Fair Trade - Handmade - Sustainable

Category: Blog

Ethical Newsletter Options

Earlier this year I managed to finally move my email subscribers away from Mailchimp to a self-hosted solution.

Having moved a lot of things away from big tech in recent years I’ve had moving the newsletters nagging on me for some while.

I have two email lists. One is my generic list … … Read on …

Posted on 21 August 2025

Climate Triumph in World’s Highest Court

The International Court of Justice at The Hague has ruled that countries are legally obliged to prevent harms caused by climate change.

Judges clarified the legal obligations that countries have to protect the Earth’s climate system for current and future generations.

They also clarified the legal consequences for nations that fail to do … … Read on …

Posted on 24 July 2025

Year of the Co-ops

Did you know the UN has made 2025 ‘International year of co-operatives’?

Co-ops are democratically owned businesses or organisations, with the co-op’s members in control to meet their shared needs. The members may be customers, employees, residents or suppliers.

All co-ops the world over shares the same 7 principles and 10 values.

Around 40% of … … Read on …

Posted on 16 July 2025

Net Zero Possible with Brave Decisions

The Climate Change Committee (UK government’s advisory panel) revealed to parliament last week that 2024 emissions were down by almost 50% to the levels from 1990, putting the country on course to meet their target of a 68% cut by 2030.

The main driver has been the swap of fossil fuels … … Read on …

Posted on 30 June 2025

Glasto Stars and Fans make Train Pledge

The likes of Sam Ryder, Greentea Peng, Self Esteem and the Nova Twins got on board with a campaign to make event travel greener this week by traveling via rail to Glastonbury Festival.

They were just some of the artists alongside many revellers who signed up to the ‘I came by train’ … … Read on …

Posted on 27 June 2025

Postal Protest

Earlier this year designer Wendy Ward launched a campaign aimed at fashion brands over their waste and greenwashing.

The campaign urges anyone to post end-of-life items back to the brands who made them along with a letter demanding accountability both for the wastage of textiles and of false recycling promises.

Wendy wrote … … Read on …

Posted on 26 June 2025

Greener Workplaces Toolkit

A new toolkit for workplace climate action called The Green Workplaces Toolkit has been published by the TUC to address the climate emergency, future-proof jobs, and negotiate greener and fairer workplaces.

Incredibly detailed and full of good info it’s a whopping 174 pages long. A thorough contents page can help you navigate … … Read on …

Posted on 25 June 2025

Earthwise Girls 40% Closing Down Sale 😢

Having spent many years fighting period poverty and raising awareness through the business, the amazing Earthwise Girls is sadly closing its doors and offering 40% off all remaining stock.

Some of the achievements of Earthwise Girls:

Donated thousands of reusable period pads to The Nasio Trust to fight period poverty in rural Kenya … … Read on …

Posted on 24 June 2025

Massive Attack prove 98% emission reduction possible

In August last year Massive Attack staged a ‘proof of concept’ one-day festival in Bristol to show that low carbon festivals are doable. I was lucky enough to attend the event and I wrote an extensive report on it at the time.

The Tyndall Centre for Climate Research has now released the … … Read on …

Posted on 23 June 2025

Tax the Bitch

A poll of more than 15,000 people across 13 nations has been conducted on behalf of Oxfam and @greenpeace, resulting in a whopping 81% of people believing that governments should tax oil, gas and coal corporations for the environmental damage they cause, including wildfires, flooding and drought.

With this international survey … … Read on …

Posted on 22 June 2025

The World is Kinder than we Think

The recently published 2025 World Happiness Report (the 13th edition of the report) has focussed on the impact of caring and sharing on people’s happiness.

Drawing on a study by Oxford University’s Wellbeing Research Centre showing that people are a lot kinder than we might otherwise expect, the research also shows … … Read on …

Posted on 28 March 2025

Developing Ethical Ratings for AI

Ethical Consumer Research Association (ECRA) have announced that they may develop a rating standard for artificial intelligence (AI) use by businesses.

Factors including energy consumption, human rights, accountability mechanisms and workers’ rights would all be up for examination.

Ruairidh Fraser at Ethical Consumer magazine has written a piece about the rapid … … Read on …

Posted on 26 March 2025

Watching Nature Can Reduce Pain

I’ve said it before and new research is saying it again: Nature is a great healer.

