Shopping for a Greener Planet

Shopping today is a disease - an addiction - you can shops for need or greed. There are people who survive without shopping - you can live on what is thrown away. Changing the way you think about shopping for new products is a challenge to our modern society, but a necessity for the planet. Here are 10 things to think about when you next go shopping:

1. Take the bus or train or bike to your shopping trip. This one act will ease congestion and make an important contribution towards easing global warming. 50% of all air pollution is from cars and yet the average trip is just a few kilometres long.
2. Make a list - consider items you need well in advance. Impulse shopping just adds to the mountain of waste. One estimate suggests over £6 billion worth of clothing lies in drawers unworn across the UK.
3. Can you repair it? Many items you throw away can be easily fixed or repaired. You could save a fortune by considering fixing something first.
4. Take less packaging. 4% of all UK energy is used to create packaging. When you purchase an item, strip off the excess, give it back to the shop for recycling at source and forgo the layers of wrapping and plastic associated with high style.
5. Buy fairtrade and charity. Plenty of unusual and unique bargains are possible from charity shops who often sell fairtrade too. If you want to have a conscious shopping trip, start with the shops who have thought it out for you already and properly and fairly support the producers.
6. Look for items that have repair deals or good follow-up support. Make your purchase a valued product, take care of it and use shops that understand this culture.
7. Buy organic. While debates rage about whether organic is better for your body, it is still most definitely better for the planet. Chemicals used on foods and non food items are poisoning our earth and water. Reducing global pollution and production of chemicals reduces the earth's stress all round.
8. Buy local. An apple from New Zealand needs to travel 13,500 miles to reach your supermarket creating pollution all along the way. the UK's dwindling support for its hundreds of apple species means less choice, less work locally and more problems.
9. Buy in season. It makes taste sense to buy the freshest items when they are in season, but of course the planet benefits from not having to use more chemicals to grow food in other lands just because you want strawberries in December.
10. Support companies who care. Some UK businesses have switched production methods, stopped testing products on animals, some recycle their waste more efficiently than others. Start asking the questions that matter, read the details and support companies who have made an effort to be part of the solution.