How can we make ethical choices in a consumerist economy?

So, in the last few days I have read a few things, including this Guardian article. As much as I agree with the anti consumerist message, I feel that it's a little too harsh on us 'consumers'. Yes, we all probably could and should buy less but the article falls short in the respect that most people do not know HOW to buy less. Particularly when it comes to things we need. The other thing I read yesterday was that the number of disposable nappies in this county alone is in the millions. And wipes are littering our beaches. For those of us with small children, nappies are essential. I, for one, am not convinced that buying a load of reusable nappies, hot washing them and tumble drying them is a suitable alternative to disposal nappies. I personally think that the government should implement legislation to prevent companies from over packaging food, stop the use of polystyrene and other non recyclable packaging material and encourage fast food outlets and supermarkets to use corn starch bags and other biodegradable alternatives. How else are consumers supposed to make green choices if there aren't any options worth choosing from?

Retail therapy and keeping up with the Jones'

Modern life is hard. We all know it. It's drummed into us to aspire to be more and have more. It's like being content is a bad thing. This sense of urgency to change takes its toll. Recently I've been feeling a little low, if I'm honest. I'm not ascending the career ladder, I'm not going onto bigger and better things and I'm not buying into the keeping-up-with-the-Jones' crap. How do you combat this feeling of inadequacy? How do I feel content with just being where I am? If I tell people I feel down I get well meaning advice of "go buy some new clothes" or "get your hair done", "that will cheer you up". Firstly, would anyone offer those suggestions to a man in my situation? I doubt it. Secondly, why would spending money on superficial dressings cheer me up? To be fair, hiding those grey hairs would stop me from scowling at the mirror every time I pass one! But that's not the point. 

Maybe I need time out from the day to day stuff, take the kids for a long walk in the woods, or hold my partners hand whilst watching the sunset. Sounds wonderful but it's not always practical, especially in the great British weather! Maybe I'll just spend a few days 'slowing down' and trying to enjoy the little things for a change. My sense of self worth and happiness can be shaped by the little people in my life, not by what other people think I should look like or be achieving. My kids won't be little for much longer, but those shops, courses, jobs and hairdressers are always going to be there. I've got plenty of time for that sort of thing later. Right now I'm going to forget about the world and try to be content as a pillow for my baby!

Minimalism: freeing ourselves from stuffication

This blog post will make anyone who knows me laugh out loud. I'm a hoarder. Not a 'I-need-help' type hoarder, but a "what if I need it later" or "but that could be useful" hoarder. I read an article recently that said that my generation are prone to hoarding as our parents had so little after the war years, that their need to hang onto everything that they owned is also engrained in us. The telegraph article suggested chucking out one item of clutter on day one, two items on day two, three on three etc for a month. Because starting the decluttering process is the hardest step. In the last two weeks I have taken four large bags of stuff to the charity shop. Stuff that I won't miss (hopefully!), stuff that might make someone else a bit more comfortable or happy. I could list all the clichés about possessions owning you, uncluttered home meaning an uncluttered mind, blah blah blah but you've heard it all before! I'm clinging onto my old junk for the wrong reasons. It's not useful, it's not beautiful, it doesn't make me happy. What would make me happy is a clean and tidy home but having two small children puts pay to that. I used to think that having a bigger house or better storage would be the solution. But buying something just to keep your other stuff in isn't the solution. It's still early days so it will be interesting to see how I get on. 

Ethics and parenting: when two worlds collide

So, it's been a while! A lot has changed since my last post. I'm now a mother of two mischievous boys! My ethics have fallen by the wayside a bit as parenting is stressful enough without fretting about Eco options! I have, I suppose unsurprisingly, fallen unintentionally into the attachment parenting camp. It does seem fitting for my ethics to breastfeed, rather than support the likes of nestle (that's a whole blog post in itself!)

