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ideas of ‘we can’t mention the good things we do because it leaves us open to criticism on what we don’t do’ has been replaced by ‘this is what we do, we know we’re not perfect, but we’re working on it’ attitudes.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!