 40 years – right around the time the last of the petroleum is circling the drain. If they are not already in the habit of imagining creative solutions to everyday dilemmas (like boredom), if they have been spoon-fed alternatives to resourcefulness and critical thinking their whole lives, how will they overcome the economic and ecological challenges coming down the pipeline at them? They won’t. They will be lost, and they will turn, once again, to those multinational corporations that solved their problems as children, because they never cultivated resourcefulness and creativity as essential survival skills. The scariest part is, I don’t know what’s worse: Disney not being aware of the long-term ramifications of controlling mermaids and pirates, or being totally aware of it and controlling them anyway.

People tell me all the time, “You know, as soon as Fridge Box takes off, someone’s going to copy it. You should get a patent on it.” Patent the cardboard box. That’s what we’ve come to. It’s all kids have left, the cardboard box! I hope every multinational corporation starts selling their own cardboard boxes. Because if 5 year olds around the world are turning cardboard boxes into pirate ships instead of buying Jack Sparrow Deluxe Pirate Kits from the Disney Store, we might still have a chance.

When Chloe said, “Red!” my coworker smiled and nodded. “I get it.” I shook my head a little. “Kids have no imagination anymore, you know?” I said, “It worries me, because that’s what’s going to save us from global warming. Not technology or multinational corporations. Resourcefulness and creative thinking. These will be the survival skills of the future, and they have to learn them now, so by the time they really need them, they’re prepared.”

April Capil is Director for Fridge Box, Inc. (www.fridgeboxworld.com)

Photographs by Rachel Capil

You may remember that back in October GGG was one of the top 20 blogs up for the People’s Choice Award on The Daily (Maybe).

A big, BIG thank you to those who voted for us because although we didn’t win we did come second. I’m so pleased, especially knowing all of the other great blogs we were up against. Yay!!

Well done to all of my fellow Green Girls Global editors. Ladies, let’s go for gold next year!

Congratulations to Molly Scott Cato whose Gaian Economics came a deserving first.

For a full list of results visit The Daily (Maybe) People’s Choice post.