Sadly, I've come to realise that even parenthood has become commercialised. From your first midwife appointment, you are bombarded with advertising. The 'bounty' pack you are handed is rammed full of advertising mixed with helpful lists of things you need for your baby. Mums to be are almost brainwashed into thinking that babies need £1,000s worth of essentials. Even I was left a little stunned when the NCT instructor said that you don't actually need anything other than a few clothes. That's why attachment parenting suits me. Of course I bought into the baby industry at first too but now I realise that even the cot is surplus to requirements! Attachment parenting isn't a check list of things you must do, it's basically parenting by instinct. It's about being responsive and mostly how our ancestors would have parented. Unfortunately, the baby book industry is massive and there is a mind boggling array of books about how you 'should' be raising your child. Ignoring their cries, putting them in cot in their own room and winning battles of will with them is the norm in most books. Sadly, all this advice just leaves many mothers lost and confused. Mothers no longer trust their instincts and are left feeling inadequate when their child doesn't conform to the books. Believe me, I was one of them. According to the books, babies should sleep through the night and only feed every four hours. My kids didn't read the books! 

I still have guilt though. The disposal nappies fill up my wheely bin. As beautiful as reusable nappies are, I'm too lazy to change both boys nappies every three hours and spend all day washing them. In general, many aspects of attachment parenting are more ethical. Some AP mums cope without pushchairs, choosing a fabric sling instead. Even baby led weaning means you avoid buying ready made baby food. I'm not saying that AP is good for everyone, it doesn't suit everyone. But as far as I can see, it is more ethical in nature and that suits me down to the ground. 

Freedom: the choice is yours

As I sit in my garden, watching the woodlice explore the cracks in the patio and listening to the bees visiting the sweet peas, I can’t help but remember over hearing a conversation on the train the other day. A woman was telling her friend how she emailed her boss at 3am because she was so worried about work she couldn’t sleep. Now I bet she doesn’t feel she has the time to watch woodlice and what a shame. I was reading about freedom on the train and how freedom isn’t about escaping responsibilities but respecting them as well as other people’s freedom. Sadly, the woman on the train probably doesn’t realise that she has freedom (as most of us in the modern world do) as we create cages for ourselves with work and perceived responsibilities. We allow ourselves to become trapped in consumerism and the rat race when there really is no need. Why trade our freedom for the choice between designer brands?

So, whilst blissfully soaking up the sun and admiring how nature has managed to overcome the paving slabs and grow a willow tree in the smallest possible amount of soil, I realised that whilst 9-5 doesn’t feel like freedom, we are all still free. We just need to remember that. If we enjoy the simple pleasures in life, make the most of what we have rather than striving for more money, more stuff, more responsibility, then we can feel free. I for one will try to remember this, although it’s going to be hard the next time I get soaked to the skin on my way to work at 6am when I’d rather be in bed!

Is it time to escape the rat race and downshift?

I’ve noticed recently, that just buying ethically isn’t enough for me anymore. I feel the need to live more ethically, in all areas of my life. Don’t worry, I’m not about to start some moral crusade or anything, I mean living a life that has less impact on the environment, perhaps one that makes a positive difference. Whilst browsing facebook and twitter I see that more and more people are keeping chickens, bees and animals and growing their own veg – a friend last week even announced he wants to live on a farm. This got me thinking, where has this sudden ‘getting back to the world ways’ idea come from? More and more people are becoming disillusioned with the 9-5 constant consumerist society, the American dream we’ve all been sold since the 50’s where work equals money which means we can buy stuff to make us happy rather than just being happy. In the past we’ve had a New Age craze going on where these disillusioned people, feeling displaced from modern society, were seeking solace in Eastern religions and philosophies. We had a resurgence of yoga, Buddhism, spiritualism, anything exotic or ethnic rather than something western religion. Now its like the trend has swung back to where we are, it’s just that we’re embracing the old ways of self sufficiency, working the land and even paganism. Whilst the religious side of things doesn’t interest me, I don’t need to believe in anything to be content, this concept of a simple life, downshifting or dropping out the rat race really appeals. My experience of living cheaply and ethically from charity shops and farm shops fits nicely in this concept so now I’m just working out how to take the steps to get to live my dream of the good life.

Why not everyone needs a cuddle: keeping wildlife wild

As most people know, animal welfare is one of the many things that gets me all riled up and unable to sleep at night. So, imagine my horror when researching an email to my pal Daniel at The Born Free Foundation I came across this video of a hapless (and rather ignorant) tourist attempting to cuddle a rather unwilling panda.





