TckTckTck

Copenhagen 7-15 December. http://tcktcktck.org/ Climate change is here - and don't let the nay-sayers confuse the issue when they rubbish the science of global warming theories. The world is heating up and is already heating many people out of existence - it won't make the news again until it starts affecting our lives in the West as much as it affects those in Asia, the Pacific, Africa and elsewhere.

Can we stop it? Whilst I'm definitely not in favour of reducing human economic activity (this would actually accelerate environmental degradation), perhaps we do need to think about how our consumption affects communities on the other side of the world. 

We already have Fairtrade food, a great, inexpensive and fair way to redistribute profits in the supply chain; so why not have a sustainability brand that could apply to the millions of items imported from the pacific Rim. Who would begrudge a few extra pennies to organizations that reinvest some of their profit back into restoring and enhancing their environment? And manufacturers could easily develop policies on sourcing their imported products from suppliers accredited to such schemes. Wouldn't it be great to know that the Star Wars toy you had bought for your child for Christmas was from a factory in China that generated it's own wind power...?

As a business manager, a recent tender request forced our organisation  to consider the ethical issues surrounding  sourcing and manufacturing products. The timing of it prompted us to extend our ethical policies to include a policy on sustainable sourcing. and working with suppliers to promote a mindset that places issues such as recycling, energy use, waste disposal etc.

There are no easy answers, that's for sure, but like the ripples in a pond, the small changes we in the West in the next months and years make can as individuals and in our organisations make a far greater impact on the other side of the world.