When you decide to operate your business in a more climate-positive way, you’re fighting against convenient options.
Convenience offers us:
- Fast turnarounds
- Low prices
- Any material you can think of
- Options all over the world
Each comes with numerous considerations.
- Your supplier may be based in Australia, but uses a dedicated inter-state courier to deliver your parcel the next day. Do you need it that fast, or can you receive it a few days later and minimise the transit impact?
- Is your supplier running a 24 hour operation that creates poor working conditions for their staff? Alternative suppliers with clean working conditions—and plenty of notice—can also minimise the human impact.
- Materials like plastics and nylons are cheap but have devastating climate impact, so opt for these minimally or not at all. Anything that is recyclable like paper, glass and wood might be pricier, but are lower-impact options… quickly regenerable materials like bamboo or recycled materials are even better. Of course there are taps here too as much of Australia’s recycled materials are imported so again, you need to research, which is inconvenient!
- Overseas production can often be cheaper per item, but the cost might be in freight, or more likely in poor working conditions for the workers producing the items. Can you use a local producer and create savings by minimising your quantities?
Right now, climate-conscious options feel inconvenient.
The slow fashion movement has started many awesome conversations, one of them about our over-reliance on convenience.
It’s a brave and annoying step to fight convenience – you don’t have to do it all at once.
Replacing one questionable supplier, process, or product with a better one is an amazing place to start.
