Category — Environment

Which is the most boycotted company in the UK? Well right now I doubt anyone knows.

The last survey was carried out a few years back and is now out of date.

So here at A Just Life we thought it was time for another.

The survey should only take you 5 minutes to complete.

To avoid confusion!

A boycott is the act of voluntarily abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with someone or some other organization as an expression of protest. (Wikipedia)

Not a UK consumer?
Then don’t feel left out as we’re really interested in hearing your views for our next (USA) survey.

Please pass on this link to anyone else you think would be interested.

Thanks

Inky

Click here to get wafted over to the survey centre

ps: curious as to why a company was included?

“Hundred of migrating birds are dying after landing on a tailings pond in northern Alberta owned by Syncrude, environment officials confirmed Tuesday.”

read more | digg story

The World Wildlife Fund is asking us all to turn off all non-essential electrical appliances for 1 hour today. The demonstration has been organised to put more pressure on governments to take action against climate change.

So far 24 major cities have agreed to participate including Bangkok, London and Tel Aviv. World land marks like Brighton Pier, San Fransisco Bay Bridge and the Sears Tower will all be dark.

So turn off your lights, your TV and (agony!) your computer from 8pm – 9pm GMT and join in this global action.

On March 13th 1988 Maung Phone Maw, a student, was killed by the Burmese junta during a peaceful demonstration at the Rangoon Instiute of Technology. By the end of that year the military had killed thousands of others; some on the streets, many in the closed trucks used to transport prisoners.

Two years later, Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy, won the general election but Aung San Suu Kyi was prevented, by the military junta, from assuming the role of Prime Minister. Instead she was placed under house arrest; where she has remained, pretty well ever since.

Last year the the people took to the streets again. The protesters, including thousands of monks, pleaded for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and the start of talks aimed at ending military rule.

The government’s response was mass arrests, imprisonment, torture and death.

Since that time the government has forced the closure of hundreds of monasteries and the population live in terror of arrest and torture.

Please support the people of Burma

By signing Avaaz’s online petition. To date they have collected 836,000 signatures but are aiming for 1 million.

By boycotting TOTAL. Total is of the biggest foreign investors in Burma. Its business partnership with Burma’s military dictatorship earns the regime hundreds of millions of dollars every year.

Take a trip down a supermarket aisle and be amazed at the sheer volume and variety of cleaning products available. Most of these, whilst being stuffed full of harmful chemicals, play lip-service to the environmental movement by containing a minute amount of some plant extract. A pox on them all!

Today’s small step in our series of 40 small steps to make the world a better place is to review how you clean your home. Here are my tips.

General

Use re-usable cloths. Get good strong ones from somewhere like John Lewis and they will last and last and last.

Ecological cleaning products. Not just the great stuff from the likes of ecover but better yet 100% natural products like

• lemon juice (general surface cleaner mix with 3 parts of water),
• vinegar (mix with same quantity of water and use as a surface cleaner or use it neat to remove lime scale),
• bicarbonate of soda (good abrasive cleaner use with a damp cloth or mix with salt and a little lemon juice to remove burnt on stains) and
• salt (another abrasive cleaner – use damp)

Avoid bleach – there are alternatives such as Borax which both cleans and disinfects.

Air fresheners? One of life’s biggest gimmicks – open a window to get real fresh air or light a candle or essential oil burner to mask smells (or if its just too cold)

Laundry

Fill the machine – using half loads uses a lot more than half the water and half the energy.

Use ecological laundry products. Especially recommended are the new laundry balls containing mineral salts. These use less water, contain no bleach and do away with the need for conditioner as they soften the water. The balls, although initially pricey are refillable and work out at about 3p per wash.

Wash at 30% – it does work!

Avoid using a dryer but if you simply must then check out dryer balls. These reduce energy consumption by 25% and, like laundry balls, mean you can dispense with the conditioner. Better still use a clothes line or hanger.

Washing-up

Using a machine does make sense if you use it with a full-load. Half-loads are a no- no.

Don’t leave the tap running for rinsing. If you don’t have a rinsing sink then stack the washed stuff in a bowl and give it a final rinse when you’ve completed the washing phase.

