At the Risk of Sounding Controversial...

I wrote this blog the day after seeing a play about the Holocaust. I was so upset about this thought I had while watching the play that I wrote a blog entry about it on my phone while on a train ride to Wiltshire the next day. I didn't post it because I thought I'd sound like a raving mad man. I opened it and read it and decided to post it. It's not dispassionate and it might be controversial or a turn off but I stand behind it.

Written: 03/05/2007

A Disturbing Connection

I went and saw THE INVESTIGATION last night. The original script was "written" by Peter Weiss and staged in 1963. It's transcripts taken from the Frankfurt trials which was a trial just like the Nuremburg trials. The play was produced just a year after the trial. The original play is 5 hours long! This production was done by a Rwandan theatre company who are, obviously dealing with their own genocide. It was cut down to 90 minutes. The production was powerful simply because of the text and the people involved but was actually poorly acted and staged. I know the script well because I was involved in a series of stagings of it last year.

One of the maddening things about the testimony is that no one will take responsibility for what was happening. "I was following orders", "I didn't make the decisions", "I was just doing my job" and all the common reasons were endless. Meanwhile these people were collectively engaged in the destruction of their own society, the world around them and, of course, the extermination of millions of people.

I've become slightly obsessed with environmental issues lately and it occurred to me there’s a direct link between the kind of thinking that enabled the Nazis and the kind of thinking that is increasingly enabling the destruction of our societies and our planet. This planet is becoming more inhospitable to humans and other species living on it. Collectively humans (but especially those in developed nations) are directly responsible and the message has been broadcast for decades. Most maddeningly, however, the majority of the population does little to change things.

As for economic concerns I propose this: The environment IS the economy. Look around your room right now and find something not made from natural resources. Next time you go outside find something not made from natural resources. Multiply everything you see by your neighbourhood, then by your city a, then by your country and then by all the cities in the world. That's a lot of stuff that’s come out of the planet.

It's running out. It's getting harder to find resources, food and energy.

Do something. Make small changes. They'll have big effects. The encouraging thing is that the solutions already exist. They fall into categories that include Sustainable, Ethical, Environmental, Green, Eco, and Fair Trade. I'm excited and fired up because I've found it's easier than you think (or maybe I thought).

Just do something.

Switch to Green Power - The Biggest Step You Can Take is Probably the Easiest

Change this

to THIS

Fight Climate Change With Your Energy Bill!

Sorting out how to switch to green power in the UK is actually easy as some of the biggest suppliers have zero C02 emission energy. In Canada it's a little trickier but not much.

This is such an obvious way to reduce C02 emissions it's hard to believe more people aren't doing it. I read in the newspaper in London that British Gas and Electricity had created a 100% green energy option but had only had a few hundred customers sign up this year. I scratched my head and wondered how much they'd publicised this option. Probably very little. I put this down to the simple fact that most people don't know the option exists. If they do they assume it will be more expensive, complicated or unreliable. It might be a bit of a pain to switch your energy supplier folks but do it once and go carbon neutral forever!

Green Suppliers in Britain Ethiscore rating (out of 20)

Ecotricity New Energy Plus [E]	14.5
GE 100 electricity tariff [E]	14.5
Ecotricity electricity	13.5
GE 10 Electricity tariff	13.5
N.Ireland Eco Energy green tariff [E]	13.5
RSPB/Scottish & Southern electricity [E]	12.5
EDF Electricity green tariff	8.5
Scottish Power Green/H2O electricity	8.5
Powergen 'Go Green' dual fuel tariff	8
Juice green energy tariff	5.5

Use Which? (see link under orgainsations) to calculate your tariff.

Green Energy Suppliers in Canada

As mentioned it's a little trickier in Canada as there are less green suppliers and you may actually end up paying a bit more. You won't have to do get another hook up or install anything with any of these companies. You just sign up with them and get your power from the grid as per usual. Your power won't be interrupted during the switch.

Here's the thing though: In Ontario power is subsidised by tax dollars. When you hear that price has been "capped" it means that once the cost goes above certain level then tax dollars pay the extra amount. So your energy may be capped at 5.5 cents per kilowatt hour but taxes dollars are, in effect, subsidising energy usage. By switching to a green provider you're freeing up tax dollars for other things like health care and social services. The government should also be lobbied to move subsidies from C02 producing sources to green sources.

Here are some Green Power suppliers for you in Canada.

ONTARIO:

Bullfrog - Great option. N
Electricity Choices - Great calculator to show cost vs. C02 saved

Alberta:

Enmax - 100% wind power

I'll be updating this with more information shortly. If you have any companies to recommend please do so!

Energy Saving Trust - Not as Boring as it Sounds

http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/

This is a great site with all kinds of practical and easy to implement suggestions. The site is obviously British but the energy tips are applicable to all. Great site.

Click on the "What can I do Today?" tab for a great list of tips and easy interactive demonstrations. Check the links on the left for:
*I love the "How Effecient is Your Home?" link. It pulls up a graphic of a house that you click on and it shows you areas where you lose heat, energy and tells you how much money and CO2 you would save by making a change.
*The REALLY simple stuff is under "Cheap and Simple Tips."
*There's a list of the "Top Energy Saving Measures."

Check out all the great information on your impact on climate, environmental products, home improvements, and even how to generate your own renewable energy (and get grants for it!).

Have I mentioned that most of these measures will SAVE you money. Once again...with sustainability everyone's a winner.

Transisition Towns

I just realized this doesn't fall under the label "effortless" but it's a fantastic initiative. If it doesn't fall under "effortless environmentalism" then it surely falls under "Good News for a Change" Transition Towns is a charity that assists towns in transforming into sustainable communities.