A new study by researchers from the Universities of both Vienna and Exeter has found that just viewing nature can decrease activity in the brain linked to pain perception, thus helping ease our experience of pain.

Participants … … Read on …

Posted on 24 March 2025

London Begins to Breathe Better

A study by the Greater London Authority has shown that the city’s levels of lethal pollutants have substantially decreased since the expansion of the UK capital’s ultra low emission zone (Ulez).

The London-wide zone covers nine million people across 1500 km2, the world’s largest zone of its kind. 

The report shows that not … … Read on …

Posted on 20 March 2025

UK emissions down in 2024

Some good news in as much as the constant rise in greenhouse gas emissions is being curbed in the UK. Still a long way to go to get to real reversal numbers, but this new analysis by Carbon Brief tells that our emissions decreased 3.6% in 2024.

Above average temperatures, a … … Read on …

Posted on 17 March 2025

Most Ethical Mobile Phone Networks Revealed

Ethical Consumer Research Association (ECRA) have compiled a comprehensive report on the UK’s mobile network providers, revealing factors such as who pays their fair share of tax; who uses green energy; who are fair to their workers; and who direct their revenue to good causes.

TL;DR: There are four networks who score … … Read on …

Posted on 14 March 2025

Another country bans phones in schools

Adding to the global push back against children using smartphones, Denmark has announced it will ban devices from schools and after-school clubs.

The announcement follows recommendations from a youth wellbeing commission, advocating restricting phones to all children until their teenage years.

Research has already shown that reducing phone use can promote wellbeing and … … Read on …

Posted on 10 March 2025

International Women’s Day 2025

Today is a special reminder that every day we should be advocating for gender equality. For a world free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination. A world that’s diverse, equitable, and inclusive.

As individuals, we can all take steps in our daily lives to achieve these goals and positively impact women’s advancement.

We can … … Read on …

Posted on 08 March 2025

UK’s First Climate Justice Degree to Launch in 2026

Last week the University of Sussex announced they will be launching an undergraduate degree in climate justice, sustainability and development from next year.

Activism, climate politics, environmental human rights and practical green skills will all be on the agenda.

With litigation now used to hold polluters to account and support climate progress, … … Read on …

Posted on 05 March 2025

Young People Drive Increase in Consumption of Organic Produce

Despite the cost of living crisis, demand for pesticide-free produce in the UK is going up.

The Soil Association’s latest report shows sales of organic produce rose by 7.3% last year, in comparison to 4.7% for non-organic alternatives – double what it was a decade ago.

The report also shows that organic unit sales have grown … … Read on …

Posted on 03 March 2025

Insurers’ Internet Cables Cut

A new campaign group called Shut the System have kick-started a new phase of the climate activist movement, aiming to shut down key actors in the fossil fuel economy.

In January they cut the internet cables to offices of more than 400 insurance brokers in some of the UK’s major cities.

A spokesperson … … Read on …

Posted on 27 February 2025

Fingers on the Pulses

The UK Climate Change Committee recommended that we should be eating more plant-based foods in order to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions to Net Zero.

One of the easiest ways to do this can be to add more pulses in to our diets.

Pulses, which include various beans, peas, lentils and chickpeas, have … … Read on …

Posted on 26 February 2025

Republican States Benefit from Solar Energy

Cleanview, an energy research orgnisation, has been tracking America’s clean energy progress, combining public data with expert research to create a detailed picture of renewable energy development.

It has concluded that Republican states benefit the most from the country’s surging solar sector. In 2024 the USA added 47% more green energy capacity … … Read on …

Posted on 25 February 2025

China Supercharges Clean Energy

Latest research by The Carbon Brief has shown that China’s clean-energy sectors – renewables, electric vehicles and batteries – drove a quarter of the country’s gross domestic product growth in 2024. Worth a whopping $1.9 trillion, the clean energy sectors have overtaken real-estate sales in value. This is expected to rise … … Read on …

Posted on 24 February 2025

Microorganisms for Household Cleaning and Pet Care

Last year I was listening to the Accidental Gods podcast with Manda Scott @Eceni (which had been recommended to me by Jonathan Schofield @urlyman) and the first episode I listened to really chimed with some intuitions I feel I’ve held for a long time.

