A reasonable place to start is to look at existing ethical consumerism guides and see how different phones rank. The figure below compares phone rankings Continue reading Daily Footprint, #9 – Cell Phone (ethical mobile phones)
Overall, my opinion is that the Fair Trade movement, although not perfect (what movement is?), has performed and still does perform a very important role in stabilizing prices, and supporting small coffee farmers. Continue reading Daily Footprint, #8 – Coffee (Part 2, fair trade and direct trade)
Here are four certification schemes that correlate to various extents with shade-grown coffee. Continue reading Daily Footprint, #8 – Coffee (Part 1, Shade Grown).
I just finished watching Merchants of Doubt and will have to spend the rest of the day trying to channel my frustration into something positive. It’s a great documentary (based on a book by Naomi Oreskes) that investigates the industry-sponsored practice of quashing research or movements that are inconvenient to them. The title refers to the so-called “independent experts” funded by industries to create confusion … Continue reading Truth, revisited.
When purchasing (and reviewing) appliances it’s useful to know how much energy they consume: it may help you decide between different products and also give you an idea of whether energy efficiency is an important factor relative to other criteria. Continue reading Daily Footprint, #7 –Home Appliances – How to calculate your carbon footprint
In part one, I took a look at some issues to consider when rating textiles from a social and environmental perspective. Here are a few remaining factors to consider, but do make a choice based on what’s most important to you and then share your information with others by writing a “green star” review (of an item of clothing or a store). So, this isn’t … Continue reading Daily Footprint, #6 – Clothing (Sustainable Textiles, Part 2)
Time to get dressed! Clothing is a huge topic so I’ll just go into one aspect here – choice of textile. Hopefully I’ll go into the other main topics in future posts: the human impact of cut-and-sew factories and the environmental impact of dyeing and finishing. Since clothing is one of our major needs in life (besides food, water and shelter) it’s worth putting some … Continue reading Daily Footprint, #6 – Clothing (Sustainable Textiles, Part 1)
I rated Nature’s Gate and Avalon Organic’s 5/5 green stars (they are not perfect but I think they are in the top 20% of shampoo products in terms of impact) and I would rate Clairol’s product 1/5 green stars for social and environmental impact. Continue reading Daily Footprint, #5 – Shampoo + Good Guide Update
So, depending on your priorities, you may want to find soap from a company that doesn’t test on animals and contains simple plant-based ingredients. Soap made from animal fat will have the largest carbon footprint Continue reading Daily Footprint, #4 – Soap
Eco-friendly razors: factors to consider. Continue reading Daily Footprint, #3 – Razor
The Green Stars Project 