The Ethical Blog from Ethicalsuperstore.com

Will there ever be sustainable palm oil?

Since it’s launch in 2004, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) finally delivered its first sustainable palm oil into Europe, which  shipped into Rotterdam last month.

Responsible for wide scale tropical deforestation and conflict between local communities, palm oil currently appears in anything from chocolates to cosmetics and is estimated to be in as much as half the products on average supermarket shelves.

Retail giants, such as Unilever and Sainsbury’s, have bought from this first batch. While Sainsbury’s Natural Resources Manager vouched for it’s authenticity, and claimed it to be of ‘a higher standard’ that ‘doesn’t compare with anything we have sourced before,’ Greenpeace were somewhat less convinced.

They said that although the palm oil could potentially be ‘something good’, the current RSPO’s standards and criteria are ‘not strong enough to guarantee that any of the palm oil it certifies is actually sustainable’.

Currently, 80 per cent of global production comes from Indonesian and Malaysian plantations and Greenpeace say it is the leading cause of forest destruction in Indonesia.

Are you still boycotting palm oil products? Do you have any products to recommend that don’t include palm oil? Let us know.

Read the rest of Green News Roundup November 2008 »

tie them anywhere, keep for longer than a single day

With so many ‘World Days’ littering the calendar it’s increasingly easy to lose focus on some of the really important ones.

Whilst you may be forgiven for not being in tune with World Television Day (21^st November), nodding off during World Sleep Day (March 21^st) or resisting the urge to confuse everyone you chat to on International Talk like a Pirate Day (September 19^th) let’s give some serious attention to World AIDS day.

The number of people living with HIV continues to rise in every part of our world - including in the UK. There are now an estimated 35 million people living with HIV worldwide and 80,000 people living with HIV in the UK. For the last 15 years the red ribbon has been the international symbol of HIV. Wearing a red ribbon is a great way to raise awareness about HIV as well as to break down stigma and prejudice, so make sure you wear one with pride this World AIDS Day.

There is more that we can do. As well as showing our support with the red ribbon today we can choose, as consumers, to place our spending behind products and organisations which make a difference too. Recently at Ethical Superstore we began to stock products from Global Ethics - the creators of two pioneering and innovative charity-funding ventures; One Water and One Condoms
They help communities in Africa who don’t have clean water supplies or are suffering due to the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

All profits from the One Condoms are used to fund HIV projects in Africa. The profits are used to fund Voluntary Counselling & Testing outreach clinics - teams of nurses and counsellors are taken out to rural communities to help educate and raise awareness of HIV and HIV-related issues as well as testing for HIV.

I’m sure there are many other ways to show practical support too. I’m not proposing that we start a campaign for a ‘World Day of thinking more carefully about the impact of what we buy’ but it is an idea we should try, often.

It’s getting towards that time of year…with only four weekends left until Christmas the shops are rammed, and everyone around me seems to be at least halfway through their Christmas shopping whereas I have hardly even begun.

A rising onset of panic has prompted my quest for the ultimate Christmas gift – something that will give rise to the appropriate ‘ooohs’ and ‘ahhhs’ upon being opened, but something that is more than a disposable knickknack or curiosity. I’m looking for something that with ethics and a story but which won’t break the bank, and of course has that extra bit of wow factor.

It was with these thoughts in mind that I came across The Leaky Collection, a fabulous little range of jewellery with an interesting story, making it much more than what meets the eye. The collection features some really lovely wooden bracelets and necklaces which won’t fail to be a hit, but the real winner come in the form of the Zulu Grass strands - colourful and versatile jewellery which is ethical and ecologically sound to boot.

Read the rest of The quest for the ultimate Christmas gift. »

If we ever need a little inspiration, a push in the right direction, or a kick up the backside to ‘Go One Better’ or green up our lifestyle than we should look no further than our own back yard.

It appears that nature is teaming with busy little environmentalists, all hell-bent on reducing, reusing, and recycling whatever is in their path.

According to Environmental Graffiti, a cracking site for environmentalists who don’t take themselves too seriously, these little chaps are the most eco-friendly bugs around;

3. Environmental Designer Extraordinaire: The Orb Web Spider
The female orb web spider is one of natural world’s top designers, but she’s one of its thriftiest recyclers too. She’s known to eat her web at night, before spinning a new one, to recoup some of the energy expended producing silk that’s rich in protein and stronger than steel.

Read the rest of The Top 3 Eco-Friendly Bug Awards »

Researching brand loyalty last week set me thinking. I would not consider myself a victim of brand loyalty. As any member of my family would tell you, I always buy what’s on special offer or stick to the supermarket’s own brand - which is sometimes boring and sometimes rather unusual, depending on the offers that week!

I guess chocolate is my main weakness. The main weakness for the majority of women, if my friends are anything to go by. Actually, it’s not that I often overindulge; it’s what I choose when I do. I already know all the arguments, but I still reach for the brands I grew up with. It’s just something about the taste.  A lick of a Cadbury’s crème egg takes me back to the tin of goodies under the driver’s seat in my Dad’s car. The first bite of a Double Decker prompts a flashback to my teenage years. The unwrapping of a Galaxy bar has Proustian reminders of waiting for the first signs of labour with my first child.

