SAFETY IN NUMBERS
A new wad of research has hit the headlines illuminating the strength of public opinion toward sustainable shopping.

New Zealand has traditionally lagged the key Western European and North American ethical consumer markets, but we're not too far behind.

Moxie Design has released updated findings (86kb pdf) in their Solution Seekers research. The Kiwi ethical consumer market has grown 23% in the last 18 months.

This builds on a couple of key previous posts of mine; most recently in calling for government legislation, and some important analysis (IMHO!) back in November. It also works with the concept I wrote about in the Capital Times a few weeks back.

National Radio reported (audio link) on the Moxie findings this morning - the bottom line is that one third of Kiwi consumers actively shop with an ethical mindset. It's been driven largely by increased climate change awareness with Moxie determining that 83% of us are aware of the issue.

Moxie research comes following last weeks release of less robust research from NZBCSD indicating that for 70% of Kiwis "a company’s environmental practices have a big influence on whether [they] buy their products".

These two results indicate the level of procrastination I wrote about in Capital Times - and also covered by the Guardian last week. For Kiwis, an "apples with apples" analysis says that 83% are aware of the issues but only 32% act accordingly. That 83% may be 80% or indeed 70% - regardless we're a little slow off the mark.

As that exquisite scene in Life of Brian shows us, there's no use "gabbing on about it. It's completely pointless and it's getting us nowhere", although slow, we're increasingly getting "off our arses" and putting money where our mouth is.

It's time to have the wee chat with your barista (and your grocer, your barman, your bookseller, etc). As the illustration above implies - it's pretty simple. In fact, here's a good idea: you chat away, in the meantime we'll talk to a whole lot of retailers for you... roll on ShoppingFix!