The place is the Wolong Giant Panda Breeding Centre in China. It’s essentially a conservation project but sadly, the welfare standards are comprised by the drive for cash. This cash is raised from misled tourists who think it’s a good idea to give a panda a cuddle.


So what’s wrong with cuddling a panda? Well, the trouble is, these panda are being captively bred so they can be reintroduced to the wild. It is widely accepted that reintroductions of captive bred animals is hit or miss and efforts are likely to be unsuccessful is the animal becomes too tame. Its only healthy for wild animals to have a degree of fear of humans – it stops them from being hunted or captured. If the pandas used for cuddling aren’t destined to be reintroduced then the centre is basically sacrificing these individuals welfare for the good of the other pandas. Surely this is questionable at best and immoral at worst!

My advice is to steer clear of anywhere that offers animal cuddling (other than domestic animals). If you want to cuddle a bear, get a Care Bear! Plus you get browny points for retro chic too.

Ignorance is bliss: Living in my own happy bubble

I recently started living a rather simpler life. One of the surprising consequences of this I have only just realised. I have no TV and don’t listen to the radio so I’m blissfully ignorant of what’s going on in the outside world. The real surprise is that I actually don’t mind. As someone that is interested in current affairs, politics and global living this is a bit strange.

I think in the past I have got rather hung up on doing the right thing, being informed, raising awareness and generally caring about the world. I try to live a moral and ethic life but perhaps I take it a little too far. I’m really proud of my ethical buying and the way I’ve tried to shun consumerism but I feel guilty when I fall off the wagon and buy something in Tesco and maybe I shouldn’t. Perhaps its time to loosen my grip a little and cut myself some slack. I mean, I doubt if the founders of Oxfam beat themselves up if they buy non-fairtrade coffee once in a while. Surely doing my best is ok?

Combining the two things together is rather liberating. I’m no longer feeling anxious about the bad stuff that happens in the world (as I don’t know what’s going on) and I’m not suffering from my ethical guilt if I so much as stray into the poundshop. So now, I’m living in my own little world where my only concerns are what to have for dinner! And to be honest, it’s refreshing! I know it sounds very self involved and somewhat selfish but perhaps its not such a bad thing to look after myself for a while and concentrate on my own happiness rather than fretting about the rest of the world.

Don’t get me wrong, I know shite happens but I’ve taken to not thinking about it and concentrating on living in my own little happy bubble, blissfully ignorant of the wankers, bullies and bigots of the world. Whilst away for the weekend with some friends, I told them of my new philosophy and one said she likes the happy bubble Holly so I think I’m going to stick with it for a while.

What price is freedom?

In the past couple of days I have seen two adverts for what appears to be freedom. ‘Hmmm…’ I hear you say ‘Surely you can’t buy freedom?’ My thoughts exactly. These adverts were actually for a TV and a perfume. How is a TV or perfume freedom? Surely TV and perfume are the total opposites of freedom? The adverts showed people outdoors, laughing, smiley, running around in the sunshine – all things that you can’t do whilst watching TV! It actually makes me think of the rant from Trainspotting, which nicely sums up all my objections to living in the rat race and consumerism in general. I summarise with this quote…

“Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing, spirit-crushing game shows, stuffing fucking junk food into your mouth.”

And that’s why I don’t own a TV and why I object to freedom being used as a lifestyle to sell with. (By the way, I saw these adverts on 4od which isn’t technically TV.)

Incidentally, it appears that freedom can be bought on ebay.

Possum living: an inspirational push towards self sufficiency

To some extent, you could say that life has rather got in the way of my dreams recently. Yes, self sufficiency has been on my mind; I’ve recently been researching alternative food sources such a dogfish (which is usually caught as bycatch and discarded) but I’ve kind of neglected the bigger picture. So when I read about Dolly Freed on Off-Grid.net it was the wake up call I’ve needed for a long time.



