Fake Plastic Trees

Day 2 of living ethically:

There was a song by Radiohead, going back a few years now, which talked about everything being plastic: trees, people, surgery. Everything seemed fake. I'm starting to understand how that feels. I know that there is a profusion of plastic bags in this world but I guess I'd never realised how hard it can be not to acquire them, particularly when you're really trying not to...

We decided to try doing a bulk online shop for this month, the idea being that,

1. we would cut down on car usage by not driving to the big supermarkets once a week.

2. we would not be buying all those little things that are impulse buys as you walk around the shops but only buy what we really need.

3. we could properly compare prices of 'regular' products with their fairtrade or organic alternatives.

As mentioned before, we were going to try to use Ocado - green retailer of the year and all that. Unfortunately they don't deliver to our address at the moment. Odd, given that we're hardly living in the belly button of the navel of nowhere. Anyhow, as an alternative we decided to use a combination of Sainsbury's for the general stuff and the Ethical Superstore for other items we couldn't find there.

It was interesting seeing the difference in price of some of the products. Usually you can see a slight difference between fairtrade and 'regular' products but it was quite amazing and rather disturbing to see that, where we would normally spend around 70p for a bag of pasta, the fairtrade cost for the same size of packet was £2.40 - over three times a s much. It really made us think, is this the price we should really be paying for basics like pasta? Quite startling really.

So, one evening of internet shopping complete (v. exciting way to spend a whole evening but these things take a lot longer when you're trying to be more careful about the ethics of what you buy!), we looked forward to getting all our lovely ethical things...

Then the delivery came.

Plastic bag hell. There were so many of them. Some bags had just one item inside. Some bags were doubled up for no apparent reason.

Now, I'm not sure if I just didn't see the 'no plastic bags' box on the Sainsbury's website (and I'll be looking carefully next time) but this seemed to be an excessive use of plastic for a shop in which they make an issue of asking if you need a plastic bag when you buy in person. Tesco do a green no plastic bags option, that we've always used before. Is this another area for lobbying? The home deliveries all arrive in big plastic containers so surely there is no need at all for plastic bags.

This is so frustrating. Day one and we acquired two bags because of our own lack of thought. Day two we acquire another EIGHT when we were really trying not to. I know we can send them back at the next delivery but this shouldn't be an issue at all.

If nothing in life is free then why are there so many plastic bags in my life?

Later that evening I went out to the local shop to get some milk. The shop assistant automatically put it into a bag. When I said that I didn't want a bag and I would just carry the milk I was met with a sigh and a sneer for the inconvenience I was causing for making them take the milk back out of the bag...

So, like Radiohead said: plastic. Everywhere.

Starfish

Day 1 of living ethically:

Just day one and already this seems impossible! The no plastic bags rule? Already broken!!! We walked down to the village to the local greengrocer, to buy village grown asparagus and leeks, and English everything else. This was all carefully planned, unlike the normal get there and grab something, so I know exactly what we're using when, and nothing should be wasted. Unlike the supermarkets, the greengrocer does not always tell you where things are from, whether they are fairtrade or organic so I found myself asking. "Don't know" was the reply. Whilst I could get reasonably local veg, there was no 'ethical' fruit at all. And then I went to pay and my husband and I looked at each other and realised we'd forgotten the plastic bags. So 2 acquired on day 1.

It is interesting that when you start trying to shop ethically you start realising where the gaps in the market are. Which I suppose brings up the next question of lobbying for an ethical choice to be provided. Which feels a little uncomfortable in the friendly greengrocer shop, but does raise the question of if no one does it, then how will the demand be created to force the supply. At this time of year fairtrade fruit is the main aim as fruit is not seasonal in the spring (though berries will be in soon), so I aim to write a terribly polite letter (I don't do confrontation!) requesting this at the greengrocers.

Then I started thinking about other places such letters could be used. Later in the day, at a children's party, when the party bags are given out there are polystyrene gliders as gifts. Naturally my kids want to open them then and there and I find myself saying "don't be upset because they'll probably break before we get home today." Which they do in a non recyclable, non biodegradable kind of a way. Party bags! The essence of non green living but every parent feels compelled to provide them (the ethical ones are pretty rubbish - I looked for my daughter's last birthday). There is such a niche for cool ethical bags or a new concept to be found by someone far more creative than myself e.g. giving out tickets for entrance to a local (cheap) attraction would probably cost less than a bag full of plastic and sugar.

I could write letters to the (frankly scary) hospital canteen which I am certain adopts none of the principles (they don't even butter your toast before they put the beans on - 'not policy' apparently - how then can I get them to adopt any ethical policies when they won't even butter toast? Or serve breakfast at 2 minutes to 9AM!). What about the cinema, restaurants? Coupled with the failed plastic bags goal it all suddenly it seems overwhelming and precipitates a fit of grumpiness and despondency. I worry I'll turn into one of those people who phones 'Jeremy Vine' or writes into 'Points of View'. Or worse, the Daily Mail.

