Home Truth

Not meant to be a reference to how I’m feeling (although having just got all the kids off to school with my hubby away overnight in London, it’s not far from the truth!) but a hint as to today’s subject.

Which was prompted by my son finishing off his Art GCSE mock coursework on the dining room table at the inevitable eleventh hour last night. He was proudly showing me his project on fish and I was reminded again of the diversity and immense beauty of the life in our oceans. Earlier in the day, I’d been with my youngest child to the local garden centre and had spent ages looking at the fish there with her. An older gentleman took the opportunity to proudly tell us all about his aquarium and I was struck by how complicated it is sustaining the right balance for survival for these fragile wonders. I should know - a year ago, I had to text a friend on holiday telling her all her fish had died in my care and that I couldn’t bring myself to clean the tank out. That’s the kind of friend I am!

It’s hard to keep in mind the link between what we flush down our drains and the idyllic underwater world of Nemo and friends. Maybe a sticker of a fish next to every sink and toilet in my house might help. None of us would wilfully poison the creatures that we visit Sea Life Centres to admire. And yet we feel totally justified in using whatever chemicals we choose to keep our houses pristine, our hair sleek, our clothes bright and fresh.

The Ecover website makes for an interesting read - even for a sciencephobe like me. They claim that their products have 40% less damaging effect on aquatic life than their rivals. Ah, but are they as effective? Well, they don’t cut through grease in the same way. Of course they don’t - they don’t contain the harmful chemicals that do that so effectively. And let’s remember. These ingredients are potentially not just harmful to faraway fish; chemical residues are inevitably left unseen on our dishes (and clothes and skin and surfaces……all that is for another day).

We have been using Ecover washing up liquid since the first green revolution in the eighties. The dishwasher is a recent acquisition and what a pleasure it is. Ecover dishwasher tablets and rinse aid do the trick. Fat traps picked up at a reservoir’s Visitor Centre at Christmas have encouraged us to dispose of excess fat more responsibly (not on our bodies, you understand - that is an ongoing battle!).

So I can sit here smugly on the subject of washing up, you see, and feel that I am doing my bit for our watery friends. Whilst all the time trying to ignore what goes down the plughole in the bathroom, or gets flushed away, or leaves the washing machine……. as I said, I guess all that

Filed under: Uncategorized on March 30th, 2007 | No Comments »

That’s the message of the T shirt I am wearing as I write. Produced by Divine, the fair trade chocolate company, on organic cotton, to remind us of how central chocolate has become to our lives. As if most of us need reminding.

It makes our world go round - combatting heart disease, lifting spirits, comforting , soothing PMT…… (this is the ‘everything in moderation’ bracket that I feel obliged to put in, although I would think that goes without saying. But why is chocolate so hard to enjoy ’in moderation’?)

And of course, Easter is the season where chocolate is celebrated, justified, consumed in excess - all with a clear conscience. Cheaply this year too, with the big supermarkets vying more than ever to provide the best offers.

Being alternative in this market is really hard. Chocolate brands instil extreme loyalty. We all have a favourite. We all know our kids’ favourites. Changing to a more ethical alternative requires an immense act of will. (I can’t believe I am writing in such terms about what is fundamentally a luxury, but I’m sure some of you will identify with me all the way!)

I used to be really critical of people who were brand loyal with the coffee they would drink. Friends who could not or would not contemplate changing to a fair trade alternative. They could taste the difference. Even if the difference was an improved quality blend. Just like we judge all tomato ketchup by the flavour of Heinz, even if it contains less actual tomato then the alternatives! Then, only a few weeks’ ago, I realised I was the same with chocolate. I judged it all by Cadbury’s: all others did not taste the same.

Hence the T shirt. Hence the surprise that my kids will be in for on Easter Sunday. My re-education is taking place. My palate is learning a new favourite. Because I do believe that chocolate makes the world go round not only for us, but for the co-operatives, producers and their families whose quality of life depends on quality of trade. I’m looking into the stories behind the chocolate: Divine, Traidcraft, Green and Blacks all give detailed information on their ethical stance. I’m sampling a good few varieties. I’m making my mind up to convert this Easter. Resulting in a doubly clear conscience. (or should that be dubbly?)