I bought my first book about self sufficiency back in 2003 when I found myself stuck in a rut, doing a job I hated. It prompted me to set myself a target, focus on my goals and make some progress towards what I really wanted and not get sidetracked by the trappings of the rat-race. So today, Dolly and her laid back lifestyle gave me a kick up the arse. Why had I forgotten what I’ve been striving for? I’m already a step closer to my goal – I’m no longer renting so I’m not bound by the constraints of what a landlord says I can or cannot do to the garden. But I’ve not made any progress from there. I suppose the 9-5 distracted me again so now’s the time to get back to business. Don’t get my wrong, I’m not about to downshift and attempt The Good Life in my 2 bed terrace; the garden is far too small and shady for that. But I have spent this evening planning how to restructure the garden to grow food and which trees I should growing from seed now, so they are ready to fruit in a few years time when I have a bit a land to plant them in. Yes, it’s a very long term goal but its baby steps and first I need to learn how to grow food before I become dependant on my growing skills! So here goes… where did I put my trowel?

In search of happiness; are we looking too hard?

I received an email today, telling me of the happy smiling faces of the people of Madagascar. It got my thinking, would anyone ever say the people of Britain are happy smiley people? Well, no, they wouldn’t. Why? Because we’re not. We’re a nation of apathetic, cynical grouches. Only yesterday I saw a London commuter snap at a hapless traveller who didn’t move his foot fast enough. And I thought the English were supposed to be polite. We’re not, we’re selfish, self-involved and so thoroughly wrapped up in the rat-race and profit chasing that we’ll tread on anyone who gets in our way. I speak generally of course. Not all of us are like that, just the majority it seems.

So the Malagasy are happy despite being subsidence farmers, living on the poverty line and the English are miserable despite being filthy rich in comparison. Hmm… what’s wrong with this picture? The obvious answer is money doesn’t buy you happiness. We thought it might, pursuing the ‘American dream’ of a house, car, white goods and all mod cons but instead we’ve found that consumerism has no limits. What ever we have is never enough, we just want more and more.

In the pursuit of happiness we’ve forgotten what happiness is all about. Deep down we all know that money doesn’t buy us happiness. What makes us happy is sitting in the sun on a summer’s day or spending time with friends and family, but instead we’re in front of a desk, damaging our eyes to make money for some faceless company. Again I’m speaking generally about those London commuters but most of us are selling off huge chunks of our lives in exchange for money to buy stuff to compensate for the lack of time we have to spend with friends or sit in the sun. I’ve been warned off the ‘poor but happy’ ideal but in this demoralised modern world is does seem like a very tempting alternative.

Corporate Social Responsibility hits the high street? Well, not yet…

It’s been over two years now since that dreadful day in Harrods when I decided that consumerism really wasn’t for me. Since then, I’ve been living my life quite happily without frequenting the usual high street chain stores on a biweekly basis as so many people do. So what have I learned? Well, if you can find happiness by enjoying the simple things in life, then you don’t need to buy so much stuff. I feel the need to quote Sam Duckworth of Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly here ‘Open your eyes, as you don't need to buy it’. So, Sam Duckworth and I know that there’s more to life than shopping; Sam’s written a lovely little song about it but it seems that we’re in the minority.

Apparently fashionistas of the world are still even new to the idea of organic! Jigsaw, one of the high street heavy weights has just launched its ‘first ever’ organic range. Shame it’s a little late in the game. Both ASDA and Next were doing organic t-shirts at least a year ago. Meanwhile, the free newspaper I found on the train applauds Jigsaw for making green cool ‘and there’s not a Hessian sack in sight’. It seems that despite the hard work done by organisations such as Oxfam and War on Want, the fashion industry is still 20 years behind the food industry. So we’re still calling anyone with an environmental conscience a ‘greenie’ are we? Still perpetuating the stereotype of sandal wearing beardy hippy types? Tsk tsk.

