Put People First

Saturday saw the biggest public demonstration since Britain hit this current financial mess.

What I found heartening was that groups with very different agendas could find common ground to come together for the Put People First march.

Hardened trade unionists, traditional church groups and a huge variety of charities, from big names like ActionAid to smaller environmental campaigners, all walked together to press the G20 leaders to turn their minds to ‘jobs, justice and climate’.

Less peaceful protests are feared for later this week, but at least for this one day ordinary people had the chance to turn out and show that grassroots action is still alive and well.

We in the UK still have the right to march, shout and protest.

And even if you feel cynical about how much effect waving banners or chanting has, that right isn’t to be taken lightly. It’s something that people in many countries are denied.

Watching Saturday’s protest, and the daily news headlines, makes us all wonder what’s to come.

It’s a time of confusion, from wondering what hope there is for the global economy and the environment to whether your job will be there tomorrow morning.

Some would say it’s the end of an era, and we are all being dragged into a very necessary world change, that could be the next stage of evolution.

It is possible we are witnessing the birth of a largescale shift in economic and political cultures. But in such times of change, we all need to hold fast to some things, to reassure ourselves and shore up good feelings for harder times to come.

A good start is doing small things that make our lives more meaningful and positive. That could mean something as simple as doing a good turn for a neighbour, putting something on Freecycle or teaching your kids about Fairtrade or climate change.

Small steps are all part of building a more positive future for ourselves and others, and what better place to start than with our homes, workplaces and families. Then, we'll be in an even better, more informed position to take to the streets to call for wider change...

Picture: Kristian Buus/ActionAid

Fair's fair for everyone

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, if we are feeling the pinch, you can bet someone who grows crops on a smallholding several thousand miles away is being hit far harder.


The next two weeks are set aside as Fairtrade Fortnight, but buying coffee, bananas or tea with the Fairtrade mark isn't just about 'doing your bit' and feeling good about buying 'the right thing'.

There's a bigger picture, too.


The Fairtrade Foundation points out that the smallholders like Conrad James, pictured above, from St Lucia, could actually teach the rest of the world a thing or two about solving the food crisis and tackling poverty.


In villages like Conrad's, smallholders are often at the centre of community action and feeling. It's a very different scenario to bigger farms, where low-quality crops are sold straight from the field to impersonal middlemen and on to the West for a criminally low price.


In smaller-scale Fairtrade cooperatives, from Caribbean banana producers to Rwandan coffee growers, local people have more secure jobs and, if the crop (eg coffee) starts being processed on-site, the chance to learn different skills.


Small-scale cooperatives are also known for being innovative farmers. They want to know how to do things better, make things taste better. They have a vested interest in constantly researching new ways to improve productivity, such as making organic compost, or to add value, such as roasting coffee beans using traditional techniques.


Small organic farms have the power to turn around the economic fortunes of a village or an area, which then slowly spreads to more children going to school and more small businesses and shops springing up.


It's a model of economic revival that, with the right support, could have a worldwide knock-on effect. And these smallholders aren't small fry: some 450 million farming households cultivate two hectares or less, and with their families they make up a third of the world's population.

They count, and what they stand for counts, too.


Buying thoughfully benefits everyone, including ourselves. And it doesn't stop at bananas.

That's why I love the stuff at www.ecohip.org.

Steve and Gabrielle, the couple behind the site, have thought carefully about what they select: everything there, from shampoos to tea, is from small companies that care, too.

They are organic, eco-friendly and as close to nature as you can get.

Shame they don't sell bananas, too...

Photograph: Simon Rawles/Fairtrade
Visit www.fairtrade.org.uk for more on Fairtrade Fortnight

It's crunch time

You can't turn on the radio or open a newspaper these days without more news of redundancies. For anyone directly feeling the effects of the recession - and we're having to accept it is a recession rather than the rather more sound-bitey, touchy-feely phrase 'credit crunch' - it's a terrifying and potentially devastating prospect.

But without wishing to sound heartless, could the forced mass exodus of people from city centre jobs have a silver lining for the environment?
Of course, no-one forced out of their job or home is going to be rejoicing or, probably, giving a damn about global warming or carbon emissions. That's not their main priority right now. But if we take a more detached, big-picture view, the global recession could be an opportunity for a major rethink about the world of work and its impact on our lives - now and in the future.
Until recently, the message we've all been sold and have willingly bought into is that making money is what it's all about. As Gordon Gekko says in that Eighties classic Wall Street: "Greed is good."
Don't think about your carbon footprint as you drive your air-con pumping, fuel injected, gas guzzling 4x4 into the city centre every day. Don't think about those short-hop flights (after all, time is money) for work or weekends away. Don't even trouble yourself about the fast-disappearing green fields as you shut yourself behind the gates of your executive estate in commuterland.
We were all encouraged to just concentrate on the rewards: the status car, the exotic holidays and the 'dream' home. And if we got a bit stressed out in the process, or never saw our partner or kids, it was a small price to pay.
Except now, we're all living through the proof that greed isn't quite so good.
Either by circumstance or by choice, many of us actually have the opportunity to rethink our life priorities. Whether we like it or not, more of us will be spending more time at home, from those whose hours are cut to freelance home workers. But couldn't this be a chance to think about reintegrating into our communities, rather than dashing between home and office without exchanging words with our neighbours?
Plenty of people will have to cut their two-car-family habit - but might that not mean we'll all benefit from a reduction in carbon emissions and less traffic clogging up our streets?
Slashed incomes will probably rule out overseas holidays for many this year. But couldn't this be a chance to rediscover the wild countryside and culture on our doorsteps? OK, plenty of Britsh B&Bs have a way to go before they will rival hotels abroad, but there's a whole world of low-emission destinations out there, from wild Cornish beaches and Scottish islands to city gems like Canterbury and Edinburgh.
And counting the pennies could even mean that instead of buying air-freighted food from giant supermarkets (and then throwing away a third of it), more of us might support local shops. Heck, some are even planning to grow their own veg this year and councils report that applications for allotments are on the rise.
Suddenly, shopping and 'value' start to take on a different meaning. Buying eco-friendly products that genuinely work from small-scale companies (like the ones you see at www.ecohip.org) makes more sense (and gives a clearer conscience) than scooping up 3 for 2 factory-fodder piled high at the supermarket.
Those with kids who find themselves too stretched to fork out for a Wii or the next must-have gadget could even end up showing their offspring how to get back to basics, too - climbing trees in the woods, making bows and arrows or playing tennis in the real world instead of being wired up to a virtual world while slumped on the sofa.
Maybe this is utopian dreaming. Or maybe it's an opportunity to genuinely rethink our priorities and rewrite the rules. Out with a world that puts its faith in a morally bankrupt economy and in with one that actually gives a damn about people and the world we live in.

Picture: www.freeimages.co.uk