Open meeting: How ethical is your shopping basket? (Tuesday 12th February)

This month’s meeting topic – ‘How ethical is your shopping basket?’ – will have a short film ‘Story of Stuff’ and two guest speakers from the Ethical Consumer and The Co-operative‘s ethical finance team who will look at trends in purchases and perceptions of ethical goods and how we can lower our environmental impact through changing our shopping habits.

The meeting kicks off with the ‘Story of Stuff‘ a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It’ll teach you something, it’ll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.

Rachel Kenyon, from the Co-operative’s Social Goals team,  will look at the story of ethical consumerism in the UK, from the 19th Century Co-operative Revolution through the increasing awareness of Human Rights, Animal Welfare and Environmental issues to the rise in certified produce, as reported for over a decade in the Ethical Consumerism Report, produced by The Co-operative Group.

She will explore the trends over time in sales and consumer attitudes and provide a snapshot of the current status with an overview of the recently released Ethical Consumerism Report 2012, the UK’s most authoritative study of ethical consumerism.

Rob Harrison from Manchester-based Ethical Consumer magazine will provide a global context and take part in a Question & Answer session – a space for you to ask all the questions you have about ethical shopping…

Want more details? Please email office@manchesterfoe.org.uk

When: 6.45 for 7pm – 9pm, Tuesday 12 February
Where: Green Fish Resource Centre, 46-50 Oldham Street, Manchester, M4 1LE