Meanwhile, back in the business world, things are looking up. Despite the current recession the ‘ethical climate’ still continues, being led by the food industry. Fairtrade, organic and local have all been foody buzz words for a while but now the mainstream businesses have caught on. Big multinationals have noticed that Corporate Social Responsibility is not something to be sniffed at. Previous ideas of ‘we can’t mention the good things we do because it leaves us open to criticism on what we don’t do’ has been replaced by ‘this is what we do, we know we’re not perfect, but we’re working on it’ attitudes. Even Starbucks, mass consumerism in a cup, has a Global Responsibility report that details how much waste their disposable cups generate. It’s all about clearly stating business intentions, aiming to improve social and environmental standards and reporting on it. If more businesses can put these good intentions into practise, then perhaps we might actually make some progress towards more sustainable consumption.

Wants, needs and homogenised households: just another day avoiding temptation

I’ve been rather quiet recently, but it’s not because I’ve given up, it’s because I’m doing ok. Over the past few months I’ve had a bit of a reassess and I’m trying to live my life more simply. I’ve been buying more bread from my local bakers, buying less ‘stuff’ that I don’t need and generally working out where I want to go from here. I must confess, I have been buying more CDs as I no longer have a TV, but charity shops are pretty good for CDs too! I was starting to think ‘yes, it’s been two years and finally I’m not finding this ethical shopping thing too much of a struggle.’ My mindset of staying out of the shops to avoid temptation was working. I’ve been spending my time gardening, giving new life to my old furniture and picture frames and I have a pile of fabric I inherited that I intend to make cushions from (thank you Kirsty’s homemade home for the well timed inspiration).

However, I returned home from work last night to find an Ikea catalogue on my doormat. Flicking through the glossy pages I found the old familiar pang of ‘want’, clever disguised as ‘need’ nagging at me. ‘But its only £15 for a 100% cotton duvet cover’ my little brain was crying, ‘that’s so much cheaper and easier than spending £50 on that fair-trade organic cotton and making a duvet cover.’ You can’t fault my logic, but the glaringly obvious still remains. How can Ikea possibly make this stuff so cheap and retain their ethics? The catalogue includes a double page spread of how they intend to improve, using less packaging, including more recycled materials and solar powered lamps which is all very commendable but it’s the very nature of Ikea that I’m opposed to. It’s the mass produced, cheap & cheerful items that make everyone’s house look the same which crushes peoples’ individual style, tells us how our homes should look and homogenises households into something that you can buy online in a few easy steps. Don’t get my wrong, for some people it’s perfect, but I like the way that most of my furniture has a past. For example, my desk used to belong to my mum’s yoga teacher friend, my chest of drawers became mine when a friend moved to America and my Grandma made my bedspread. No one else in the world has a patchwork bedspread like mine! Having said that, I’m still tempted to get the £15 duvet cover; I love my ethics but I also love a bargain!

Fishing: free food but is it worth it?

As my quest for a clear conscience continues, I’m delving deeper and deeper into the world of ethics. I’ve found myself in the mine field of food ethics again and have opened up a whole new can of worms: I went fishing for the first time on the weekend. The idea of catching your own dinner really appeals to me, especially as its free food but knowing that a fish has had a hook through its mouth, which has to be ripped out doesn’t sit well. I suppose if you then kill and eat that fish it’s justifiable, it’s far more humane than what occurs at a slaughter house. Plus, it’s a wild fish rather than farmed where the fish spend their lives swimming in their own excrement with dead fish and a poor quality of life (not that quality of life is considered with fish). At least a fish straight from the sea is fresh (you can smell it) and the issue of food miles is non-existent but cost-wise it’s probably not worth it, unless you can find your own bait too. If you don’t mind spending five hours of your weekend on a cold beach watching a rod bobbing in the breeze without thinking that a trip to the fishmonger would have been easier then its probably worthwhile! Having said that, I’d go again. I can imagine it’s the same feeling you get when you serve fresh vegetables from your garden as you dish up your fish dinner, and no amount of shivering could lessen that pride.