But then my husband reminds me of the starfish story. For those who don't know, it goes like this: A man walks along a beach where millions of starfish have been stranded. He meets another man who is picking up starfish, individually, and throwing them back in the sea. "What's the point?" the first man says, "How will this make any difference?" The second man throws another starfish back in the sea, "It makes a difference to that one" he replies.

So, fairtrade fruit at the greengrocer is my first starfish.

I later go the the farm shop, whose motto is 'local, seasonal, traditional', and get my butter, cheese and meat. Not much meat, enough for four days of the week only, and chicken instead of beef for the roast as chickens have less carbon footprint than cows (this gets confusing, chickens are 2 times veg, beef is 8 times veg, not sure of the units but I get the principle! Feel like this is more demanding than my degree was).

I'm also going to next work out the non veg/meat things I need for the month, and try and do a whole month ethical bulk shop, either from ethical superstore, or ocado, which sounds v posh and expensive but has won green retailer of the year. And I'm hoping that if I'm buying bulk and once a month only, this will cut down the cost. I've often found that an online shop is less expensive than a supermarket shop because you don't pick up all the things you 'just fancy this week'. So maybe this will work. If it does, and I'm in profit at the end of the month, I'm going to give half to charity. If not, well, try, try again, as the saying goes.

Because, as one high street retailer says, "there is no Plan B".

Setting The Scene

This blog is going to be for 30 days: one month of living as ethically as possible.

I've always tried to live ethically; I have an ethical bank, I held off buying a car for as long as I could, I live in a small insulated house, however, I never really bought into it completely. But over Easter I went to Spring Harvest, a Christian conference and the theme was 'different eyes'. It was all about seeing the world differently, living differently and one of the series of seminars was on ethical living. It consolidated a lot of what I've read and thought into something achievable, so, for one month, I and my family, (one husband, two small children and a dog) are going to live as ethically as is feasible.

I tried this out at the supermarket the other day - as a trial run so to speak. Well, my usual 45 minute shop had to be curtailed at an hour and a half as the shop was shutting and I hadn't even bought half the stuff I needed. I went with a friend and ended up dazed and confused, trying to work out not only what is cheaper, but also was it better to buy organic carrots from Israel, or British non organic carrots, or fairtrade sugar vs British sugar. In the end I decided I needed principles to work from and those principles have to be prioritised.

Or I may never get a shop done. Ever.

The principles I'm adopting are the LOAF principles, LOCAL, ORGANIC, ANIMAL FRIENDLY and FAIRTRADE. As long as what I'm buying fits into that, it's OK. So, if that's the rules for buying stuff, I've prioritised them as local, fairtrade, organic and animal friendly (in fairness, if meat is organic, it's usually animal friendly so there doesn't tend to be a conflict there). This system may make the supermarket possible. I'm getting local meat from the farm shop, but to compensate for the extra cost, go vegetarian for a third of the week. Vegetables will be from the local greengrocer.

For day to day living I've come up with some other goals that I think are achievable:

First: No more plastic bags at all - I've always tried but often forget, but for one month we will not own a single additional plastic bag.

Second: To hang clothes out and not tumble dry as much - all my appliances are at least A or A+ but I can cut energy usage with reducing tumble drying. Also turning off all the little standby lights at night.

Third: To reduce car usage: bulk buy from shops, walk lots, use public transport when possible. Not possible, unfortunately, for my daily commute as I need my car for my job, but we have two cars and to aim to not use cars except for commuting or essential journeys.

That's the general rules and I'm sure during the month more will follow. Because what I'm finding, in the run up to this, is the more you think about it, the more you can do. It just takes some thought. Also, I'm starting to think differently about the way I live. Which is unsettling, I'll admit. This came about when someone raised the point of cost - "but isn't living ethically expensive". Well potentially yes, paying the proper price for fairly traded food and clothes is more expensive. But then bigger questions start, like do you really need to buy 'snacks', the frugal wartime diet was a famously healthy time with less diabetes, obesity and dental problems, do I really need the quantity or type of food I buy? What about food waste? What about picking up vegetables every other day from the greengrocers and menu planning, using the freezer, using leftovers, not buying stuff I don't need, not buying stuff new - all this is slightly uncomfortable for the middle classes - why live as if you don't have money when you do?

But when you look into it there are all sorts of ways to recycle perfectly good stuff. I've gone onto Freecycle, Oxfam online, swapshop, and gone to a clothes swap. Then there are library's, lovefilm, music downloads, all ways of not getting material things. Once you start looking, a whole new world opens up, which I'm about to step into.

It's a lifestyle change, one that we may all have to adopt one day, so I'll try it and keep you updated about how I get on.