Of course women are the greener sex- most of them don't have to fork out the bills for the purchase and are in general they are more easily persuaded by the 'guilt' factor

In all seriousness, surveys mean diddly squat in real terms except to try and sway public opinion

I bet with enough resources anyone could come up with a survey that has found that the time and effort produced by energy companies performing surveys actually negates the use of 'eco-star  ' ratings on their products.

deepthought - women are the "shoppers" of the world.
Proof being the number of mens clothing shops at your local mall vs the womens clothing shops.
Funny thing, womens fashions are recession proof, mens are not.

Men make the money, women spend it.
Who do you want to sell to ??

Sprintcyclist wrote on Oct 18^th, 2007 at 11:43pm:


As an environmentalist I want to sell to men who will wear the same undies for years until they fall apart, won't even bother with a zillion household appliances, don't mess around wasting water washing their bed linen all that often and eat from the same pot they cooked in.

As a businessman I want to sell to women who buy new shoes every day, have every single appliance ever invented, use their mobile phones non stop and never wear the same dress twice.

As consumers and resource wasters women win hands down.

freediver wrote on Oct 19^th, 2007 at 6:56pm:


I dunno about boats but women buy half of all cars sold I expect.  And they seem most likely to be roaring off to the shop in a gas guzzling SUV as I believe they outnumber men in 4WD purchases.

Quote:

freediver wrote on Oct 19^th, 2007 at 7:26pm:


By number I should think - figures indicate women influence close to 80% of all car purchases and they alone have driven 4WD sales higher -

Quote:


But that's just cars mate.  As users of products they leave men in their perfumed wake.

Sprintcyclist wrote on Oct 20^th, 2007 at 11:37pm:


I reckon those who believe women consume less doesn't live with one or is being dishonest.  My girlfriend buys clothes at the rate of ten to one with me and she has dozens of pairs of shoes.  I don't.  She uses cosmetics and cleansers and perfumes and I use none.   She wears tights/panty hose and I don't (except on weekends) and she will drive to the shop to buy stuff because she can't carry the shopping home whereas I will walk and hump the bags home.

Crikey, as a consumer I am practically in hibernation by comparison.

I do however produce more methane for some reason known only to God.

Sprintcyclist wrote on Oct 21^st, 2007 at 9:44pm:

Women also tend to be the ones who do the grocery shopping.

Sappho wrote on Oct 22^nd, 2007 at 7:58am:


??????

I'm afraid you lost me there Sappho.     Though I am impressed with your attack on the good old mother tongue, her grammatical imperatives and the way she is spelled.

Do you think they are more green?

deepthought wrote on Oct 22^nd, 2007 at 8:40pm:


Have you no eyes that can see Deepthought? Nivia have a new range of beauty products for men and they are not the only brand to jump on the male vanity wagon. CK, Hugo and a range of others display their wares in department stores now to the resounding approval of the Metroman.

You're not a metroman eh? Hmmm... are you a hardware man then? Maybe a boating man? Huntin' Fishin' man, perchance an inventing man? Maybe cars are your buzz... or trucks... or bikes?

None of these? Maybe you are a cycling man with skin tight lycra, shoes and stream lined helmet using the roads and threatening the pedestrians with your lack of registration before stopping in for a well earned latte and bottled water whilst flicking the weekend papers and chatting with your mates.

Am I still of the mark? Hmmm.... could you be a drinking man then living though the bottle of wishful consumerism?

No evidence is needed Deepthought since it is still the case that the equalizing of women is yet complete. And whilst MEN invented and still control consumerism... Men remain the greater of the two evils. 

In my experience it is men who waste more money on consumerist junk. Maybe not the same things like makeup, but usually far more expensive and environmentally destructive things. They also work a lot harder to earn the money to waste on these things.

Sappho wrote on Oct 23^rd, 2007 at 1:04pm:



and you'd be right-on most points-but are we really "followers" of the male drive to have more and more stuff-does this not come from desire?

So women can be singled out for buying too much of certain items, but when it comes to fishing gear, dirtbikes and computers, you should treat them as equals?

oceanz wrote on Oct 23^rd, 2007 at 1:17pm:


We follow the ideas of men and form our desires from that male conceptual construct. Have you noticed how many men there are controlling the 'fashion industry' perhaps? I hear it's a gay man's paradise. 

And it is only in recent times that men have done away with makeup... and most have also given up the wig, lace, frills, satin and silk. We have so many paintings of men dress in frills and lace and madeup, it seems a joke to blame all this girly stuff on merely girls.

And what about that slick stuff that men would put in their hair during the dawn of rock and roll, forever putting a comb through in an apparently cool way, to keep it looking good. Let's go back further to the starch in their collars and cuffs.

And men are returning to the girly stuff too I notice. We have the metro male. Now Deepthought may like to discount them in his reflections but that merely reflects his age and lack of contact with teen males and 20 somethings.

