The original commitment - New Years Resolution 2013

Last year I learnt a lot about ethical food consumption, sustainable food and agricultural practices, and animal cruelty and factory farming. I read tonnes of books, articles, journals, and websites about it all. Like always, I wanted to modify my behaviour accordingly in order to be a better, more responsible, less damaging global citizen. 

Easier said than done. 

There is no clear path to being a 'good' global citizen. Sustainability, environmentalism, anti-dupololism, fair trade and humane treatment of animals do not always align. Sometimes trying to do the right thing for fair trade, may mean making less sustainable choices. Sometimes thinking global does not always equate to shopping local. 

It can be a quagmire of ethical dilemmas. And pretty soon all my newfound knowledge had me cracking a sweat every time I shopped with the burden of making the right decision and the guilt if I didn't and the shame of not always knowing which end cause was more important. I became paralysed by indecision and totally overwhelmed by the whole thing.

Shopping shouldn't be that stressful or guilt inducing. But it is an important way to make your consumer dollar align with your ethics. As Anne Lappé from The Small Planet Institute says: "Every time you spend money you are casting a vote for the kind of world you want."

To avoid the guilt and the dilemmas I needed to simplify. 

So in our household, we made a list of things that are important to us, and things that we are willing to commit to. [Pictured and listed below] We have been trying to live by the list since January.

Its not always easy, we do not always manage to achieve it all, but we do always try. And I think by constantly trying and constantly assessing our spending habits and food choices, hopefully we are doing just a tiny bit to help make the world a better place and to share these ideas with others. 

I'm going to use this blog to track our efforts and discuss the challenges. Hopefully it will also generate some conversation and enthusiasm with others along the way. 

Enjoy. 

The Commitment

Objectives: 

• Minimise negative environmental impact through food/consumption choices

• Encourage diverse, sustainable and fair agricultural practices by avoiding shopping at monopolies.

• Encourage ethical and humane treatment of animals by supporting ethical meats production

Method: 

• Only eat red meat ONCE A WEEK (2 x is allowed if kangaroo)    

• Only buy meat from ethical/sustainable independent/biodynamic butchers (kangaroo excepted)

• Shop independently 80% of the time - Avoid the DUOPOLY (Coles and Woolworths) and its subsidiaries (Dan Murpheys, BWS, Bunnings etc) –especially for fruit, veg, meat and plants 

• If shopping at the duopololy don’t buy supermarket brands

• Eat less tinned tuna. ONLY eat sustainable / responsibly caught tuna. Saffcol and Tassal          

• Eat salmon instead of tuna

• ALWAYS grow some food

• Only free range chicken

• Only free range eggs

• Only FairTrade Coffee

• Don't throw food away. Always use leftovers

• Always refer to sustainable fish guide when buying fish or ask fishmonger