Living in Sustainable Symbiosis

I don't know why I've never found this website before but I found this website today.
Rank A Brand, a great website for finding out "How sustainable is your favourite brand" 
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Oh there are so many more connections that this post could lead on to but I'm going to restrain myself from running around in circles and filling your heads with too much information. So as you can see from the title, this post is about brands. 
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What gets you to pick a brand? 
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The cost? Ladies, you will understand me when I say that our 'pampering products' can get rather expensive. As a student I personally choose my shampoo, conditioner, moisturiser etc. due to its price and if it's on offer then it's going in my basket.  
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The packaging? Mens deoderant. This is a huge one where packaging plays a huge part in my opinion. I remember my brother choosing his deoderant spray just because it looked really manly with the black can and graffiti-style text. 
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The advertising? How come creme eggs have become such a huge thing around this time of year? Just think about it. 
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Anyway, without further ado, we arrive at the main point of this post. Brands are all very good at catering to our needs and they always have a specific ploy with certain people in mind that will be drawn in to buy their product. But as always, how do we choose to use this purchasing power? Again, back to the creme egg. The brand value is estimated at £45 million and in a 12 hour shift they make the weight of 3 elephants in creme eggs (www.theguardian.com/culture/picture/2013/mar/29/creme-egg-everything-you-need-to-know). DOES THAT NOT SHOCK YOU?! How did one little egg become so popular? 
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Big brands. They have so much revenue and so much power but some brands are beginning to realise they need to cater towards people like you and I. People concerned with the environment and ethics. And so Greenwashing was born. 
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Greenwashing: Disinformation disseminated by an organization so as to present an environmentally responsible public image (Oxford Dictionary)
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"How much can we trust that we are buying responsibly?"
"I buy fairtrade food but I don't ever look at brands for anything else"
Does this sound anything like you? I was feeling these exact same feelings about 6 months ago until I found sites like Rank A Brand which helped me out huge amounts. It all gets rather confusing when it comes to anything other than fairtrade and so most of us take the easy way out by never going any further than that. But there is so much more to purchasing power than just fairtrade. 
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So head on over to these websites and have a look around. Don't be dismayed at the bad brands you buy from, I'm not asking you to suddenly never buy from your favourite clothing shop, or never buy your favourite chocolate bar or shampoo again. But it's the thought. The slow conversion away from the worst brands, which can make YOU into a more sustainable person. 
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www.rankabrand.org/

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www.goodguide.com/

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And then just if you're interested, there are a few interesting articles to read on this website:
www.sustainablebrands.com/

Happy Shopping!

This thought process runs on from my previous post. I raised the point that we should not remove ourselves from society no matter how dire the future looks because removing ourselves from society effectively results in us reducing our power to change things.

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I hinted briefly at the consumer power of our shopping habits. So what did I mean? Consider your transnational corporation supermarket, whether it be Tesco, Sainsburys, Waitrose or even M&S if you like a certain quality. Now what determines what they bring into stock? Us. They stock the products that the consumers buy most and will make therefore attract the most customers and bring in more profit. I personally shop at Sainsburys and I know my nectar card monitors my shopping habits and preferences because it gives me vouchers for items which I regularly purchase and gives me a deal which entices me to buy slightly more than I usually do. (And that is no lie, watch your vouchers carefully and see for yourself!) So the idea behind our purchasing power is that when we buy more of a product, it will be in higher demand and in reaction, supermarket stock will be catered to these buying habits. We can complain and campaign all we like about Fairtrade and detoxing from bad chemicals in clothing, reducing the amount of food thrown away from supermarkets, food miles and imports, you name it and there’s a campaign group, but if no one wants to buy the more ‘sustainable’ products then the supermarkets won’t invest in buying them. Now be honest, hand high in the air all of you who don’t then change your personal behaviour. Yes, my hand went up as well. I have only started changing my habits in the last year in some aspects of food but by no means in other areas yet. However we desperately NEED to realise just how strong our consumer power is and how IMPORTANT it is and start acting. Money changes everything and can be the driver of change, inch by inch, for large transnational companies.

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If you’ve read my homepage you will remember my depiction of the response of most people to these huge issues. If I solicit some more they would sound a little like this:
"The problem is too big to be solved"
"One person can’t change anything"
"It’s too expensive to live sustainably"
"It’s too much effort to change my habits"

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Well if you’re thinking that then here are some VERY SIMPLE things to get you and I started on improving our consumer behaviour and working towards a less hypocritical lifestyle which require only a little effort on your behalf.

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Greenpeace Detox – watch out for this label in your clothes, it indicates less harmful chemicals being used to make and dye your clothes

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Box schemes – reduce your carbon emissions from food imported fruit and vegetables. I am currently on a 2 month fast from any fruit and vegetables outside Europe and it actually makes cooking a lot more experimental and fun. Don’t go for big brand boxes like Abel & Cole, as good as they are, try and find a local box scheme (I use Sunnyfields, based in the NewForest just outside Southampton). Even on a student budget it actually turns out no more expensive than normal.
 www.theecologist.org/green_green_living/food_and_drink/1203512/five_of_the_bestorganic_veg_box_schemes.html 

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Buy the ugly ones – I found this campaign the other day and I think it’s absolutely wonderful! This could be a much easier option than the box scheme if you aren’t into making such a big change to a box scheme
 www.culinarymisfits.de/ 

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Local Co-operatives – Again, I’m only on a student budget but one less night out and on £10 out my bank account a year and I can invest in renewable energy and help support this industry and make it more accessible and viable (and of course, you get part ownership in all profits they make!)

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Charity shops, clothes swaps, buying Fairtrade, knowing your fish labels, apps made easy … there’s just so many more suggestions. There’s too much to go through! So keep reading and I will expand on more of these in the posts to come.