OHG the smelly stuff they use. Repulsive to the nose they are, but these young boys will stink out a train or office with the stuff.

Advance hair anyone.... Yeah yeah! Or maybe you need those grey bits covered. Pfft.... men are vain.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/breaking-news/women-struggle-to-manage-money-report/2007/11/13/1194766670408.html

While many women can find that delicate balance in juggling family, work and social lives, a new study shows they still struggle when it comes to finances.

The study, released on Tuesday by Citibank, found many women still lacked financial know-how and were still lagging behind men in their knowledge of money matters.

The survey also found almost 1.5 million Australian women would last only one week on their current savings if they lost their job and still had to pay their usual bills.

The report also found 23 per cent of women rarely saved any money from their salary and only 13 per cent of women were very optimistic about their financial future.

The research suggested ignorance, apathy, lack of confidence, time pressures and over-reliance on men were problems facing women when it came to managing their finances.

Green groups slam men's razor packaging

http://news.smh.com.au/green-groups-slam-mens-razor-packaging/20071213-1gtl.html

A razor encased in plastic, cardboard and paper has been named as the worst offender for environmentally damaging packaging by Victoria's peak environment body.

The Gillette Fusion razor, made by Proctor and Gamble, won Environment Victoria's Golden DUMP award for its "gratuitous use of packaging", and the award for Excessive Use of Material.

The annual DUMP - Dangerous and Useless Materials in Packaging - awards expose the seven worst types of environmentally damaging packaging being sold on supermarket shelves.

---

How to spend an ethically-correct Christmas

http://news.smh.com.au/how-to-spend-an-ethicallycorrect-christmas/20071213-1gwr.html

Want to spend an environmentally ethically correct Christmas this year? Then switch off the Christmas lights, opt for oysters for dinner, and forget about stuffing stockings with hi-tech gadgets.

Climate experts say there is no single quick-fix solution against the mega wastage of the festive season, but there are a number of common-sense ways of enjoying Christmas without causing undue harm to the planet.

"Each one of us in our own small way can take a series of steps to limit the impact of Christmas on the environment," Nadia Boeglin, of France's Agency for the Environment and Control of Energy (ADEME), told AFP.

Not just a single step, she insisted, such as buying recycled wrapping paper for example, but a lot of steps that set end-to-end can reduce a carbon footprint.

Take Christmas trees, for example. This year's tree should be small and purchased with its roots, potted or not, said Gaelle Bouttier-Guerive of the WWF global conservation organisation. That way it can be left outside on a balcony or be planted in the garden for use again the following year.

For the Christmas meal, go for old-fashioned cloth napkins and porcelain plates rather than throw-away paper plates and napkins, and prepare a meal of local seasonal produce, organic if possible, she said.

Should you opt for caviar, from the endangered sturgeon, carefully check its origin as there is much contraband caviar about, or choose farmed caviar instead.

Oysters, a year-end favourite in France though not popular everywhere, are good for the environment, said Jancovici. They function like tiny carbon-wells that absorb CO2 to build their shells. "It's better for the environment to eat oysters than to eat a big slice of red meat," he said.

Choosing fish is also an environmentally-stacked issue as many species have been decimated by fishing. Atlantic salmon and swordfish are to be avoided at all costs, according to WWF, which instead recommends trout or sea bass.

Note too that fish sold with the MSC label (Marine Stewardship Council) are fish caught with sustainable methods.

As to dessert, make it yourself to avoid cakes stuffed with unhealthy additives and sugar.

But the real key to a waste-reducing Christmas "is to remember everything you ended up throwing away last year to avoid buying too much this time round," said Boeglin.

And the worst environmental hazard of all are useless potentially polluting gifts -- gagdets first and foremost.

What do you live in now?

http://news.smh.com.au/swedes-pay-top-dollar-for-green-christmas/20071215-1ha9.html

Swedes are set to pay top-dollar for a clean, environmentally-friendly conscience this Christmas -- but are not about to change their high-consumption habits, experts say.

"We're seeing that consumers are becoming more and more interested in 'green products', especially for Christmas," Swedish Trade Federation spokeswoman Margareta Ternell told AFP.

"We're talking about everything, from what lands on the dinner table, like organic hams, to clothing made from organic cotton. Organic jeans are very popular this year, for instance," Ternell said.

In just the first six months of the year, the trade group saw a 130-percent increase in sales of fair trade products, which guarantee decent pay for producers and aim to enhance social, economic and environmental development in regions where the goods are made.

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Study says men use more energy than women

http://news.smh.com.au/world/study-says-men-use-more-energy-than-women-20080612-2p7b.html

Swedish men consume far more energy than women, especially when it comes to transportation, a study by the Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI) indicated Wednesday.

"Single men consume, according to our calculations, about 20 percent more energy than single women," FOI said in a 60-page report.

The figures appeared strongly linked to the fact that women are statistically more concerned about the impact of their personal energy consumption on the environment, the group added.