Being green means passing the benefits onto others, which is why I recommend TOMS vegan shoes. They help those in need by giving a pair to a child in need for every pair you buy!
If you want to get into eco friendly fashion then you’re also going to have to understand eco shopping. It might take a lot of effort for a few questions to become natural to you when you’re shopping, but the more you learn the easier it will be to spot those eco-friendly products from the rest.
When out shopping, there are a few simple characteristics that you can look out for in a product, and a few questions you will need to ask yourself to determine whether it is eco shopping:
- Firstly, you may have heard of a number of characteristics of eco-friendly clothes. These may very well be true, but eco-friendly isn’t just about who designed the clothes or how they were produced – it is also about the travel that’s involved to get it to your store, and whether the people who made it were paid fairly. Eco shopping means that you’ll always keep these questions in mind to help you do your part for the Earth.
- Eco shopping can also include how you get to the shops, and what you use to carry round your purchases. ALWAYS bring some re-usable bags with you, and try to walk or take the bus to the shops if you can. At the very least, park a little further away instead of spending fifteen minutes driving around the busy town looking for a parking space!
- Buying local is a great practice. If you buy products that are locally sourced then these won’t have travelled half the world just to get to you. Already you will have reduced the carbon footprint dramatically, even if these locally sourced products aren’t in themselves eco-friendly!
- If you buy items that are fairly traded you will also know that those who made them were paid fairly. You may find that fair trade clothing costs a little more than normally priced clothing, but it’s worth it when you think of the work that went into having those clothes.
- The materials of the clothing will also make a huge difference. For example, traditional cotton makes use of a large number of pesticides. Do your part and choose organic cotton instead. Better still, buy recycled or vintage!
These really are the absolute basics behind eco shopping. In time, you’ll learn a lot and will easily be able to use your own judgement when it comes to new purchases.
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One Response to “What Counts as Eco Shopping? 5 Factors to Remember”
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Yes, organic cotton farming obviously helps the environment, but the new demand for organic cotton also helps farmers. Those who grow organically can collect premiums and make more money.
Unfortunately, conventional cotton farming is still ‘king’ over organic agriculture. And although cotton only makes up 3% of the worlds crops, it is responsible for nearly 35 percent of the insecticide and pesticide use each year. Even scarier, it takes about a third of a pound of pesticides and fertilizers to produce a single non-organic cotton shirt.
Pesticide use causes water and air pollution and up to 20,000 fatalities and three million chronic health problems annually such as Parkinson’s, birth defects, brain cancer and leukemia. Also, cotton byproducts fed to livestock introduces pesticides into the food chain.
Worst of all, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, of the 15 pesticides most likely to cause cancer, seven are used in growing non-organic cotton.