Here's their explanation from their website:

What is a Transition Town (or village / city / forest / island)?

A Transition Initiative is a community that is unleashing its own latent collective genius to look Peak Oil and Climate Change squarely in the eye and to discover and implement ways to address this BIG question:

"for all those aspects of life that this community needs in order to sustain

itself and thrive, how do we significantly increase resilience (to mitigate

the effects of Peak Oil) and drastically reduce carbon emissions (to

mitigate the effects of Climate Change)?"

The resulting coordinated range of projects across all these areas of life leads to a collectively designed energy descent pathway.

The community also recognises two crucial points:

• that we used immense amounts of creativity, ingenuity and adaptability on the way up the energy upslope, and that there's no reason for us not to do the same on the downslope
• if we collectively plan and act early enough there's every likelihood that we can create a way of living that's significantly more connected, more vibrant and more in touch with our environment than the oil-addicted treadmill that we find ourselves on today.

They've created 20 towns in the UK, Ireland and Australia. Great resource and support for towns that want to change.

Ethical Consumer Magazine and Website

www.ethicalconsumer.org

The parent company of Ethiscore - which I previously talked about on this blog - are a fantastic organisation that researches companies business practices. They research the operations of companies then recommend them based on their actions AND quality and price.

As they say on their website:

20 years of independent research into the social and environmental records of companies.

Discover the truth about the brands and products we buy, from baby food to broadband, washing machines to wine.

Learn about alternative products from more ethical companies, what to avoid and what are the Best Buys.

Once again you can find quality products, good value, and ethical conduct. Everyone wins again!

Due to the fact that no funding comes from advertising there is a yearly fee to subscribe.

Ethiscore

www.ethiscore.org

A friend of mine advised me to avoid overuse of the term "ethical" on this blog if I wanted to reach more than just those who had already converted to the environmental cause. The environmental cynic would supposedly be turned off by talking about ethical companies as shopping ethically is, I assume, so hard to do. After all most companies out source to third world nations for labour, engage in harmful pollution, and put the bottom line ahead of everything else.

I used to agree, however, I'm finding out there's a lot of great changes going on out there and a lot of opportunity to use companies that are more ethical and environmentally friendly. The more consumers change their spending habits the more companies will change their ways.

Which brings me to Ethiscore.

Here's a great organisation that researches and ranks companies based on their ethical conduct. It researches companies practices in the following areas.

Environment (Environmental Reporting, Nuclear Power, Climate Change, Pollution & Toxics, Habitats & Resources)

People (Human Rights, Workers' Rights, Supply Chain Policy, Irresponsible Marketing, Armaments)

Animals (Animal Testing, Factory Farming, Other Animal Rights)

Politics (Political Activity, Boycott Call, Genetic Engineering, Anti-Social Finance, Company Ethos)

Product Sustainability (Organic, Fairtrade, Positive Environmental Features, Other Sustainability)

So now you can find out which companies are the most ethical and take it from there. My plan is to look at companies ethical and environmental policies and then look at price and service. If the price is way too high then I just won't use them. If there service is not good then I won't use it either. I'm certain I'll end up using a company that has better ethical and environmental practices than if I hadn't looked into it though.

As mentioned earlier on this blog I signed up for a Smile bank account based on the fact they have a great ethical policy, great rates, lower fees and great customer service. According to Ethiscore.org they rate a 7 out of 20 which is surprisingly low. The highest bank was Norwich & Peterborough internet banking and they rated just 13.5 out of 20. I could hang my head and give up or I could note that Lloyds TSB (my former bank) ranks a shocking 2.5 out of 20. In fact most of the big banks rank 4.5 or under. Go to http://www.ethiscore.org/ to see the rankings.

Ethiscore is a consumer funded organisation so there is a fee to join. 15 pounds gets you a years subscription.

Abel and Cole

http://www.abel-cole.co.uk

Organic produce delivered to your door. This highly ethical company also has unbelievable customer service.




They have a large selection of items beyond fruit and vegetables. They also have organic meat, beer, wine, environmentally safe cleaning products, recipes, and a plethora of other great stuff.

They have a mandate to source as much as they can locally and even plan their delivery routes based on the most efficient routes so as to reduce CO2.

They've won customer service awards and have scored 14th on the list of best companies to work for in the UK.

The Farmers Choice Initiative
They also have a charitable initiative wherein they generate funding for schools and support local farmers. Here's some info from their site. I hope to set this up with my school shortly.

• The Farmer's Choice has been designed to raise maximum funds for minimum effort (sounds "effortless" to me)
  
  
• Selling just 50 bags per week will raise around £3,000 per year for your school and takes just one person under an hour per week
  
  
• 25% of what parents and teachers spend on their fresh organic produce goes straight to the school
  
  
• Not only are you helping your school, you are also helping local British growers, as we give them 40% of the bag price

Great company, great services, helps the environment, helps education... did I mention great company? I like them.

Ethical Superstore

An online store with a HUGE range of products. One of the best things I noticed as I was surfing the site was a solar powered charger for electronic devices like phones and ipods. Great idea on so many levels.

First it's obviously portable so you can make sure your phone/ipod doesn't run out of juice.

Secondly why not use it at home and save on electricity? There's a huge issue coming up about products on standby and products that chargers that continue to suck electricity despite the battery being fully charged. In fact, California has just passed the "Vampire Slayer Act" (seriously!) to combat this kind of thing.

What's Standby?

Anything that displays a clock or any other information when you turn it off is still using electricity. Many TVs and computers don't fully power down when turned off.
Estimates of energy used from products on standby range from 10% - 30% of your energy bill!!!

The only knock I have on The Ethical Superstore is they seem to be expensive.