10 Great ETHICAL Ideas For Christmas 2008

Here are the Ethical Consumer Group‘s recommendations for this crazy time of year:

1. Celebrate without stuff

The essence of Christmas goes well beyond gift giving and receiving.

Check out this quote..

“the measure of a civilisation’s ‘true growth’ is its ability to transfer increasing amounts of energy and attention from the material side of life to the nonmaterial side, and thereby to advance its culture, capacity for compassion, sense of community, and strength of democracy.”

If you can’t get your head around this.. .. if you need to buy somebody something….
try some of the ideas below (listed in no particular order).

2. ‘i am fish’ – the 12 Days of christmas greeting cards

Christmas cards with a difference. 100 % post-consumer waste unbleached paper, soy based vegetable inks, waterless print technology. 5c from the sale of every 12 days of Christmas card directly benefits the Bush Heritage Trust. Designed & manufactured in Australia. See more at www.iamfish.com.au

Available at eekos – the Ethical & Earth-kind op-shop – 318 Victoria Street,
Brunswick, VIC 3056, Australia, Phone 03 9831 7209 www.greencollect.org/eekos

3. ‘Food for your Skin’ body balm – palm oil free moisturiser

Learn how the palm oil industry is cooking the climate and destroying orangutang habitat. www.palmoilaction.org.au . This handmade olive oil product is made in Philip island. Ingredients: olive oil, castor oil, beeswax, water, vitamen E, calendula essential oil. Janet, my breast feeding wife, whose skin was like a prune and is now lush (her words!) raves about this product. www.foodforyourskin.com.au

Available at Olivessence, 1/107 Victoria Street, Seddon in Melbourne’s inner west. Phone: 96877955 / 0431475365 www.olivessence.com.au

4. Four-minute Shower timer

Showers are heavy on water use, heavy on energy bills and so contribute heavily to greenhouse gases. By reducing shower time from the Australian average of 7 minutes to 4, each person can save over 20,000 litres a year.

Available from Neco, online at www.neco.com.au or from new Melbourne store at 101-107 Whitehorse Road, Blackburn, Victoria. ph. 1300 88 26 40

5. ‘Guide to Fish’ by Hilary McNevin

Guide to Fish provides everything you need to know about buying, cooking and eating fish the sustainable way. It’s a recipie book, featuring 23 Australian species, based around the research of the Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS).

Order online at www.foodwiththought.com.au

6. ‘Eating Ethically’ by Angela Crocombe

Ethical Eating explores the ethical and environmental implications of the food choices we make, looking at the issues from a uniquely Australian perspective. More

Available at bookstores. ISBN-13: 9780143008569. Publisher: Penguin Aus.

7. Arguably, the World’s Most Useful Gift Catalogue!

Buy your mum a pig, a goat, even a toilet . Some people are weighed down with stuff while others don’t have the essential stuff they need. TEAR’s Gift Catalogue is about restoring the balance. www.usefulgifts.org/

8. The Guide To Ethical Supermarket Shopping

Our guide. Don’t get stuck in the supermaket without it! Slip it into your great Aunty’s stocking. www.ethical.org.au

9. Homemade 100 mile cookies

For all you Melbournites. Janet’s recipe that came out of our week of deliberately eating locally at the start of December. All ingredients sourced from within 160 kms. 3 tablespoons passionfruit (bottled last summer, from Kim’s garden – 1km), 1/4 cup honey (from Marysville – 102kms), 1/2 cup butter (True Organics, local Victorian organic farms – 90% within 160kms), 2 cups spelt flour (Powlett Hill Biodynamic farm, Clunes – 148 kms), 1 egg (our chickens – no kms). Instructions: melt honey & butter then add rest. Janet thinks they’re not very sweet, but I think they’re just right. See more at 100 Mile Trial

10. Diggers Club Mini Plot vegetable collection

A year’s supply in 40m square! Growing your own vegetables is the single most important step to a sustainable, healthy life. When vegetables are grown at home they are fresh and free of chemicals, eliminating food miles and cutting CO2 emissions by up to 30%. It takes a few hours of work a week.

11 packets of seeds to yield 108kg of vegetables. Includes: Greens – Lettuce, broccoli 20kg harvest Fruits – Tomatoes, pumpkin, rockmelon, capsicum 50kg harvest Roots – Carrots, onions 18kg harvest Pods – Peas and beans 20kg harvest. (note – picture on left is different veg… but looks good doesn’t it)

More at www.diggers.com.au . Order online.

A list that could make life a whole lot easier??