Short-haul-flights, Bluefin tuna, carbon offset companies and
throwaway fashion are today identified as among the least ethical items
of the past 20 years and should be banned according to a survey of
leading politicians and environmental campaigners by Ethical Consumer
Magazine.
In the survey, 20 leading politicians and environmental
campaigners
were asked which items they would ban on ethical grounds.
In response Jenny Jones, Green Party member of the London Assembly
would ban flights to anywhere it’s possible to get to by train, Hilary
Benn MP, secretary of state for the environment would ban the sale of
Bluefin tuna, Climate Camp activists would ban carbon offset companies
and Caroline Higginson from the fashion industry campaign group Labour
Behind the Label would ban throwaway fashion.
Jenny Jones, Green Party member of the London Assembly said:
“It’s time we accepted that flying is too dangerous and costly to the
environment.”
Hilary Benn MP, secretary of state for the environment said:
“Bluefin tuna is threatened with extinction because of over-fishing. I
want to see it given full international protection. This would have the
effect of stopping the trade in Bluefin tuna.”
A Climate Camp activist said:
“Carbon offsets are part of the elaborate machinery of carbon trading
that governments and businesses use to obscure the simple fact that
carbon trading does not and will not lower emissions. We cannot apply
the same faulty logic of our failed economic system to our planet.
Nature doesn’t do bailouts.”
Caroline Higginson from Labour Behind the Label said:
“Cheap garments are only made possible by the exploitation of labour
and natural resources, someone somewhere is paying the price for that
product.”
Rob Harrison, editor of Ethical Consumer magazine which this month
celebrates its 20th anniversary said:
“Our survey has identified some of the many products and services that
continue to cause unacceptable damage to both people and the
environment everyday.”
“The good news, however, is that from Fairtrade bananas to ethical bank
accounts, over the past 20 years there’s been a spectacular revolution
in the number and range of ethical products and services available to
shoppers. No longer hidden away, ethical shopping has burst onto the
High Street with dramatic success.”
“By buying items that minimise the impact to both people and the
planet, shoppers today have a great opportunity to become checkout
campaigners everytime they go shopping.”
In the same survey 20 leading politicians and environmental campaigners
were asked what was the best ethical product of the past 20 years.
In response Ben Stewart from Greenpeace chose Eurostar, Boris Johnson,
Mayor of London chose electric cars, whilst Hilary Benn MP, secretary
of state for the environment, chose Fairtrade.