It’s a brilliant episode and well worth a listen for … … Read on …

Posted on 11 February 2025

Expanding Heathrow is incompatible with net zero – here’s the evidence

The UK government is set to back plans for a third runway at Heathrow, the country’s busiest airport, and to expand two other airports near London: Gatwick and Luton. The move is designed to support the government’s “mission” to grow the economy.

Air transport is notoriously hard to … … Read on …

Posted on 31 January 2025

More Green Space Could Cut Deaths in Poor Areas

A study led by Queen’s University Belfast has found that more green space in the UK’s most deprived neighbourhoods could significantly reduce the number of preventable deaths.

Currently the most deprived urban areas in England, Northern Ireland and Scotland have the lowest provision of green space. Only in Wales was green … … Read on …

Posted on 29 January 2025

Supermarkets Ranked on Pesticides

Pesticides Action Network (PAN) has ranked the UK’s ten biggest supermarkets on their efforts to protect consumers, farmworkers, and wildlife from pesticides. 

While some supermarkets are doing much better than others, all ten could be doing more to tackle pesticide harms.

This is particularly true when it comes to protecting bees and other … … Read on …

Posted on 27 January 2025

Black Friday’s Carbon Cost

Nothing to see here, keep buying! 👀

Last year’s estimated carbon cost from Black Friday equated to 429,000 tonnes of CO2 admitted into the atmosphere from product deliveries alone.

– The same as over 4 billion miles driven by an average gasoline-powered car.

And then returned items bought during the sales used … … Read on …

Posted on 29 November 2024

Amazon’s £433 MILLION 1yr Black Hole

According to latest estimates, Amazon’s corporation tax avoidance could have cost UK citizens around £433 million in lost taxes in 2023 alone.

£433 million could be used to recruit:

12,735 additional nurses, or

5,932 additional doctors, or

12,735 new teachers.

Or £433 million could pay for:

1,443,333 additional winter fuel payments of £300 this year, or

61,857 home insulation … … Read on …

Posted on 29 November 2024

Buy Now, Bin Tomorrow!

It is estimated that 80% of electronics and clothing bought on Black Friday, plus the plastic packaging they are wrapped in, end up in landfill, incineration, or low-quality recycling after a very short life. 🤦

Better to avoid Amazon

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Ethical Revolution offers 26 simple steps anyone can take to help contribute to … … Read on …

Posted on 29 November 2024

It’s Green Friday!

…aka Buy Nothing Day. -No better day to get started on the first of my 26 Steps from A-Z to a better world: Avoid Amazon.

As one of the least ethical and most harmful companies on the planet check out my guide on why and how to get by without them. … … Read on …

Posted on 29 November 2024

Peace and Quiet

It’s been a blissful start to peace and quiet week here at Ethical Revolution HQ in the run up to Buy Nothing Day aka Green Friday, also now dubbed Unsubscribe Day!

Ethical Revolution
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Ethical Revolution offers 26 simple steps anyone can take to help contribute to a better, more positive world for everyone.

Follow … … Read on …

Posted on 25 November 2024

UK Trials Four-Day Week

The four-day working week could be edging closer as a thousand employees across various industries take part in a new pilot of a four-day week in the UK.

Their hours will be cut while their pay-packet will remain the same, with the findings from the pilot to be presented to the UK … … Read on …

Posted on 20 November 2024

Climate change is hitting women the hardest

The current capitalist system has created two related crises: ecological decline and social injustice. It has led to environmental damage like climate change, which affects some people more than others.

The two crises mutually reinforce the consequences of the same flawed systems of oppression and power. Climate change exacerbates global … … Read on …

Posted on 18 November 2024

Decarbonisation of UK Grid by 2030

The National Energy System Operator’s (NESO) have issued a report in which they say the UK’s goal to decarbonise its electricity grid by 2030 and provide clean power might be “a huge challenge” but that it is “credible”, “achievable” and “will put Great Britain in a strong position”.

NESO say … … Read on …

Posted on 13 November 2024

10 reasons Donald Trump can’t derail global climate action

If you care about saving Earth from catastrophe, you might be feeling a little down about the re-election of Donald Trump as United States president. Undeniably, his return to the White House is a real setback for climate action.

Trump is a climate change denier who has promised to increase fossil … … Read on …

Posted on 11 November 2024

What About China?!

