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.
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