I awoke this morning to news of Tate & Lyle's semi-conversion to Fair Trade. John Humphries interviewed a representative from the Adam Smith Institute and the Fair Trade Foundation. Two economic sparring partners who clearly clashed with vigour!
He's a Believer!?
I graduated in Economics and I have even read half of Adam Smith's "The Wealth of Nations". Adam Smith seemed to me someone whose views (or observations?) might have been used out of convenience. I sought in this little post, to show that in fact Adam Smith may have advocated the market-distorting Fair Trade system.
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After a year of an exponentially increasing profile for green and environmental issues, it seems most companies are catching up with the 'game'. Leaving aside the issue of whether these companies are doing it for the right reason and whether it really makes a difference, I have just encountered something of an impressive green blunder.
Clearly, size matters
"Colgate Total Professional Weekly Clean is a new and innovative addition to regular toothpaste, therefore we have changed the packaging to demonstrate this." Let's be clear. The 'cassette' style packet is about 15cm x 8cm x 1.5cm. This makes it about the size of a small diary. The tube contains 20ml of toothpaste and is about 8cm x 1.5cm. The packet is stiff cardboard moulded to plastic. It cost (in Sainsbury's) £3.79 which comes to nearly £20 if you bought the equivalent volume of a normal-sized tube (100ml).
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After posting an intro into Paris as potentially the most 'Eco' city in the world, I've been walking around seeing things which I should have included! Here's a bit more coverage then and be warned, I have almost certainly missed things off so further posts may well appear on this topic!
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The really great thing about being greener is it can combine better technology with sustainability with pure common sense. After going through the entire griinu Compare catalog it is apparent that there are different scales of green-ness in products.
Thinner and Stronger
Listening to You and Yours on Radio4 this week, I heard a story about new thinner glass bottles. A leader here seems to be Adnams whose supplier O-I who won a "gold star" in the Starpack Awards 2007. It shows how some effort and human ingenuity can create more sustainable designs. Details.
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Here's a traditional dilemma for the conscious shopper:
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The typical problem for for environmental commentator is how can I stop sounding like a cynical kill-joy hell-bent on making people live uncomfortable lives growing potatoes?
I love this juxta-position. It's something that makes thinking about the environment and taking action on it that bit more interesting. I was reading up on some of the week's environmental news and I can across this report on the Today programme. Shell Springboard grants money to organisations "who submit the most compelling plans for a product or service which helps combat climate change." (from shellspringboard.org).
The Pessimist Rises...
No doubt any British reader will also be aware of the recent news of Shell's triumphant profit of more than £13.9bn. Well I like a bit of maths. The £13.9bn makes £38m per day, £1.5m per hour and about £26,000 per minute. So £40,000 is just over 1.5 minutes of work. Apparently they gave 8 awards in 2006. Somehow, I feel Shell could be a little more generous.
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