Linking Environment and Farming (LEAF) is an industry funded certification scheme, with standards aimed at encouraging efficient farming systems that look after the land and the rural community. Its underlying objective is to develop farming standards that are above baseline levels, but these are not aimed at meeting organic standards.
All European manufacturers and retailers must tell you about the energy efficiency of household ‘white goods’ such as fridges, freezers, washing machines, tumble driers, dishwashers, air conditioners, ovens and lightbulbs. The European Energy Label is certified by the Energy Savings Trust (EST), in conjunction with industry and the government. On these labels, products are rated from A to G, with A being the most efficient.
The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) began in 1997 as a joint initiative between the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Unilever, a multinational company and one of the world’s largest buyers of fish. Its aim was to help preserve our dwindling fish stocks by certifying well-managed and sustainable fisheries.
This is a Europe-wide label for non-food products including copy paper, dishwashing detergents, indoor paints and varnishes, hard floor coverings, textiles, televisions… even tourist accommodation. It covers a variety of environmental impacts such as production energy use, waste generation and recyclability, across the product’s whole life cycle.
The Environment Agency (EA) is within weeks of letting Monsanto escape its liability for dumping thousands of tonnes of cancer-causing chemicals – including all the ingredients of the DDT defoliant Agent Orange – in two quarries in Wales.
It has spawned a dozen urban legends. It gets praised and reviled by bloggers. And it tastes like carbonated cough syrup. But does Red Bull do you any good? Pat Thomas reports
Our love affair with convenience culture extends to a reliance on convenience ‘cures’ for minor complaints. In the first article of a new series, the Ecologist’s Health Editor Pat Thomas says that self-medication isn’t the same as self-help
In his final State of the Union address, George Bush announced his support for the adoption of biofuels on a massive scale. But is the plan such a good idea? By Pat Thomas
As doctors can tell you, the best remedy for colds and flu is the traditional one: rest, warmth, fluids – and time. Drug manufacturers want you to believe otherwise. But, as Pat Thomas reports, pharmaceutical ‘cures’ may be more than just a waste of money
It’s easy to feel so overwhelmed by the problems facing our planet that we turn away to whatever will cheer us. Pat Thomas shows us the pattern of climate change denial
Food is supposed to be good for you, which is why many people believe that functional foods such as cholesterol-lowering spreads are a ‘good thing’. But are they? Pat Thomas reports
Obesity is a problem that is chronic, stigmatised, costly to treat and rarely curable. Why? Because we are looking in the wrong places for a solution. Pat Thomas reports
Relationships, like so many other aspects of modern life, are increasingly subject to the pressures of commercialisation. ‘Buy this and you’ll be happy’, suggests the marketing. And one recent product, both intimate and as impersonal as can be imagined, boasts particular success…
Pat Thomas, Health Editor of the <i>Ecologist<i/>, responds to Felicity Lawrence's article in the Guardian on the link between junk food and mental health
The human gut is a unique ecosystem and the hallmark of any healthy ecosystem is the presence of a diversity of micro-organisms. If you are a slave to probiotic drinks you could be encouraging an unhealthy imbalance. Pat Thomas reports.
Is it worse than Mc Donalds? The BLT sandwich is an icon, the ultimate symbol of convenience culture. Tesco alone sells 5 million a year. This is what the £1.80 you pay for your BLT buys...
We are enamoured of fragrances, and virtually every aspect of our lives is touched by a fragranced product. But is it a touch too much? Pat Thomas reports.
Far from being the healthy drink implied by its sports sponsorships, Diet Coke is a worrying cocktail of neurotoxic and potentially carcinogenic chemicals
If you’re one of the millions of people using fake tan to look attractive and healthy, be wary: they are full of chemicals that can cause damage to your skin. By Pat Thomas
Over 1,000 juvenile delinquents showed a 44 per cent drop in antisocial behaviour when put on a low sugar diet. So why is the government completely ignoring what we are feeding our children, and yet is happy to spend £2,500 on administering each ASBO?
The human species has been breastfeeding for nearly half a million years. It’s only in the last 60 years that we have begun to give babies the highly processed convenience food called ‘formula’.
