A reflection on consumer power
I have been on my journey into a more ethical and minimalist style of living for a little over 8 months now. Something I have been wondering is whether I'm making any difference at all. With the amount of plastic in the oceans set to triple over the next 10 years, with scientists warning that the planet's sixth mass extinction crisis is under way, is there any hope? And how can buying some soap instead of shampoo or a bamboo toothbrush possibly be enough to avert this crisis?
Well it's not. Not on it's own. But individuals have power, businesses want us to think that they are in charge of telling us what we should buy and how we should live, but quite the reverse is true. We decide on how businesses operate by putting our money into them when we purchase things.
15 years ago I was involved in the Fair Trade movement. As a student group we read a policy that the restaurants on campus were supposed to offer fair trade options. So off we went, and asked for a fair trade coffee. The server looked at us blankly then went in the back to find an old jar, then made the most unappetizing murky coffee imaginable. Fair trade was only for niche hippy types. At that time businesses said that it wouldn't work, nobody would buy it. That they had done studies and consumers weren't interested in ethics, only about saving money. Consumers wouldn't pay more money for something just because it was ethical.
The Fair Trade 2016/17 report highlighted that globally Fair Trade sales have reached 7.88 billion euros and growing. And businesses want a piece of that share, even Nestle has a fair trade chocolate bar!
That's a far cry from nobody will buy it.
And so things are now with the plastic free movement, there is growing public pressure and things are starting to change. Tesco have said that they will stop selling plastic straws in their stores and restaurants. Manchester have committed to a plastic free 2020 vision.
Is this enough? Well, nobody has a time machine. We cannot change things that have happened in the past, but we do have the power to change things in the future.
When we individually change our habits and talk about them, others start to think and examine their own habits. We are a connected species and together it is possible to make a difference.
Well it's not. Not on it's own. But individuals have power, businesses want us to think that they are in charge of telling us what we should buy and how we should live, but quite the reverse is true. We decide on how businesses operate by putting our money into them when we purchase things.
15 years ago I was involved in the Fair Trade movement. As a student group we read a policy that the restaurants on campus were supposed to offer fair trade options. So off we went, and asked for a fair trade coffee. The server looked at us blankly then went in the back to find an old jar, then made the most unappetizing murky coffee imaginable. Fair trade was only for niche hippy types. At that time businesses said that it wouldn't work, nobody would buy it. That they had done studies and consumers weren't interested in ethics, only about saving money. Consumers wouldn't pay more money for something just because it was ethical.
The Fair Trade 2016/17 report highlighted that globally Fair Trade sales have reached 7.88 billion euros and growing. And businesses want a piece of that share, even Nestle has a fair trade chocolate bar!
That's a far cry from nobody will buy it.
And so things are now with the plastic free movement, there is growing public pressure and things are starting to change. Tesco have said that they will stop selling plastic straws in their stores and restaurants. Manchester have committed to a plastic free 2020 vision.
Is this enough? Well, nobody has a time machine. We cannot change things that have happened in the past, but we do have the power to change things in the future.
When we individually change our habits and talk about them, others start to think and examine their own habits. We are a connected species and together it is possible to make a difference.
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