Thursday 24 May 2007

Sustainable Scrapbooking

Is scrapping sustainable.

Do scrappers have carbon offsets/credits?

The market is ripe, really, really ripe for some clever entrepenuer in the scrapbooking world to create a line of sustainably produced, fairly traded scrapbooking products.

A fellow coffee lover, 'Vawz' had a link on his blog to this place: A Year of Living Generously.This was a great discovery for me and while I relieved to find that I am already doing a number of the actions, I was appalled to see how many simple things I could be doing and am not.

I know that within the realm of coffee I am making more efforts than in the past to select beans that are from sustainable growers and that are fairly traded. Also when possible I buy dry process beans (less water) but generally coffee is a fairly good crop in terms of water use. Decaf, and 'Instant coffee' are more of a problem - lucky for me that I drink neither!

This is a great opportunity for people to commit to small actions that can make a difference, and to make others aware of actions they can take.Worth a look and if you live up my way you are welcome to join the Grendel 'Household' Brighton (South - as in 'not the UK' Brighton).

6 comments:

Lissy said...

I have been thinking about this a lot lately too :)And trying to make small changes (shopping bags, water usage, replacing light bulbs,buying eco friendly products etc) to make a difference...glad to hear about the bean supply :)

Veronica Hugger said...

Hmmmm...just yesterday I had a conversation with an inventor/manufacturer with such a product. What indicators are you reading?

"Grendel" said...

Actually Scrapping is lagging behind on this one - the indicators are mostly that is many markets a tipping point is fast approaching where demand for ethical and sustainable products will mean that those who can provide such products stand to profit.

If you have come across something that may work as a scrapping product AND has other qualities then it may bear watching.

Julie said...

Hmm, scrapbooking sustainable? No, I very much doubt it - even if you think of the hundreds of pieces of papers and cardstock we girls hoard, and all the packaging the manufacturers use to make the pretties visually pleasing.

I didn't know that coffee was a low water usage crop, but what about all the water we use in it, and cleaning up the pesky coffee machines that you can never get the bits out of LOL?

"Grendel" said...

Ahhh you see that is the trick - the crop is low water use, but the processing afterwards can be quite heavy on water consumption - in particular if the coffee is processed as instant coffee.

Unknown said...

hehe... you know... this is a great idea! i know i'd buy fair trade scrapbooking supplies