Tread carefully

A step aside from previous posts (OK, I’ll try to stem the terrible puns) in that this is a recommendation and a meditation. On shoes.

The recommendation: Worn Again

Worn Again make shoes, mainly fashion trainers, from recycled material. What’s not to love here, product from refuse, ethical factory labour in China, and even carbon offset delivery. And if I liked trainers they make funky product. But I don’t.

So I brought a pair of their car sandals, alas I made the same mistake I’ve made for the last 20 years in thinking that I’m a size 9. Wicked sandals, but unfortunately I’m actually a size 9 ½, spent my life thinking that shoes will stretch to fit. You would think 20 years experinece had taught me better.

I made the mistake of returning them by cycling to their Covent Garden shop (to offest my carbon footprint), of course the mail order division and their retail outlets are sepearate divisions, so matters were confused, but an email discussion is rectifying the situation. One would hope that the Saturday shop assitants were felt like eco-warriors too, but I dont have to deal with weekend fashion pundits so what I’ll ease off here. Apologies to Bumblebees where their staff walk and talk it (enough puns now).

Lesson’s learnt? It appears that there are no proper size specifications in the shoe or fashion industries – is this really so hard to try and organise? If you want to sell via the internet this really needs looking at.

Here’s a personal message to Worn Again, once my size is back in stock I’ll get some but is it possible to offer the women’s design in men’s sizes as well?

And now for a mediatation. I recently had to buy a pair of trainers, as in real running shoes, and wanted to buy a pair that were ethical, could I find a brand? No is the simple answer. Found these but from my earlier described shoe buying experiences I wasn’t about to risk a purchase without a fitting.

Plus, I had entered myself into a 10K run in four weeks time without any previous experience, so the two week mail order delay was out the question. Bookmarked my research and went to Runnersneed on a friends recommendation. Their service was exemptory, yep, that’s why I finally learnt I’m a 9 ½ but in running terms need a bigger size, they watched me run up and down backstreets in Camden till I got the right pair. Since then I’ve felt like Pegusas, but still breathe like Rip Van Winkle.

I felt pissed that I ended up with a pair of running shoes from the Corporation, but was pleased my knees would survive, so endevoured that I would do better next time. I emailed Ethicalwares and Runnersneed an introduction to each other but so far haven’t heard anything.

But there has to be more, the only report on ethical trainers I’ve found is one from Choice. From my research learnt that the evil giant can sometimes do good which I’ll post on later.

In the meantime it seems that there is a huge gap in the market, if people are into self improvement they are suscepticle or responsive to global improvement, and therefore an ethical brand of running shoes would reap a percentage of the market. New Balance seem the best option so far, does anyone have any other recommedations?

Bean juice counting

Still on a liquid tip, next up: coffee. Or more specifically fairtrade coffee and the film ‘Black Gold‘. There seems little point in discussing the benefits of buying Fairtrade coffee here when the film states the case so elegantly – go and see it – simple as that. Then next time you buy that pack of Douge Egberts you can feel truly soul-less. But just in case you don’t, by choosing Fairtrade you are improving the financial benefit to farmers by at least 200%, doubling their standard of living.

There’s a tiptoe that has a dramatic effect in the world. But this is the one thing I do that I notice, because to date I have yet to find an espresso brand that packs the same punch as Illy (my favourite), but this seems a pretty easy sacrifice to make. Illy are the only coffee company that agreed to be interviewed in the film, Ernesto Illy has a rather marvelous quote regarding their quality but still refused to disclose the price they pay for their beans. Unlike the other major players they purchase direct and not through the New York Coffee Exchange, which uses it’s bulk buying power to keep prices as low as possible. However if Illy had been a little more transparent and owned up to what they pay, and it had been a figure say higher than the Exchange but lower than Fairtrade I might still be buying it. But they haven’t, so I’m not. Are you listening Anna and Ernesto?

Now without getting into corporate vs local issues, and thus slagging off Starbucks, I would like to point why you should never buy a single cup from them again. Starbuck’s effort to stop Ethiopia from trademarking three names of their coffee growing regions (and in fact to register them to Starbucks). Here’s links from the Guardian newspaper and Fortune magazine on the story. Public pressure led by Oxfam forced Starbucks to back down, but at the end of the day Starbucks’ action were unjustifable and are unforgivable. A little like Kraft saying they own the word ‘cheddar’. Oh, and I lied about the corporate/local thing, whenever possible I go to a local cafe to get my coffee rather than a high street brand – I want to see my quid being converted into pocket money for the owner’s children rather than ‘increasing shareholder’s value’.

