About Choices that make a difference

Choices that make a difference are a unique series of talks and workshops by Linda Downey which show how individuals can contribute in a positive way to the well-being of themselves and the planet through the choices they make in daily lives as consumers.

Choice in daily lives

From the moment most people get up to the moment they go to bed they make choices. Some choices are conscious, requiring considerable thought others are made almost without thinking so that they become a habit. Real choice can only be based on information and knowledge.

Consequences of choice

Whatever the choices we make, from product brand to the companies we buy from, there are consequences far beyond our immediate sphere.

For example:

• We can chose to purchase goods form local shops and suppliers and thereby supporting the local economy and avoiding the development of ‘ghost towns’.
• We can buy food that benefits our health and is produced in ways that supports the environment.
• We can buy coffee from companies which lifts coffee growers from poverty.
• We can eat meat from animals that have been raised with the highest standards of animal welfare.
• We can eat a plant based diet.
• We can buy cotton clothing where the cotton has been grown by organic methods thus protecting the environment and cotton farmers from the pesticide poisoning.
• We can purchase our electricity from a company which only deals in renewable sources of energy generation and who invest in the development of renewable resources.
• We can chose to purchase white goods from companies that are not involved with countries with oppressive regimes or have a poor record on workers rights.
• We can use banks that do not invest our money in companies that are involved in activities which we would not want to support.
• We can buy products which are made from natural, sustainable resources.
• We can buy beauty products which do not have ingredients which have adverse health effects
• We can make our own compost and /or use peat free compost thus protecting valuable and beautiful wildlife habitats in Scotland and Ireland.

Connectedness and interdependence

We are connected on physical level through the air and water that that moves around the planet. Hence what is put into the atmosphere or watercourse in one part of the globe can through natural movements of air and water be transported to affect people and places many hundreds or thousands of miles away.

In a global economy we are dependent on people in many parts of the world to meet our needs for food and consumer goods. Likewise many people are now dependent on us to purchase their products. The choices we make affect not only our environment and health but also those of others.

'We are part of the earth and it is part of us........... Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web he does to himself'.
Chief Seattle 1854

Consumer choices that make a difference

The stories behind the products we buy and, the consequences of our purchases are readily available. Therefore for the first time in recent history we can make informed choices about the products we buy and whom we buy from. The philosophy behind this approach is known as ‘Ethical Trading’ or ' Ethical Consumerism’