Cause and affect: learning that my philosophies don’t define me

After a year and a half of careful consideration over ever purchase, I feel its time to take stock and reassess my situation. So, am I pleased with my progress so far? Well, that’s a tough question. I have previously commented that I fear my ‘ethical’ mind set has shaped me into a organic eating, yoga practising guardian reader, the type that most of us love to hate, (by the way, I don’t do yoga, but have recently wondered if it might help my posture) and its probably my almost obsessive fascination with charity shops that keeps me from becoming one of ‘them’. You see, this ethical quest has almost redefined who I actually am. I’ve always been proud to be different, despised the kind of people who will only buy brand named food and turn their noses up at the bargain bin. Those M&S food shoppers who eat asparagus or actually know what those bizarre ingredients are in cookbooks have previously fuelled my deepset insecurities of inferiority and I’ll rather be a hoody drinking stella in the park on Friday night than become one of them. I love chocolate spread on white bread, always have done, always will do and no amount of encouragement is going to make me want to put pollen into my yogurt. Anyway, my point is (yes, there is a point), my point is that shopping ethically isn’t about becoming a middle class, pollen eating yoga instructor. It’s about thinking about consequences, thinking about how my money can affect other people and how my spending habits can do something other than line the pockets of the fat cats of the world.

The other day I found myself thinking that I needed to spend £30 on a new pair of shoes to go with a dress to wear to my friends wedding. Where this idea came from I don’t know, but it scared me. Under normal circumstances I would rather go barefoot than face the high street just to fit in at a social function. As the high street phobia kicked back in and I realised I really didn’t want to fight my way through the throngs just for a pair of sandals I discovered that my four year old sandals would go very nicely with the £3 dress I bought at the end of last summer. Job done. Perhaps it’s because I now know that I can pass for ‘normal’ in my charity shop clobber that I feel I can become part of the ‘normal society’, not that I’ve ever wanted to be part of that scene. I suppose even at my age it’s easy to get sucked into the lifestyles you see on TV and in magazines and feel you have to compete. It’s scary how fast that white picket fence can grow up around you and before you can say IKEA, you’re not you anymore. Lesson learnt; stay focused on the bigger picture and enjoy being a individual.

Redemption: Charity shop fashion is not too shabby chic

On the weekend I was at Radio one’s Big Weekend in Swindon and as usual, spent a large part of last week fretting over what to wear. In everyday life my charity shop wardrobe can manage but being surrounded by people in their finery (who are hoping to be on TV) really takes me out of my comfort zone. I finally settled on a fairly respectable ensemble put together from various charity shops topped off with a Marc Jacobs t-shirt I found in Oxfam. When a brunette girl asked me where I got my t-shirt from I proudly told her it was from a charity shop. That obviously wasn’t helpful for her as she wanted to find one for herself and she was rather stunned when I showed her the label! But for me, this was acceptance and I’m proud to be a charity shop fan.

A question ethics: animal welfare vs environmental concerns, which stand should you take?

Being vegetarian is far harder than I thought. It’s incredibly easy to do it half heartedly or hypocritically as I have discovered! Whilst sat in the park yesterday, eating my veggie sausage sandwich and feeling virtuous about my veggie efforts I rather naively was ranting about the mistreatment of animals whilst wearing leather shoes! Having looked into the alternatives to leather I have discovered that shoes marketed as vegetarian or vegan are made of cotton or faux leather. The environmental issues associated with cotton production are well documented (including the almost complete disappearance of the Aral Sea due to the use of water for crop irrigation) and faux leather is made of plastic. Call me cynical, but personally I think using one cow to feed several people and make many pairs of shoes is far better than producing plastic, a non-biodegradable substance formed from petrochemicals! The evils of oil are far more wide reaching including global economic instability from the price controls, pollution and destruction of fragile environments for oil extraction, not to mention the heinous nature of the Iraq war. Having said that, beef production in the past has been responsible for the destruction of rainforests for grazing land, global warming from the methane and, ultimately, obesity and heart disease! Maybe I should just stay barefoot instead.

