social marketing & corporate responsibility (CSR) & business and human rights
Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy crap we don’t need.
Buy Nothing Day commenced in Canada in the early 90ties to protest consumerism*. The day is currently held in about 65 countries either on Black Friday (end November) or the day after. It offers a 24 hour detox from shopping as opposed to Black Friday which offers ‘the buy-everything-you-can-in-the-shortest-amount-of-time-whether-you-need-it-or-not’.
Compost is an essential resource in any garden. Even in a small space, container gardening will be easier when you can create at least some of your own growing medium. In larger gardens, compost is a necessity. It can help you make sure that your soil remains healthy and capable of providing high yields. Fortunately, you can create compost even in the smallest of spaces.
A worm farm is a great way to create compost and worm farms come in all sizes. Worms can help you to break down kitchen waste into a great soil-enriching material, full of nutrients that will help your plants to grow. [Read more…]
World-wide, the single person household is growing rapidly in line with economic development and education. The more developed and educated, the higher the proportion of single person households…it is predicted that the lone person household will rise most of all households over the next 25 years and more than half of these households are females. And the reason is simply that people want to live an individualistic lifestyle when they can afford it.
Today, water is a readily available commodity and consumer item in industrialised nations. We have the luxury of choice: to spend our money on a variety of bottled water, use tap water or install a water filter at home and in the office. However, more than 1 billion people globally don’t have this luxury. [Read more…]
Car and bicycle sharing schemes have emerged from urban centres worldwide as a new form of sustainable transport. More and more commuters are navigating our urban environment by bicycles and cities are coming to terms with accommodating cyclists. We are also discovering cycling as a fun family activity supported by the evergrowing network of cycling ways. [Read more…]
The sustainability mantra of the 21st century ought to be:
REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE & OFFSET – in THAT priority order. Instead, we lead a pseudo-sustainable lifestyle of the well to-do. We consider ourselves successful if we can afford to jet set around the world, following the lead of the rich and famous. For more on that read the Guardian article: Hypocrisy of champagne environmentalists is deceitful and distracting. [Read more…]
Apparently 8% of men do not know the real haircolour of their wives… approximately 70% of women and up to 30% of men in Australia dye their hair regularly. Consider the amount of chemicals going down the drain every day in large parts of the world! And not to mention the potential health risks associated with chemicals in hairdyes like amonia and peroxide.
Experts have warned of the climate implications of meat production for several years now and beef is particularly damaging. Decaying manure and flatulent cows release methane, a greenhouse gas. In addition, the production of only 1kg of meat requires 15 kg or grain and 30 kg of forage. Grain in turn needs to be fertilised which requires further energy. Continue Reading
Organic produce are big business these days as evidenced by the large supermarkets getting in on the party. Three decades ago it was difficult to find organic produce and only the determined persisted as it didn’t only often require extra travel time but was also quite expensive. Prices have come down significantly due to larger scale production to meet the increasing demand but it is still a pricey luxury of the well to-do rather than an all around affordable way of shopping for the weekly groceries. [Read more…]