China’s State Power Investment Corporation connected their largest offshore wind farm (106 turbines over 55 sq miles) to the grid last week as it began generating electricity for the nation.

It is estimated to produce 2.55bn kilowatt hours of renewable energy per year, preventing 829,000 tonnes of tonnes of coal from … … Read on …

Posted on 09 November 2024

GDP Outdated

https://spectra.video/w/23mN12piFt5UzqoV3JmCU5

“GDP is an outdated way of measuring the health of the economy – it doesn’t reflect the health of people or the planet.” -has been published in The Conversation. Good to see this notion filtering in to the mainstream!

@TheConversationClimate @TheConversationUK @economics@a.gup.pe

Ethical Revolution
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Ethical Revolution offers 26 simple steps anyone can take to help … … Read on …

Posted on 08 November 2024

Largest Land Sale in 30 years a ‘Showcase for Nature Recovery’

Nearly 10,000 acres of land in north-east UK is being bought by Wildlife Trusts.

Previously used for bloodsports and animal agriculture the new ownership of the Rothbury estate in Northumberland will ban hunting and practice regenerative farming only as they look to give nature the chance to thrive and become … … Read on …

Posted on 07 November 2024

Us Humans are Complicated

We often say we want to make greener choices – but in reality, we act differently.

Individual climate action sounds great in theory. If many of us chose electric vehicles or bikes, installed solar panels and built energy efficient houses, our actions in aggregate could contribute to wider emissions goals. Then … … Read on …

Posted on 06 November 2024

EU Net Greenhouse Gas Emissions Drop!

With this place focussing a lot of attention towards negativity in the USA right now here’s some positivity in EU for you…

@PositiveNewsUK@press.coop has reported that 2023 saw an 8% total net greenhouse gas emissions reduction in the European Union. For context that’s a level similar to those at the … … Read on …

Posted on 06 November 2024

Chris Packham Forces UK Government to Reconsider Green Pledge

Rishi Sunak announced in 2023 that he would drop green policies from the UK’s Carbon Budget Delivery Plan (CBDP), including:

a transition away from petrol, and diesel free cars and vans by 2030.

the phasing out of new and replacement gas boilers by 2035.

a ban on installing fossil fuel heating in … … Read on …

Posted on 05 November 2024

Cattle, Cowboys & Climate Chaos

In recent decades, scientists have warned that industrial meat production, and beef in particular, fuels climate change and leads to deforestation, soil erosion, species extinction, ocean dead zones and high levels of methane emissions.

Yet today’s average American still eats three hamburgers per week! 🤯 🐮 🤮

The rise of an extensive … … Read on …

Posted on 01 November 2024

Big Oil Companies/CEOs to be Charged with Reckless Endangerment?

Would you say that knowing for decades that havoc is being wreaked on our world by the burning of fossil fuels, but carrying on regardless (AND simultaneously suppressing climate science) amounts to reckless endangerment? 🤔

Lawyers in the USA who have prepared a prosecution memorandum for New York State certainly think … … Read on …

Posted on 31 October 2024

The Climate Gap Report 2024

Ethical Consumer Research Association (ECRA) have released Closing the Climate Gap 2024 – their annual report on progress towards sustainable consumer lifestyles in the UK.

Sadly they offer no prizes for correctly guessing that we are not on track to meet international emissions reduction targets, but as well as highlighting … … Read on …

Posted on 29 October 2024

The Global South can be a Renewable Superpower

According to the RMI every fifth country in the Global South already has a higher mix of renewables than the Global North. What’s more it controls 70% of global solar and wind resources and 50% of critical minerals.

Posted on 21 October 2024

World Powered by 50% Renewables on the Horizon

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA) nearly half of the world’s electricity demand will be met by renewables by 2030.

However, the IEA said that the growth still falls short of the target set at the COP28 climate summit (let alone our Paris Agreement target of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees), … … Read on …

Posted on 17 October 2024

Labour Government Blindly Led by Fossil Fuel Interests

It’s less than six months since they won power and the Labour party have already scrapped their campaign commitment to provide an annual stimulus of £28 billion for green industries.

Instead they’ve committed £22 billion over 25 years towards the proven myth of carbon capture and storage, giving existing oil companies the … … Read on …

Posted on 16 October 2024