As well as a follow-up to last week’s article on living the good life, this post is part of (cue trumpety fanfare) Blog Action Day. If you can’t be bothered to follow the link, it’s essentially an attempt by the good people at Change.org to get the internet talking about the totally shit state of the environment. Bloggers all over the world have been signing up, including the blog for the government of the state of Minas Gerais in Brazil, to write about environmental issues relating to their own interests. The plan is not to cause direct change (although that’d be a bonus) but to start discussions and bring the environment back into the public arena.
All right! So it’s nice to be part of a global initiative, but what will I be bringing to the party? Well it’s definitely more of the pineapple on sticks than the main course. However as some obscure retail chain once quoth “every little helps“.
And it’s supermarkets that have proven to be the inspiration for this blog. Since I moved house a week and a half ago (into the middle of a city for the first time in my life), I’ve been attempting to ‘shop local’ and avoid large chain stores wherever possible. It’s been pretty interesting and pretty flipping difficult, mainly because it’s been busy at work and I have to walk past two large supermarkets on my way home. However I’ve persevered, and despite several lapses, I reckon I did quite well, considering my previous, supermarket-dependant lifestyle.
I successfully found some sink and drain unblocker from a small hardware shop. Then I couldn’t find an independent deli to buy some olives from so I went to Sainsbury’s (admitably from their deli counter). I bought a rather nice open fronted wicker cabinet from the Salvation Army, but then I went to Argos and got a shelf. Hmm… I reckon so far my ethical-shopping report reads “must try harder.”
Let’s back-track for a minute. Why am I putting myself through this awkward and, as it turns out expensive, trial? Clearly it’s partly a sense of middle-class guilt, that as I can afford to change the way I live I really should, but also I really, genuinely believe that individual positive change can influence others into the same patterns that might (might) prove beneficial for us all.
But what is so wrong with supermarkets? Well plenty, but I’m not advocating the abolishment of the capitalist system, just an adaptation to our unsustainable way of life. And the evidence is getting overwhelming that we (and by we I mean everybody) do need to radically change the ways we consume.
Right, I’d better nip off to the open market to get some nice fresh, seasonal veg and a pound of pork chops. I’m trying my best to change, what about you?
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