What You Can Do

Globalisation has made consumers powerful actors in our world economy.

Never accept the unacceptable-business must be a force for good

Local and Global: It's tough everywhere at the moment- locally and globally. I know it. You know it. We feel it more every day as so many struggle in our own locality.

We should think locally – and that's more important than ever in the current economic situation Ireland finds itself. But we have to think and act globally too. Holding on to our committments in distant lands is what will sustain our communities and all communities in the future. That means fighting for our global life support system – the lungs of our planet, the world's forests – to ensure that while we address local needs, we're also working for a healthy future for the planet. Remember that our economic prosperity is intimately linked to the natural world because the earth provides the services and resources for our survival.

The role of education for sustainable lifestyles in a world of 7 billion... Globalisation has made consumers powerful actors in our world economy. Our daily choices as consumers affect the lives of workers in distant places and the way people live. Sustainable consumption means buying goods and services that do not harm the environment, society, and the economy. Although it is predominantly an issue for high-income and emerging economies, consumption is an excellent entry point for teaching about sustainable development. Consumer education is practical, touching the daily lives of people near and far away. Local consumer action can have a global, social, economic, and environmental impact, both today and tomorrow.

Education therefore has an important role to play for consumers, in terms of learning to know about the products we buy; encourage curiosity about how and where goods are produced as well as what the working conditions are in the country of origin? How far are goods shipped to reach the supermarket shelves? What is the environmental footprint of the production and transport of certain products? By using knowledge about the impact of our economic choices in order to change our behaviour and consumption habits. However, knowledge is not enough. ESD is a transformative learning process and aims to change the way people interact with the world.

The wood consumer:

Wood impacts so many aspects of our lives which we often fail to recognize. Our programme of education awareness and policy development has been conceived against a backdrop of some 21 years of Just Forests activities, including 20 years of the ‘Wood of Life’ exhibition and programme and the demonstrated interest and engagement of schools, teachers, students, the general public, and in more recent times, professional bodies and politicians in the issues and the exhibition.

The programme also ensures that our development education initiatives raise public awareness and understanding amongst our target groups of the underlying causes of global poverty and inequality and Ireland’s role in tackling these issues.

Everyone in the world depends on nature and ecosystem services to provide the conditions for a decent, healthy, and secure life. Just Forests use the state of the world’s forests as a tool to establish links between 'development' and poverty.

Tuesday, 16. October 2012
FSC moves forward to develop an Online Claims Platform

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