Filed under: Uncategorized on March 30th, 2007 | No Comments »

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told the people around him not to worry about their lives: what to eat, what to drink, what to wear. Two thousand years on and we are still more preoccupied about these things than anything else. What to wear. What not to wear. We are what we eat. Bad food. Good food. Superfood. The media has capitalised on this preoccupation big time.

Even the youngest of my children care about what they wear. Although for different reasons. My five year old cares most about comfort, absence of irritating labels and Spiderman logos. When buying clothes, my teenager struggles with balancing peer pressure and advertising against a modest allowance entering an ever-decreasing bank account. The one who cares least is my husband (and always has. Our oldest child was asking me last night “if Dad was so seriously uncool when I met him that he was so far off the bottom of the scale that he came back round to the supercool top!”): he’ll wear whatever is clean and still fits!

We have all been horrified by stories of sweatshops and child labour. I read an article about cotton farming recently in New Consumer magazine that truly appalled me. But the quality and design of ethical clothing through the years has done so little to inspire me. Mind you, what an awful uphill struggle designers and producers must have. Constantly changing fashion trends. Shops so cheap you can completely revamp your wardrobe for £100. Massive advertising budgets subliminally conditioning us to want what they have to offer.

It works. It certainly takes a better person than me to say that they own an ethical wardrobe.

But I think things are changing. Marks and Spencers have a new organic cotton range. New mail order companies are springing up all the time, offering ethical alternatives to the latest trends. Even the la Redoute catalogue that I buy from has a couple of fair trade pages and the skirt I bought recently is getting lots of compliments! Fair trade outfits are a must for hip celebrities with a conscience they want everyone to see.

New Consumer magazine has a list of ethical clothing stores. Get hold of it and have an evening surfing the net. Shopping for clothes with a clear conscience - now that must be a first!

Filed under: Uncategorized on March 20th, 2007 | No Comments »

Everyone is afraid of something, aren’t they? Well, for as long as I can remember, I have had a phobia of supermarket shopping. Some people love to shop around - fruit from Netto, cheese from LIDL, basics from Tescos, organic from Sainsburys, desserts from MandS…. the list is long and varied. That is completely beyond my understanding: I couldn’t do that if they were giving the food away!

With a large family, supermarket shopping cannot be avoided. One thing worse than supermarket shopping is internet food shopping - too much broccoli; a tiny tin of peaches as dessert for the whole family; the nagging feeling that I am missing all the instore bargains; the weird and wonderful replacements sent instead of out of stock items…..(actually, I may have dreamt the last one…we have only attempted it twice and so are not really entitled to pass comment!)

Anyway, I do survive it by doing one really big shop once a week that usually requires two trolleys and the help of supermarket staff to get across the car park - and then bed rest until the kids come home from school!

Now to the point: twenty years ago, I would never have dreamt that we would have seen fair trade products in mainstream supermarkets. I remember the excitement when Cafedirect hit the shelves. My husband would spend an inordinate amount of time in the Beverages aisle surreptitiously rearranging the shelves to give Cafedirect more prominence. And now Sainsburys have switched ALL their banana sources to fair trade. Incredible! And so I can buy fair trade fruit, honey, hot chocolate, snack bars and so much more in my weekly shop. What a victory for all those who have tirelessly campaigned and pestered store managers across the land!

Of course, there is still more choice from specialist fair trade outlets. And there are no easy answers to the questions raised in our house when the shopping list is scrutinised later in the day. Is it better to buy supermarket own brand fair trade products to encourage the supermarket in their first steps towards fair trade? Or is it safer to stick to the renowned fair trade producers who have better guarantees of the difference they are making and a more personal relationship with producers? What is the environmental impact of flying in fair trade produce that could equally well be produced in this country?

Shopping is exhausting. Right now, even thinking about shopping is exhausting. More food for thought.