If you’ve got a large sink use a bowl and save water

The bathroom

Loo – a cupful of vinegar, left overnight removes stains and prevents build up of lime scale.

Windows

Mix vinegar with water (50-50) and use an old newspaper to wash the glass. I was taught this when I was a kid and never believed it would work. It does.

Happy cleaning!

The world might be a small place but there’s still so much of it we all want to see. For those of us who aren’t interested in “sun, sand and sea” type holidays this usually means travelling to the other side of the globe to visit a developing country.

Most such countries are crying out for tourism as its often the only way they can earn substantial foreign currency. But badly done all the profits will go into the pockets of the big, overseas, operators leaving the local people with nothing or in the worst cases damage to their environment and culture.

So before you start booking that well-deserved summer break consider a few tips for travelling ethically.

1. Do you actually need to fly away? Is there another destination you could visit that won’t have such a high impact on your carbon footprint but would still satisfy your wanderlust?
2. Consider where your money ends up. With an all-in-one package holiday most of the money will stay with the tour-operator and the airline. Instead try using local hotels, restaurants and tour-operators and leave your money in the country your visiting.
3. Before you leave home check out a few websites for recommended eco-friendly hotels and tour-operators. Recommendations are important as you won’t want to spend too much time checking out green-credentials during your trip.
4. Eat local food. This will be made of local produce and support the small growers. It will also cut down on the eco-costs of importing food to satisfy the tourists’ demand.
5. Be sensitive in all that you do. Watch what the locals do and wear. Don’t be afraid to ask questions because some things you just won’t notice unless they’re pointed out to you. For instance in some cultures feet are considered dirty. Therefore if you’re sitting down its considered rude to point your feet at anyone else.
6. Don’t be afraid to challenge a business-owner but be your usual tactful and polite self. Personally I always ask questions about child-labour.
7. If something seems to be really cheap, ask yourself why. In India, where I travel a lot, it is often because the staff are paid a pittance or a child is working long hours to serve you.

Step 36 in our series of 40 small steps to change the world is to review your holiday plans and see if there’s someway to make them a little bit more ethical.

Today’s small step to make the planet a better place is to boycott Texaco.

In 1992, after extracting 1 billion barrels of crude from the Ecuadorian Rainforest Texaco pulled out; leaving behind a truly colossal and hideous mess. It is estimated: -

• that the amount of crude they spilled is 50% more than in the Exxon Valdez disaster.
• That 2.5 million acre of rainforest was destroyed in order to open access roads
• That they discharged 20 billions gallons of highly toxic waste water into the environment
• that the native people who use the river and rain water for bathing and drinking are suffering from a wide range of serious, and often life-threatening, health issues.

Texaco has refused to either clean up their own mess or compensate the people whose environment they have ruined.

If that wasn’t enough – Texaco collaborates with Burmese dictatorship in an offshore natural gas project. Supporting a dictatorship which has directly suppressed democracy and actively kills those who try to protest.

If that wasn’t enough – Chevron -Texaco along (with Esso) are supporters of the war against Iraq. Why? They want access to the world’s 2nd largest reserve of oil.

If that wasn’t enough – In 1966 Texaco paid $176 million to settle the largest race discrimination law suit in US history.

If that wasn’t enough – Texaco blatently violated the UN oil embargo in Haiti. An internationally agreed embargo designed to bring pressure on the Haitian dictatorship.

I could go on – but I think you’ve got the picture!

Let us consider the environmental costs of travel in CO2 alone.

By car: An average UK sized petrol car emits 300g of CO2 per mile, with diesel cars coming in 1/3 less polluting and petrol driven 4×4 or SUVs 1/3 more

Bus: A passenger on a double decker produces 150g per mile (you’d think it was less wouldn’t you?)

Train: works out at 100g of CO2 per passenger mile

Tube: Is the clear winner at 90g per passenger mile. (So it is worth all that suffering!)

Planes: These get a bit more complex to calculate as with long-haul flights the route is seldom a straight line from A-B. The Guardian recommends multiplying the distance in miles by 290g for a short-haul and 180g for a long-haul flight (The difference being accounted for by the extra passengers on long-hauls.) Surprisingly, to me at least, that makes air travel a bit more economical in terms of CO2 than travelling by car. But then how often do you drive 9000 miles?

