Karen responds to her ecological footprint

After the first meeting of the West Torrens Branch of Sustainable Communities I diligently went home to complete my footprint online. I was horrified to discover that if everyone lived like me we’d need 2.4 planets to sustain us. Beth later reassured me this was below the Australian average. I think that was even more horrifying. Like most people, food was my big downfall, but I found things in every area that I could change.

Since that first meeting I think the biggest change I made was to get the Shop Ethical App for my phone. Goodbye Woollies and Coles! Hello Foodland! I have drastically changed the brands I buy and the places I shop. I had no idea quite how many other stores are owned by the big duopoly.

Other things I plan to change, like getting a water tank and installing gas, seemed like big things but somehow I think the way we shop is a bigger deal. I say ‘we’ because I whip my Shop Ethical App or booklet out at every opportunity and amaze my friends with scary facts about Nestle, Coles and Woollies. Not to mention bottled tap water, murdered farmers and child labour – all on our supermarket shelves. Who would have thought such scams and terrors lay behind our family favourites?

Next on my list are chickens. Our neighbours not only approve but want to name the chickens and are queuing up to chook-sit when we are away! Not only fresh eggs but free home security!

Ethical Supermarket Shopping Guide - available from Sustainable Communities SA or buy online