ENVIRONMENTALLY AWARE SHOPPING

To reduce the impact shopping has on our environment:

PLAN all shopping

Make INFORMED choices

Minimise PACKAGING

planning your shopping trip ~

Take the time to make a list.
Replace staple items in your store cupboard before you run out.
Plan your route for minimum consumption of energy, including your own.
Allow yourself plenty of time, & arrange for someone else to mind the children.
(You can return the favour when they shop) Stress & fatigue lead to poor decision making, forgetting essentials, & impulse buying.
If using a car, try to share.
Park in one spot & bring the goods back to the car rather than driving from shop to shop. A shopping cart can help.
Always keep a string bag & a few paper, calico, or plastic bags handy, to avoid unnecessary packaging.

LARGE PURCHASES:
talk these over with everyone concerned. Don’t rush into buying. Give yourself a cooling-off period after making the initial decision - you may find you don’t need it after all. Before replacing an item, find out if it can be repaired or renovated.
Though the cost may seem high, you will often end up with a better quality item than you can buy new.

CHOICES -
become an informed consumer. Find out the real costs of the things you buy.
How much energy was used to make the item & deliver it to point of sale?
Where was the raw material from?
Cleared forest land?
land desperately needed by indigenous people to grow food rather than cash crops?

Who really owns the company that made the goods?
What else are they involved in?
Do you want to support a company that makes weapons?
Or clears rainforest to make hamburgers?
Or tropical forest to make soap, toothpaste, & ‘disposable’ napkins?

Would you rather support huge supermarkets run by multi-national corporations, or the small business person & the local grower?

REMEMBER - THE MONEY YOU PAY OVER THE COUNTER DOES NOT REFLECT THE
true cost of your purchase

Many companies & Governments will go to great lengths to conceal the full & true costs.

When assessing any information or advertising, ask yourself who gains or loses by getting you to believe it.
Organisations like Greenpeace, the OZbuy Guide, & the Global Education Centre will help you find out more about these issues

Basically -
buy locally produced goods whenever possible.
Buy second- hand if you can.
DON’T BUY ANYTHING YOU DON’T NEED.

PACKAGING -
shop where you can buy unpackaged goods.
If forced to have unnecessary packing, remove it at the point of sale, leave it there, & tell people why!
Choose glass bottles & jars rather than plastic, wash & re-use them.
Always take your own bags & containers.
An insulated bag or container is easily made from re-cycled materials & is useful for perishables.

FINALLY - DONT DESPAIR!
Much of the information in this pamphlet may seem depressing,
but if you use your energy to do the things you CAN, you don't need to feel guilty about things you can do nothing about at the moment.

Your awareness & ability to make changes will grow with time, especially if you seek the friendship & support of like-minded people.
Why not meet regularly over a cuppa to discuss the issues & the challenges this new awareness raises?

It is important not to see yourself as making painful sacrifices,
but as developing a less costly, more self- reliant, meaningful & satisfying lifestyle.

Environmentally Friendly lifestyle.......Gardening leaflet.......Beauty Leaflet.......Laundry Leaflets

'Buying Instead of Being'.......ECO-nomics.......Return to You Can Save the Earth!.......Return to 'Radical Recycling'

Rough Guide to Site.......Site Map

This page is part of the Re-earthing the Cities Websitel

- This is an Australian website - Contact Margaret RainbowWeb

URL - http://www.users.on.net/~arachne/shopping.html