Wow, this coffee is strong stuff isn’t it.

To add a little froth on top: Can anyone recommend a great Fairtrade expresso that kicks like Illy?; Go see Black Gold, it’s a good film, or buy the DVD; And treat Starbucks with the same respect they’ve shown Ethiopian farmers.

Table water (not the water table)

When I was first old enough to be allowed in resturants with the grown-ups table water was asked for, which meant a big jug of tap water with fancy ice and lemon. Now there’s an industry around bottled water. I’m not against bottled water per se but…

It’s called mineral water, which is water with added minerals, which chlorine is, and an element at that. So to think that drinking bottled water isn’t as pure as tap water is a little bit akilter. Do you actually say I’m drinking this because of the Magnesium content? Also, after a starter and three glasses of red wine, which is when you probably need to start drinking water, can you tell the difference between a jug that been standing on the table for 20 minutes with ice and lemon, and bottled water?

Apoligies to the non-drinking, non-smoking, only consume grilled asparagus eaters out there who probably can tell the difference.

Before ranting on, a couple of things. First (no pun intended), I contribute to organisations whose activities include water wells etc. Isn’t it slightly weird that having paid water rates (if you ask I’ll dig out the bills and say how much) for cold, fresh, non-posion water I should then buy bottled water that, second, has most likely sat in a warehouse for upwards of a year and a half: in a plastic bottle.

That said, there is a reason for drinking bottled water. Either you don’t drink and want to have a least at a little lift amongst your boozy friends, or you need perking up. It’s carbonated water. Unless you live near somewhere in danger of erupting the only way to drink fizzy water is out of a bottle.

Which brings us to

Belu

Sourced within the UK, which means no flying bottled water over from abroad when we live somewhere with decent water purification. So points there. Plus the initiatives. But, and here’s the rub, it comes in a biodegradible bottle (if you follow the instructions), which follows through into you having to start composting your cooking scraps.

So here’s an easy tiptoe; next time your in a restaurant ask if the fizzy water’s Belu, and if it’s not tell ‘em you’ll drink table water until it is, unless you live in a freaky area.

So far I’ve been to two resturants that have it: Almeida and the Skylon.

See, a tiptoe is about living your life with all it has to offer but waving a dissenting arm, and drinking table water while it’s held aloft.

Nag yourself

Thought I had better start adding something to the blog now I’ve crept that first tiptoe; started by browsing some of my favourite ethical sites to add (will post ‘em at a later date) when this link grabbed my attention

thenag.net

A great idea wonderfully executed: recieve an email once a month nagging you to do one or two things that will make the world a sweeter place for all. The beauty is that they have done all the research regarding who you should nag for each task they suggest.

I’m registered, and using their widget sent an email to Ted Baker clothing asking about their cotton supply, the wages of those who actually make the garments and urging them to start clothing recycling points in their stores (I sent it to returns@tedbaker.com if any one wants to add more fire). I buried my father in a Ted shirt so they really should pay attention because I doubt they want a return from me.

Clothing recycling! What’s this? www.traid.org.uk

Tiptoe #1

At a dinner party a few years where the main topic was the implications of the second Gulf war, the host and good friend of mine told me about an associate of his who had found himself spending hours reading newspapers, watching the news and freeting about the state of the world. Rather then spend time dwelling over the potential disasters and media watching, they decided to spend that time doing something constructive, locally, within their community. This way they felt they weren’t sitting on the edge, that when the shit came down they at least had acted to make what they could better.

This anecdote has stayed with me since then, and for a variety of reasons not worth persuing, I found myself somehow wanting to be “more in the world”, to have a greater impact. If not to actually make a differenece then at least feel I wasn’t causing harm.

Disccussing this with a variety of people the common reaction is “what could I do” given the wall of bad news humankind seems to be making for itself, and “what difference would it make” against the majority behaviour that has brought us to this point.

Not excatly valid points but enough to justify your lethagy in not doing anything, when what’s needed is kicking your ennui into forcing a change.

With these thoughts in the back of my mind, I read David Mitchell’s “Cloud Atlas”, the closing lines give I think an elegant answer to the why <insert quote here! if you have copy at hand email me>. All that remains is of course how…

A much bigger question, the answer is I guess: what you can. With Lao-tzu’s famous quote

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

in mind, a plagurisim gives us “a thousand tiptoes” – an accumilation of small acts that in themselves cause little inconvienience to yourself but add together to have an effect upon the world. The first of 1000 tiptoes.