This week, Stop the Traffik(1) is organising the world’s largest chocolate fondue party. Stop the Traffik is a worldwide movement dedicating to raising awareness of and campaigning against the trafficking of people. Didn’t that end with the abolition of the slave trade? And didn’t we celebrate the 250th anniversary of that a couple of years ago?

Read the rest of Retraining my taste buds »

People flee from violence in the Congo

During its years as Zaire and more recently as Congo, the people of this huge Central Africa republic have battled against many different types of adversity – everything from civil war to the eruption of Mount Nyiragongo that sent hot lava running through the streets of Goma. However, the new clashes between warring factions – once again on the streets of Goma – have led to thousands of people being displaced into temporary camps. Food is short. Water is contaminated. And there is the lurking nightmare that this might slip into a genocide reminiscent of horror that occurred just across the border in Rwanda during 1994.

While the international community decides whether it has the guts to intervene and prevent further violence and bloodshed, the aid agencies are rapidly deploying programmes of aid. To help fund those initiatives the Disaster Emergencies Committee (DEC) has launched a co-ordinated campaign to raise the much needed funds. For more information see our main story.

a strangely pleasurable experience?

So what’s in a name? Plenty, if all the time and money spent on market research and advertising is anything to go by. Manufacturers invest heavily in promoting brand loyalty. But what is it exactly ? According to leading experts, brand loyalty implies that consumers bind themselves to a product as a result of a deep-seated commitment. (Bloemer and Kasper 1.).

A deep-seated commitment?  Sounds serious.
Well, yes. For have you not heard it said…“Coffee just isn’t coffee unless it’s …” “No-one makes jaffa cakes like …” “Easter wouldn’t be Easter without …” “I wouldn’t use anything else on my face but …”?

It’s a commitment that is not just about authenticity of taste, but about a product that becomes the norm, a standard against which all others are measured and found wanting.

Let’s take tomato ketchup as an example.

Read the rest of What’s in a name? »

At a time when green buzz-words such as ‘food miles’, ’shop local’ and ’slow fashion’ are being bandied about by just about everyone with any kind of environmental conscience, doing your shopping online may seem to be the antithesis of all the good work being done, but look a little more closely, and you might just find that the internet is a greener option than the shopping mall.

Shop from home and let us do the hard work!

If you are anything like me, the simple thought of walking down the high street at this time of year will be enough to bring on a severe attack of the nerves. This is where the internet really comes into its own. With thousands of stress free retail outlets just a click away, the days of spending hours trawling round town in the freezing cold hunting for that perfect gift for a special someone is long gone, and it couldn’t have happened sooner. It turns out that my fear of Christmas shopping is good for the environment as well. Bonus!

Read the rest of Shop online to save the planet… »

The wetter the better?

I recently challenged myself to ‘Go One Better’  - to conduct an examination of my lifestyle and identify simple improvements which I could make, and more importantly stick to, which will make a difference.  I began with a commitment to eliminate at least one regular car journey and replace it by cycling.  Given the title of this post you could be forgiven for thinking that I’m going to attempt a cheerful defence of pedalling in the rain, not so.
With all going well with the cycling it was time to turn my attention to other things.  Once you start to think about ‘going one better ‘the problem is not so much what to tackle, but where to start.  I decided to start by examining my daily routine, working from morning onwards.
To say I’m not a morning person doesn’t even come close.  According to my family I don’t wake up – I defrost.  Putting myself in the microwave isn’t an option (though it’s a tempting proposition for family I suspect) so I tend to thaw out in the shower.  I’d always resented the hammering on the bathroom door and pleas for speed, evidence of their tendency toward exaggeration.  ‘You always take forever’ being conclusive proof of their impatience, as I was never in longer than a couple of minutes.
I’m probably not alone in the belief that showering is guilt free

Read the rest of Going One Wetter! »

Well it’s official – we’re in recession. But what we’ll experience over the next few months will be nothing compared with what people in Zimbabwe will experience. While inflation here has reached a dizzying peak of 5% the current of rate inflation in Zimbabwe is more than 231million per cent! Just about the whole population is now a Zimbabwe dollar millionaire so worthless is the currency.

Amazingly, there are people making a success of being a business in Zimbabwe – even an export business. Dezign Inc prints t-shirts and bags in Zimbabwe using screen print techniques and traditional designs. Fair trade pioneer Traidcraft imports the products for sale in UK market. 15 years ago the business was thriving and supporting a large workforce and a housing project. Times are tough but the resilience of the team is amazing – they are still managing to export products.

So my Christmas challenge for everyone is why not buy a fair trade shopper from Dezign Inc for your aunt, uncle, dad, mum, sister, brother, son or daughter? Celebrity designer endorsed shoppers may save plastic bags in this country, but the Dezign Inc shoppers could genuinely be saving lives in Zimbabwe as well. The United Nations announced on Wednesday that it had cut maize rations to the 4million Zimbabweans who have no source food at present. Worse news is that there will be no rations after Christmas unless the international community steps in to pledge more aid.

You can buy the Market Scene Fair Trade Shopper for or the Nomad Shopping Bag for just £10. We’d like to sell out this week so we can get more ordered and advance payments out to the folks at Dezign Inc. Do what you can.