Filed under: Uncategorized on March 18th, 2007 | No Comments »

When I agreed to take on writing this journal, I was more concerned about finding something to say on environmental issues than anything else. And yet, this is my eighth entry and I have so far talked about very little else!

Nor has anybody else, have they? Climate change has become the new media band wagon. Every newspaper, magazine and TV channel are crammed with ‘green’ issues: Reports, challenges, debates and reality documentaries flood our already saturated consciences.

Which leads me to pose the question: Is Poverty History? Plainly not, but poverty in the developing world seems to have been relegated to the political back burner. Of course, Comic Relief (on TV tonight) reminds us of the plight of millions particularly in Africa, but I wonder if like me, Fairtrade Fortnight has completely passed you by.

Don’t get me wrong, I wholeheartedly support fair trade. In fact, I was buying and selling fair trade products long before it was endorsed by celebrities and became the trendy thing to do. I have bought fairtrade tea and coffee for over twenty years - and seen vast improvements in the quality, I’m delighted to say! I suspect that my husband has single-handedly improved the lives of many coffee producers through his filter coffee addiction. Not sure what it has done for his own - predictably, that is not open for discussion!

And the whole family was there on that swelteringly hot day in July 2005 when we joined the march to Make Poverty History. In fact, because of the length of time we had to queue to start the march, we only managed the first half before we had to swerve off to catch the train home! Never mind, the thought was there. I wonder where it is now.

Even the fair trade mailings that come through the door every day are beginning to adopt an environmentally friendly perspective. Every producer group will soon be needing to promote its environmental worth as well as the difference that it is making to the lives of the poor.

What a shame that there is such a battle for our minds and consciences - and money. Of course, environmental issues are vitally important. But let us be careful not to forget the real difference that fair trade can also make.

Filed under: Uncategorized on March 17th, 2007 | No Comments »

I don’t know whether you saw Panorama last week but it caused great excitement in this house, I can tell you. There was eco-man, walking around his house, Electrisave in hand, working out how he could save a bit of electricity here and there. My man was almost beside himself! How to validate an object: mid evening, on the BBC no less.… doesn’t get any better than that in his view!

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Filed under: Uncategorized on March 13th, 2007 | 1 Comment »

You may wonder why I have not mentioned paper yet, the most obvious and possibly important kind of recycling. Precisely for that reason. I have so much to say, it’s needs a blank sheet of paper of its’ own!

So much unwanted paper enters our home everyday. Junkmail on the doormat, artistic masterpieces that get discarded on the floor as soon as the kids get through the front door, half read magazines and newspapers piling up in the smallest room in the house! With four children at the same school, I get four copies of every newsletter, notice and educational advertisement to come home. (In fact, writing that has prompted me to see how ridiculously wasteful it is and I am going in to point it out this afternoon.)

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Filed under: Uncategorized on March 12th, 2007 | No Comments »

Partly as a result of the great quantity of stuff I talked about yesterday, we generate a great quantity of waste. We are in the privileged position of having TWO wheelie bins! A long story - large family; entitled to a larger bin; never been delivered; using two normal wheelie bins in the meantime; the meantime stretching to over two years!

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Filed under: Uncategorized on March 9th, 2007 | No Comments »

Stuff. Great quantities of stuff. Our house is full of it. Toys we don’t play with. Clothes we don’t wear. Books we don’t read. Gadgets we don’t use. Forgive my negativity: it’s Monday lunchtime and I’ve only just finished sorting through the debris of another chaotic weekend in our house.
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Filed under: Uncategorized on March 8th, 2007 | No Comments »

I’ve spent a lot of time reflecting on something I said last time. Can’t get it out of my head. I said that my quality of life was in danger of being reduced by my husband’s feverish desire to save electricity. How selfish that may sound. Honest, but selfish.

But isn’t that part of the problem? Many of us believe that we have the right to a certain quality of life and are prepared to play around with care for the environment and care for the developing world as long as it doesn’t have a detrimental effect on our own lives.

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Filed under: Uncategorized on March 6th, 2007 | No Comments »