Our clean conscience - rubbish

The Sunday Times sported an intriguing article lately, asking if our organic-FairTrade-recycling clean conscience is nothing but a mind-boggling deceit. Organic jeans and socks, red credit cards (read: Bono saves the world), FairTrade tea and coffee, recycling glass and paper all sound like really good ideas - but in the end we're not saving the world by sporting status symbols like wristbands in all possible colours and eat healthy blueberries that have reached us on a long-haul flight.

THE TRIUMPH OF HOPE

HYBRID CARS The eco-mum’s vehicle of choice can actually be worse for the environment than some convention cars. You’re better off with a Volkswagen Lupo

WASHABLE NAPPIES We all know disposables are awful, but now it turns out that Terry towelling is no better. The fall-out from washing them wreaks just as much environmental havoc

RECYCLING Take your empties to the bottle bank by car and you’ll use up all the nergy you’ve saved recycling them

SHOPPING LOCALLY Your farmers’ market may be genuinely organic, but if you
buy only local produce Third World farmers go hungry

BUYING ORGANIC Never mind if the farmer didn’t use pesticides on your
mango, if it had to be flown half way round the world there’s nothing
environmentally friendly about it

AIRMILES After a year of recycling, eating organic and biking to work, one
long-haul flight and you’re back to square one again

Depressing, isn't it?