Climate Change & the Poor

Lots of the changes we can make are things that have already been mentioned in other weeks. These include:

• Reducing our carbon footprint, through using less energy, cutting down on emissions, thinking about the distance our food travels, and eating less meat. You can find out more by completing this short questionnaire, or on Ruth Valerio’s blog or the Energy Saving Trust.
• Trying to think about the ethical consequences of what we buy. This includes food, but also clothes, technology and lots of other items. Cotton, for example, is often produced using huge amounts of water and pesticides, and is grown through forced labour. There are alternatives, however, and a growing number of companies signing up to only using ethical and sustaniable sources. You can read more about it by clicking here, and about the fashion industry more generally here.
• Trying to cut down on the chemicals we put into the eco-system, by thinking about the cleaning and beauty products that we use.
  • For beauty, you can go the full hog and ditch conventional products completely. However, there are also a number of ethical products out there which don't entail going to such extremes!
  • For cleaning, there are a growing number of companies making ethical, chemical-free products. You can see some of them by clicking here. However, it's also possible to get back to the old-fashioned homemade cleaning solutions, using basics like lemon juice, bicarbonate of soda and white vinegar. Click here for more ideas and information.