Q Is it OK to buy a sheepskin rug?
A Depends how you feel about sheep farming. If you’re one of those hardcore vegan types who prefers the fluffy creatures to skip merrily around the hilltops until they die a natural death, I imagine that you may think twice. But it would be your loss.
Sheepskin is a natural, organic product that has been used to keep us warm for centuries. It is long-lasting, much more so than man-made fibres; you can buy British (try sheepskin.co.uk), and it is also a byproduct of the meat industry. Therefore, it would be shameful not to use it.
As the celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall convincingly argues, it is only respectful to use as much of an animal as you possibly can, whether eating it or making things from it.
To slaughter a sheep only for its meat would be unfair. And of course, environmentally, the less waste the better.
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Sheepskin.com says you’d be surprised by how many everyday products contain some element of sheep. The carcass, including its bones and hooves, can be found in piano keys, candles, paint and even chewing gum. But its skin is more valuable. For £120, you can acquire a sheepskin rug from an organically reared Hereford sheep, tanned with the natural extract of mimosa bark rather than chemicals (thenaturalstore.co.uk).
Slightly more expensive but with similar green credentials is the rug sold by newcomer on the ethical furnishing block, One Eco Home (oneecohome.co.uk; £145). I’m excited about this company, with its easy-to-follow symbol system highlighting why each product is green. It’s a shame that the products are so achingly stylish that they would blend in as well as a sheep on a London bus.
Q I noticed a sign saying “Kent mangoes” in my local supermarket. Obviously not really grown in the UK, or is Kent experiencing early climate change?
A You’re right to be cynical. Kent, in this context, is a variety of mango, not a tropical part of the UK. But this is typical of the sort of labelling confusion that has sprung from our growing desire to understand where our food comes from.
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Authenticity – as they call it in marketing speak – sells. And companies are doing their best to provide it, whether or not this means fudging the issues. I can’t be the only one to have tossed a bag of apples into my trolley after seeing a smiling farmer on the back and some blurb about his wholesome practices, only to read the small print later and see that the apples are in fact from New Zealand.
In the case of your mango, I’d be surprised if the shop’s manager wasn’t hoping that a few customers would be taken in by the suggestion of local food.
The problem is that making the right choice is not easy. Should you focus on seasonal food, how far items have travelled, or what you will do with the packaging? I blend the three. A mango, for example, is likely to be well travelled, but at least you can buy it loose, so I’d slip one into my basket as a treat, especially if it was Fairtrade (fairtrade.org.uk/products_mangoes.htm).
Greenie points
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DO IT
Are you tired of doom-laden books about climate catastrophe? Here’s one to perk you up. Do Good Lives Have to Cost the Earth? by Andrew Simms and Joe Smith (Constable, £7.99), is a collection of essays on subjects from food and happiness to architecture, including chapters by the celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and the author Philip Pullman. The message is that in saving the planet, we can learn to live rich, satisfying lives.
CLICK IT
Boilers may not be sexy, but it’s worth paying attention to yours. At boiler.org.uk you can learn why replacing an old inefficient boiler with an energy-efficient condensing model could save you between £100 and £240 a year. If you can’t afford a new boiler – about £1,000 – what about giving your old one a full service to ensure optimum performance, using a Corgi-registered gas engineer (trustcorgi.com ).
SKIP IT
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Don’t be seduced by the latest promise of a “zero carbon” fuel package from British Gas. The energy supplier has had its knuckles rapped by the Advertising Standards Authority for breaching advertising rules, including making false environmental claims. Yes, it is offsetting its emissions, but, no, this does not make the deal free of carbon.
ECO-FEEDBACK
The Eco-Worrier column last week looked at the sustainability of prawns. The verdict was that you may as well catch them yourself if you’re after an easy way of knowing that they have reached your plate without damaging the environment. I wrote that there was no point relying on the Marine Stewardship Council certification scheme (www.msc.org ).
While it’s true that you won’t find MSC-certified prawns on sale in UK shops, this is not because they don’t exist, the MSC is keen to point out. It has certified two shrimp fisheries: the Oregon Pink Shrimp, in the US, and Loch Torridon Nephrops, northwest Scotland. Ten more are being assessed. The problem is that British fish sellers are not convinced that sustainable prawns would be popular.
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You can help, says the MSC, by asking your local fish supplier (supermarket or a fishmonger) to source shrimps from these certified fisheries.
For green news and views, and Anna’s eco-blog timesonline.co.uk/environment