Eggs and oil

Posted by Anna Heywood on September 9, 2008 10:42 AM | Permalink

The credit crunch is bringing both good and bad news for the environment.
As consumers start to tighten their belts, even Posh Spice has been seen shopping in Oxfam.

First let's look at the bad news.
According to many economist reports the country is experiencing what's been dubbed the 'Aldi effect' as consumers head for the budget supermarkets.
Although Aldi do an Organic range, according to a recent survey in the Guardian, organic produce sales have fallen from nearly £100m a month earlier this year to £81m in the most recent four-week period recorded.

Sadly the drop in sales has been steepest in free range eggs.
Despite us all suffering financially at the moment I would certainly go without something else and pay even an extra pound to make sure my eggs hadn't been produced through treating chickens in an inhumane way.

Equally I am always happy to pay the relatively small extra 80p for Fairtrade Coffee.

Other organic foodstuffs seeing a reduction in sales include dairy, fruit and vegetables and chicken.
Unfortunately these are very often the type of foods that have come from local and British farms.
By looking for cheaper foreign imports and not supporting our farmers we can only exacerbate the problems surrounding the British farming industry.

Whilst keeping an eye on the pennies, canny consumers should still consider where their food is coming from.

Now for the good news, although I'm sure not everyone will agree that high fuel prices is good news!

We are apparently driving less according to BBC reports. The price of petrol seems to be having a direct impact on our behaviour

This was highlighted to me yesterday when I met my husband at work.
Around 200 people work in his building and there are 10 spaces for bikes.
For the first time in his six years with the company, all the bicycle racks were being used.

Americans, who are often derided for their lack of environmental awareness, have also seen a reported change in their behaviour due to increasing fuel prices.

According to the BBC, American motorists have cut around 11 billion miles from their monthly driving with the US Department of Transportation calculating that the change has helped cut greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 9 million metric tons for the first quarter of 2008.

One country that had to adapt when most of their oil supply was cut off is Cuba and extremely timely to this week's blog, on Wednesday 10th September Transition Initiative Newcastle are presenting a film titled 'THE POWER OF COMMUNITY - How Cuba survived Peak Oil'

The film is being shown at the Star and Shadow Cinema, at the top of Stepney Bank, Byker.
Doors open at 7pm for a 7.30pm start and the film will be followed by a discussion and a chance to air your views about Peak Oil. No need to book.

Lastly, the good news for the environment is that we are starting to show some restraint in purchasing of clothes.
Feeling the financial pinch and consumers no longer feeling comfortable with throw away fashion made by five year olds in questionable conditions, it seems that we are turning to charity shops to purchase quality items.
As a result, sales at charity shops broke through the £100 million mark in the year to March 2008

Liz Jones, the Daily Mail's fashion/terrible ex-husband columnist has been reporting on her new found love of Oxfam and writes about how she got a whole designer winter wardrobe for under £300.
In the same edition it is reported that even Posh Spice has been making visits to the store.

Whilst I am grateful that high profile people are leading the charge and highlighting the fact that there is no shame in buying clothes from Charity shops, many of us have in fact been doing this for years - credit crunch or no credit crunch.

The children and I quite often spend a happy Saturday afternoon on the Shields Road in Byker mooching around the array of charity shops to be found there.
The vast majority of our clothes, books and toys come from the Shields Road and Gosforth High Street. The best bit is, once they have outgrown them, I don't feel as if I am being wasteful when I return items back to the shops.

I don't pretend to be the greenest shade of green in the ecological rainbow.
My main environmental leanings come from not wanting to fund businesses that treat the planet, workers and animals badly and from my distaste at waste in any form.

In terms of waste a lot of my environmental efforts at home have been as a result of working with forward thinking businesses and seeing first hand how they believe that financial efficiency and lowering their environmental impact goes hand in hand.

This is a lesson that we are now being forced to take into our own homes and whether it's through driving less or putting on a jumper instead of the heating, the latest financial downturn isn't bad news at all for the planet.