Veggie ventures into the world of meat free food

After a recent incident where I ate some steak which according to various people may or may not have been veal (can you get pale beef?), I have been having a serious rethink of my attitudes to meat. Whilst I was in Tanzania I saw cows kept in tiny sheds in the dark being fed only banana leaves and never allowed out to graze or see the sunshine. These rather callous attitudes to animal welfare in the farming industry are what have prompted various people such as Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, The Soil Association and Compassion in World Farming to campaign for change. My concern however, is no longer whether or not the ‘steak’ I ate was or was not veal, but that if the thought that I might have eaten veal has shaken me up this much then should I be eating meat at all. So, since Monday I have been avoiding meat until I have made up my mind on whether I should become vegetarian or if I should only buy free-range and organic meat. What has really shocked me is the total lack of vegetarian foods in the supermarket. It seems that the typical British diet is still very much focused on the ‘meat and veg’ mentality of the 50s.
It might be tough but that hasn’t stopped me before so here goes with the whole veggie thing!

Fashion is the opiate of the modern masses

I was going to have a little rant about ethical book buying as seeing that Jade Goody has the best selling autobiography at the moment, outselling perhaps the most important man in modern history (Barack Obama) really wound me up on the weekend. But boycotting book buying wouldn’t last long for me! Plus, books are one of the few things in this world that aren’t considered to be disposable. So, instead, I’d like to complain about channel four’s inability to relate to the public.

Last night, Gok Wan was doing his usual ‘fashion fix’ and taking on the designers with ‘budget’ clobber from the high street. What startled me was the total lack of budget. Whilst most of us are struggling to make ends meet with utility bills and the cost of food through the roof, out of touch Gok was fawning over outfits costs a couple of hundred quid – a steal compared to the several thousand pound outfits being offered up by the rather mental designer-obsessed fashionista (and her pet pooch). Seriously, aren’t we all a bit beyond that now? I mean, who can afford the capsule wardrobe these days? Yes, Gok has a point, ‘buy less, wear more’ is a great idea but it does seem that Gok wants us all to chuck out what we have a buy a select few items which cost more than my mortgage!

Now what would be interesting is if instead of the designer vs high street battle at the end of the show, we had a high street vs shabby chic face off. I personally reckon that someone with a bit of sewing know-how, some style and guts could easily put together some fab outfits from charity shops, second shops and even car boot sales and on a budget that everyone can afford. Fashion is just a way of giving clothes exclusivity; stick a label on it and everyone knows that you’re minted. I say sod it, its time we all felt good about our clothes. Fuck fashion, everyone woman has the right to look and feel good about herself whether her gear’s from Biba or British Heart Foundation! Sadly, channel four are still promoting short-lived feel good fashion which just encourages the credit card crippling and excessive borrowing mentality that we’re all trying to leave behind. This just adds fuel to the fire of worthlessness and low self esteem amongst those who have been hit the hardest by the credit crunch – fashion is the opiate of the modern masses, and a tough habit to kick.

Sitting in the dark whilst the planet cooks from our self-indulgence

On Saturday millions of us spent our Saturday night illuminated by candlelight as part of the worldwide earth hour. The event has been heralded a great success as videos of famous landmarks plunged into darkness are being emailed to us by various organisations and news agencies. I however felt rather uncomfortable with the idea of watching TV by candle light. My low energy light bulbs are hardly energy hungry compared to the rest of the electrical equipment in my possession. Surely an all out electricity blackout would have made a more substantial comment on climate change? I thought this would have been a better idea and proceeded to turn off my heating and all electrical appliances that weren’t essential (fridge and freezer stayed on).

Sitting in the dark, trying to read by candle light I realised why my plan was flawed – who in their right mind would sit in the dark with nothing to do? And that is the problem. That is why WWF and the promoters of earth hour didn’t ask people to turn everything off. After the failure of earth day last year when electricity usage was actually higher than expected you can see why they set their sights a little lower. Sadly, it’s because of the trappings of the modern world, where everything we use consumes energy, that we have got to this stage. Even sadder still is that fact that very few people are prepared to face the truth that unless we force a real change in lifestyle, a complete paradigm shift, a change of perspective away from the all consuming, energy hungry lifestyle, to a more frugal, energy efficient one then all the earth hours in the world will not change the inevitable climate change and loss of what we take for granted now.

Having said that, I spent 5 minutes in the candle light trying to work out how to entertain myself before I turned on my laptop and watched a DVD using battery power. If some of the most ecologically minded people can’t cope an hour without electricity, then what hope does the world have?