20 Hour Course Social Entrepreneurship

Ethical consumer guide to cosmetic companies

This is a short document to explain Lush’s continual journey to remove palm oil from our supply chain. Here is where we started, what we discovered and some more information on our campaign to restore a palm plantation in Sumatra back to native forest.

Producing cosmetics without animal suffering is simple—there is no excuse for companies to continue testing cosmetics on animals. All they need to do is use combinations of the thousands of existing cosmetic chemicals already established as safe, combined with available non-animal test methods.

Ethical Clothing Australia (ECA®) is an accreditation body working collaboratively with local textile, clothing and footwear (TCF) businesses to ensure their Australian supply chains are legally compliant.

How does it work?
The grades awarded by the Ethical Fashion Report are a measure of the efforts undertaken by each company to mitigate the risks of forced labour, child labour and worker exploitation in their supply chains, as well as protect the environment from the harmful impacts of the fashion industry.

As the world is bombarded with an unending supply of dirt-cheap clothes, ethical fashion activists in Dubai and the Middle East, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, Canada, and the United States are voicing their concerns regarding the fashion industry’s sustained exploitation of human, animal, and natural resources.

Who made your clothes? It’s a question we’re hearing more and more often as fast fashion looms ever larger over the retail landscape. So what exactly is fast fashion and how is it so harmful to the environment? And what can we do to halt its spread?

Topics include: Food Security; Animal Welfare; Fair Trade; Grow Your Own; Organic Food; Composting; Sustainable Fish

The cost of food waste to the Australian economy is estimated to be around $20 billion each year. Australian consumers throw away around 3.1 million tonnes of food—that’s close to 17,000 grounded 747 jumbo jets. Another 2.2 million tonnes is disposed of by the commercial and industrial sector.
The impact of food waste also includes the energy, fuel and water used to grow food that may not be used. When food waste is sent to landfill, it contributes to greenhouse gas emissions.

Australians might love a good meal – but if you believe the claims of FoodWise, a national campaign run by not-for-profit group DoSomething, the amount we throw away is staggering. "Aussies throw out $8 billion worth of edible food every year," it says.

Fact sheets on how homelessness affects different parts of the community - for example, children, young people, men, women.

People experiencing homelessness include those who sleep rough on the streets or under makeshift dwellings. Although people who sleep rough are most visible to the public, they only represent 7% of the homeless population.

Current egg, meat and dairy production and consumption practices are unsustainable and cause tremendous suffering. Choosing more plant-based options helps animals and the environment, and supports your health.

Switching to a plant-based diet can help fight climate change, UN experts have said. A major report on land use and climate change says the West's high consumption of meat and dairy produce is fuelling global warming.
They said that more people could be fed using less land if individuals cut down on eating meat.

Avoiding meat and dairy products is the single biggest way to reduce your environmental impact on the planet, according to the scientists behind the most comprehensive analysis to date of the damage farming does to the planet.

World Wildlife Fund website about the impact of plastic pollution in Australia

Australian Marine Conservation Society website on plastic pollution and possible solutions.

Australian Geographic article outlining Australian's dependence on plastic. The author writes: “Plastic is a problem because policies have allowed [this] material to be produced in such large quantities that it’s now an overwhelming waste management problem.

While most plastic does not end up in the marine environment (and most people don't litter) - the impact of what is polluting our environment is so severe that we must take strong action for all our benefit. Our campaign identifies 3 key pathways to target the most profligate and / or problematic plastics found in our marine environment. Our research indicates that we can readily eliminate 70% by weight (i.e. at least 53,000 tonnes p.a.) of the plastic that we dump into our oceans by 2020 by creating the right policy and regulatory framework and then tackle the remaining pollution.

Microbeads are small, solid, manufactured plastic particles that are less than 5mm and don’t degrade or dissolve in water. They may be added to a range of products, including rinse-off cosmetics, personal care and cleaning products. Microbeads are used as ingredients in these products for a variety of purposes. This includes as an abrasive or exfoliant, a bulking agent, for controlled timed release of active ingredients, and to prolong shelf life. They are also a relatively cheap ingredient.

Young people in Australia experience very high stress in schools, which has negative impacts on their academic performance and mental health. It is crucial schools teach students how to identify and best manage stress. These skills will continue to benefit them throughout their lives.

Adolescence is a critical stage at which to intervene as health-related behaviours established during this period are often carried into adulthood.

'Voluntourism' has exploded as the hottest travel trend and a rite of passage for gap year students, but experts say it could be doing more harm than good.

Volunteer tourism, or voluntourism, is an emerging trend of travel linked to “doing good”. But are these efforts to help people and the environment doing more harm than good?

The demise of "voluntourism" and "orphanage tourism" has been widely reported in recent months, based on the argument that it's exploitative to both recipient and volunteer.

On-site wastewater reuse can reduce water use in both urban and rural households. At present, most homes use potable (drinkable) water for practically everything in the house and garden. We are literally flushing our drinking water down the toilet!

Smart tips to save water around the home.