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Shop
Ethical! NEW & UPDATED
The Shop
Ethical! app now includes clothing data.
See how your favourite
fashion labels are responding to issues such as
Uzbek cotton, building safety in Bangladesh, water
pollution, and paying a living wage. For more on
fashion, check out the Fair@Square
festival's 6 pop-up fair fashion shows
held over this weekend (30th Nov, 1st Dec) in Melbourne.
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The 2014
Shop Ethical! supermarket
pocket-guide is hot off the press, with updated
ownership and assessment information drawing from
over 150 sources. Give one (or two) to friends and
family this Christmas. A sure-fire way to help in
changing our world for the better - one good choice
at a time!. Available at ethical.org.au/shop
and selected bookstores nationally.
See our stockists. |
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Ethical Christmas Guide
Santa is back...
with goodies! This resource is full of practical
(and fun!) ideas for reducing your footprint during
the festive season and helping you really make your
dollar count this Christmas.
>
Ethical Christmas Guide
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check out a fantastic new ethical gift service - Checking
it Twice - more great ideas. |
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Palm
Oil Buyers Scorecard 2013
Palm oil is the
world’s most widely used vegetable oil, found in
products from ice cream to soap. Its production
can devastate the environment. But it doesn't have
to. WWF have released their third Palm
Oil Buyers Scorecard assessing 130 companies
on their efforts to use sustainable palm oil (RSPO
certified). Some are making progress - while others
are seriously lagging.
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There is simply
no longer any excuse for companies not to take action
on this issue. We're mindful that there are limitations
and criticisms of the RSPO. See this great
article on these and why palm oil is in so many
products. > More
on palm oil and positive steps you can take.
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Modern-day
Slavery ...
The
recent Bloomberg news story 'Christmas
without Slavery' (26/11/13) highlights
how workers who manufacture the newest tablets,
phones, cameras, and electronics commonly
become indentured servants, only a step removed
from slavery. Stories here.
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| The
Walk Free Foundation's Global
Slavery Index, published last month, provides
a ranking of 162 countries around the world
on the estimated prevalence of slavery. Find
out more about the face of slavery in Australia
at Anti-Slavery
Australia. |
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GM wheat trials
The
office of the gene technology regulator has given
approval for a field
trial of genetically modified wheat in western
Victoria (12/11/13). The
Safe
Food Foundation with scientific experts have
indicated that they believe there are major gaps
in CSIRO’s risk assessment testing leading to potential
life-threatening consequences. See press
conference video and No
Appetite for GM Wheat paper. >
Sign the petition
to Ban GM Wheat trials in Oz.
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In other Agribusiness
news, US farmers warn ADM's
GrainCorp takeover could hurt competition in Australian
agriculture (19/11/13) . If the sale of GrainCorp
goes ahead, there be five ports Australian-owed and
14 held by foreign companies. See article and map
at ABC
FactCheck. |
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What
are the bosses being paid?
Chief executives
of the top 100 ASX listed companies earned
67
times the national average in 2012.
Of particular
interest (in the light of the recent leaking
of ABC
pay amounts), is Rupert Murdoch, CEO of
News Corp, who earned a whopping $24,790,000
in 2012,
a somewhat significant 409
times the amount earned by the average News
Corp employee. See other
global comparisons at CEO
Pay in perspective.
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The
Swiss
are proposing a maximum ratio of 12:1 (bosses
to average), and ACTU
10:1.
More at ACSI's
CEO
Pay in the Top 200 Companies: 2012 paper
and The
Conversation (6/13). |
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Quick
bites ...
- Detox
from the Shop. International
Buy
Nothing Day is here - Saturday
30th November!
- Plant
your vegies.Tomatoes, zucchinis, cucmbers
and more. Get them in the ground.
Find out what to plant when at Gardenate.com
- Congratulations
to the AFSA & friends for successful
crowd-funding for their 'Just Food'
project - a documentary about our
farmers and a fairer food system.
See promo
vid.
- The
Food and Grocery Council has agreed
to a voluntary code with Coles and
Woolworths which will govern supply
chain relationships
(18/11/13,
ABC).
- Specialty
Fashion Group has bought Rivers
for $5m (28/11/13, Ragtrader).
- Rivers
has pledged to avoid Uzbek Cotton
after a 3
year campaign by Stop the Traffik.
- The
Agri-Food XX 2013 conference with
the theme of 'Resistance, Resilience
and Security' runs from December 2nd
- 5th in Melbourne. More
- The
Sustainable
Living Festival is on again this
coming February in Melbourne. Applications
for events, exhibitors and voluteering
are now being accepted.
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