Responsible consumer

ISSUES

To buy or not to buy ?

To consume – or not to consume – can be a political act, and a relatively old one at that, although early examples mainly took the form of boycotts. The boycott of English tea played a crucial role at the beginning of the American War of Independence. In India, Gandhi led a boycott of English textiles and the Salt March, two pivotal moments in his country’s movement towards independence. In the United States, the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955 sparked the movement to abolish racial segregation, after Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white man. Although some predominantly political boycotts still exist (on products from South Africa or Israel, for example), the movement has changed. It now focuses on the practices of large corporations, and takes several different forms, in particular, that of fair trade.

NEWS

WWF says over-consumption threatens planet

Drought: first desalination opens in mainland Britain as water bosses warn of price rises

Nestlé removes artificial ingredients from entire confectionery range

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DEBATES

Green Intelligence: Toward True Ecological Transparency

Daniel Goleman

Wal-Mart’s push to develop a sustainability index for the products it carries could prove to be a pivotal moment in the effort to...

The fight against the superstores is a struggle for democracy

I have been writing about it for years. But it’s only now,...

Fair trade at a crossroads

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FOCUS

Degrowth

Since the industrial era, the Western development model has been based on the increasing exploitation of natural resources – including fossil energy. The problem is that this limited capital is going to run out....

VIDEOS

04/04/2012	Trailer for the documentary film THE LIGHT BULB CONSIPRACY by Cosima...	15/02/2011	Tracy Worcester's film about factory pig farming, a system which abuses...
09/11/2010	The Story of Electronics, releasing Tuesday, NOVEMBER 9, employs the Story...	30/08/2010	The Story of Cosmetics, released on July 21st, 2010, examines the...

GREEN TIPS

An incentive to recycle

How can 450 000 drinks cans, that is to say the equivalent of 6 tons of aluminium, be collected and recycled...

INDICATORS

Human Development Index (HDI)
Biocapacity
Happy Planet Index
Ratio of richest 10% to poorest 10%
Gender gap
Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI)

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