Your action for today in our series of 40 small steps to make the planet a better place is to consider how you can save some CO2.

Walk or cycle for short-distances. I avoid the busy main roads and walk through the back streets – its quieter, much nicer and far easier as you don’t have to keep stopping, starting and changing direction to avoid other people.

Use a motorbike/scooter for longer daily commutes. Be sure to get a 4 stroke with a catalytic converter (2 strokes are very dirty). Better yet, an electrical one. These really cut your journey time but parking is becoming a problem as the number of motor bike bays hasn’t kept up with the growing number of riders. Lobby your MP and local Council.

Share your car, offer a lift use a car pool. Two people in a car is twice as efficient as one. Filling the car up will reduce your bill and share you’re emissions.

Avoid flying short distances. Lobby your MP to get something done about the ridiculous cost of travelling by train in the UK. Flying within Europe is a no no. The Eurostar will whisk you away and there are plenty of high-speed trains on the other side of the channel.

Consider carbon offsetting. This is a help but should never replace attempts to cut down your emissions.

Reduce, Re-use and Recycle! Surely the mantra of all environmental campaigners and one we are all familiar with. What most people don’t realise is that the three of them are listed in order of importance.

First comes Reduce – reducing your consumption is the most effective way to conserve the world’s resources.

Second is Re-use – find alternative ways to use items you’ve finished with or join freecycle and swap them or give them away.

Third is Recycle – definitely not to be sniffed at but the process of recycling costs energy and is the least efficient of the three

Today, as part of our series of 40 small actions to make the world a better place, we’re going to consider the first. How to reduce consumption.

The way I see it reducing consumption isn’t just about what we buy every day – the quantity; its also about the impact on the environment – the quality.

We live in a consumer society. We are taught from a very young age that the mere possession of something somehow enhances us as a person. Well it doesn’t! And you know that don’t you?

The business world needs to sell things and to sell things it needs customers. It will do anything within its power legal or not-so legal, moral or totally immoral to persuade us that we simply can’t live without their products; even if they are killing us and the planet.

Do not listen to big businesses!

So how do you know if you’re over-consuming? The easiest way is to watch what you dispose of. How often do you change your car? Upgrade your phone (mea culpa!)? Buy new clothes? Throw away food? Get a new games console? The process of listing it all alone will probably shock you into slowing down a bit!

The other side of the coin is the quality of what you buy. Think of the difference between buying two identical items one with minimal packaging and the other with layer after layer of non-degradable plastic. By chosing the former you are reducing the sheer volume of waste you produce each day.

In buying organic food and clothing you will reduce the consumption of pesticides that are polluting our world and poisoning the people who work the fields.

By not eating meat you will directly reduce the amount of CO2 released into the atmosphere and thus help reduce global warming.

Don’t think of reducing your consumption as a process of self-denial/torture – that is the big businesses whispering to you again. Rather think of it as having sufficient for your needs – and no more.

Contentment.

What organisations speak for you? Charitable, political, activist or protest, whatever rings your bell there’s an organisation out there trying to tell the world about something you believe in. And what are you doing to help them?

Today’s small action in our series of 40 small steps to improve the planet is to push yourself one step further. Whatever you do, do a little more.

Start off by finding an organisation you want to support. If one doesn’t immediately spring to mind then Charity Choice is a good place to start. But be warned, organisations that are deemed to have a political agenda aren’t allowed to register as a charity. The BBC’s Action Network is great for local groups but using a search engine is probably the best bet. I tried “Protect Whales” and the first entry took me to the International Fund for Animal Welfare’s Whale page. Whereas “Protect Wales” let me to the Woodland Trust’s page for protecting trees in Wales. Play around with your search terms till you find what you want.
Next step is to think how you can help. Membership is a good start but is really the minimum you can do. Consider what else is possible.

• Help publicise the organisation
• Join their Facebook or MySpace group
• Help out in their office
• Do other voluntary work
• Become an activist
• Fund-raise
• Join their Committee

What matters is that you do something and today is the day to get started.

Good luck!