Can you be green?

What has ‘green consumerism’ got to do with me?

How should I travel to the shops?

Will I be able to buy locally grown

food?

Where is my local farm shop?

Should I avoid supermarkets?

Don’t packaged foods generate a lot

of waste?

Should I buy food in season rather than imported

food?

Can I buy organic food?

What is green consumerism?

• It concentrates on the things people buy, encouraging us to:

• Reduce our consumption of all products, including energy, water and food;

• Buy products that are environmentally friendly, this includes a wide range of things from washing powder to organic food and clothing.

Where do you shop?

• In the UK the 5 largest retail chains account for 80% of the market

• Their decisions about what food to sell and where to get it from have a massive effect on producers, retailers and the environment.

• Consumers have power when it comes to green issues, e.g. is more people bought organic food, then the retailers would stock more to sell.

• Consumerism is ‘the equation of personal happiness with consumption and the purchase of material possessions.’

Reduce, recycle, reuse, renew, respect

• Reduce• Recycle• Reuse• Renew• Respect• Which of these affect your life at present?• Which of the 5 Rs do you consider to be the

most important in our drive towards a sustainable society?

Recycle and re-use

What can we do?

• Ecover: http://www.its-ecological.com/ • Not buy this!

Fair trade

Bio-degradable

Farmers markets- why so good?

• Advantages for the consumer:• Good quality produce, often organic, always

seasonal• Low food miles• Low packaging• Supports local economy• Meet the producer and find out about the

product• Certified (by FARMA: as fresh and grown

within 30 miles of the market)• Try before you buy

Farmers markets- why so good?

• Advantages for the farmer:• Immediate payment• No high costs of transport• No costs of retailers (cuts out the middle

man)• Face-to-face selling, with the chance to

explain the product• Opportunity to find out, first-hand, what the

customer wants

The future?

• Farmers’ markets are doing very well• They have grown quickly• Problem for farmers: how long they can

spend running the stalls, some farmers have switched to farm shops on the site of the farm.