You are currently browsing the daily archive for January 16th, 2008.
My Dad emailed me a link to this article. It’s great and everyone should read it – it’s a quick reminder / update on what’s going on in the land of fashion. I’m a sucker when it comes to clothes so to know that the shops that I buy in are being encouraged towards fairer trade and greener production by a more savvy consumer gives me a warm glow. It would be so nice to walk down the high street without feeling almightily guilty about who made the clothes and under what conditions.
I was also very pleased to read that ironing is not good for the environment.
Gigantic is a great site. An everyday service with an ethical spin – the company promotes great customer service alongside greener thinking.
Their value seems much better as well; charging only £1.75 for postal delivery against TicketMasters £3. And 10% of their booking fee goes straight to Oxfam.
More companies like this please!
Whilst I was looking for websites and ideas for my own top five things that can make a difference, I stumbled upon We Are What We Do. It’s a little like The Nag (see Sign up and get nagged into doing something good), but it has three times the number of users and it has a different take on ‘making a difference’. We are what we do is based on a philosophy that you can make a difference in everything you do. The actions it suggests can be really easy things like ’smile when answering the phone’, or ‘leave work on time at least once a week, or even ‘don’t judge someone by the job they do’ as well as the more obvious ‘photocopy on both sides’ and ‘avoid waste’.
If you sign up to the site you can track your actions and also use it to dare or double dare your friends into taking part. All good. Let me know if any of you sign up.
We all know that we can make a little difference if we change some of our habits or start doing something differently. My question is what are the top five things that we should all do that would make the biggest difference?
I don’t have the answer, but I have got an idea of the kind of things that a top five could include:
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Obvious ones: recycle waste paper, start/join a car pool, cycle into work, buy and eat locally produced organic food, don’t fly if you don’t have to, turn off your computer, don’t leave mobile phone chargers plugged in, don’t let the tap run when cleaning your teeth…
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Less obvious ones: set up a payroll donation, donate some of your time, challenge your business to turn off the lights at night…
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Or more radically, decide to live your life based on a philosophy: e.g. “We must be the change we want to see in the world” Gandhi, “Aspire not to have more but to be more” Romero.
What do you include as must do’s in your top five? Answers in the comments box, please.
