An Eco-Sinner Interview

How green is your lifestyle? It seems most people consider themselves environmentally conscious if they use a reusable coffee cup or grocery bag, but the reality is that a lot of the stuff we take for granted and use everyday has an extremely steep carbon footprint.

We caught up with author Fred Pearce to ask him about his new book, Confessions of an Eco-Sinner: Tracking Down the Sources of My Stuff. In his best-selling book, Pearce traveled the globe to find out just how ‘green’ are the everyday objects that most of us use in the wealthy nations. The result is a brilliant, witty, unnerving look at the secret world of our stuff.

Tell us why you wrote Confessions of an Eco Sinner.

Two reasons. First I wanted to find a new way of telling some familiar environmental stories, to find a new audience among people who don't want to read about issues in the abstract. So I thought a personal journey to find out about my own footprint on the world would be one way of doing that - a way of connecting our lives with the things that environmentalists worry about.

And secondly because I did want to know about where my stuff comes from. None of us really knows in these days ofglobalization. One scientist told me when I started work that if we lived in Roman times and wanted the lifestyle we have today, we would need about 6000 slaves: growing and cooking our food, making our music, running the stables full of horses for our travel... nubile women with fans to keep us cool, and so on.

We like to think that all these things are done by machines these days. But actually there are lots of people round the world making and growing things for us. It's just that we don't know who they are. So I set out to find out. That meant not just finding out about my environmental footprint, but about my social footprint, too.

How long did it take to visit the various places described in your book?

I had about a year working hard on the research. A few of the journeys had been done before that. Finding where our oil comes from, for instance, and fish in West Africa. But mostly I did it in a series of journeys after talking to retailers and suppliers and persuading them to give me the details about the supply chains. Some of even the simplest things like a pair of cotton socks had amazingly complicated journeys. So I had to follow.

Please describe how you approached writing the book.

Sometimes it took months to work out the links in the supply chain. So I found myself always researching several chapters at once. And in order to keep my carbon footprint as low as possible, I tried to do research on different chapters when I visited countries. For instance, in Bangladesh I visited prawn farms as well as clothes sweatshops. In India, I visited the places where they break up our old computers at the same time as investigating organic cotton growing and so on. In China, I investigated recycling and computer manufacture and all kinds of things in one trip.

Was there any product you wanted to find out more information about but were unable to do so?

One of the biggest problems was the supply chains for major commodities. For instance, as I say in the book, I never did manage to get very firm links about how cotton travels round the world. I visited cotton farms in several countries, like India and Australia, and they all told me they believed that their cotton ended up in British clothing. But the big commodity companies, like Cargill, who buy the cotton and then sell it on to clothes makers, don't tell anyone where their cotton is coming from. They are like huge spiders in the middle of a web.

I did manage to discover that most of the cotton growing in Uzbekistan in central Asia - on the huge cotton plantations that dry up the Aral Sea - goes eventually to Bangladesh, and from there to clothes brands all over the world. But I never did find out what happens to Australian cotton. The growers tried to find out for me, but couldn't. The retailers in the UK tried to find out too if their clothes contained Australian cotton. But they said they couldn't find out either. And I believe them. It is a very strange business.

What do you mean when you talk about the 'hidden world' behind all the stuff we use/consume?

I guess that commodity market is part of the hidden world. Secrets. But a lot is just the fact that things are grown so far away and by people about whom we know very little, hidden from us consumers. And of course the supply chains can be long. I tracked organic cotton grown in Africa that went to India to be turned into twine and then back to Turkey where an Israel company turned it into cotton socks. Some things are hidden just because they are so complicated.

The nastiest place I went to was Uzbekistan in Central Asia. The big cotton plantations poison the land and food, dry up the Aral Sea, change the climate and enslave the people.
—Fred Pearce

What surprised you the most during your investigations?

Some of the moral dilemmas came as a big surprise. In the Bangladesh sweat shops, where they are paid 10 cents an hour, the women told me that I should not boycott the clothes they make, because otherwise they would have to go back to their villages, where things were even worse than in the sweatshops. At least away from home, they had freedom, even if they were poor. I hadn't expected to hear that.

And I also became convinced that it is a good idea for Europeans to buy green beans that are airfreighted from Africa to our shops. The air miles are a worry of course, and environmentalists say we shouldn't buy the beans because of that. But I met the farmers, who for the first time are getting good incomes from their smallholdings because they are selling to a world market, not their village.

There was a popular phrase only a couple of years ago here in Britain about how we needed to help Africa with "trade not aid". And fruit and vegetables are a big trade between us and Africa. So I don't see how we can say we are in favour of trade not aid with Africa, and then start boycotting what is a socially good trade because of concerns about air miles. We consumers have to cut our carbon footprints, I agree. But the first thing we should do is look at the things that inconvenience us, rather than wrecking the lives of poor African farmers. Maybe we should walk to the store and keep buying the beans. I do. After all, the Kenyan farmers didn't create the climate change problem; we did.

You mention in your introduction about a social footprint as well as an ecological footprint associated with the goods we consume, what do you mean by this?

I mean the things I have described really. My social footprint is just the people whose lives I influence by the things I buy. They are farmers growing my green beans or cotton or coffee; people recycling my waste (like paper and old computers) and sometimes the people whose lives are damaged by the climate change we in the rich world are causing. I do think we can have good social footprints as well as bad. And I hope I found some of mine. For instance, I buy more green beans from Africa after visiting the farmers in Kenya.

Were there any places you visited or objects you investigated that were not included in the book?

No. Pretty much everything is in. I tried to be as open as possible about my journeys. Not leave anything out.

Did you have any eco epiphanies while writing the book?

Not eco-epiphanies. I knew quite a lot about the environmental issues before I started. But I did learn a lot about the social issues, and I hope I have explained some of the surprises I discovered along the way.

What bothered you the most during your investigations?

The nastiest place I went was Uzbekistan in Central Asia. The environmental destruction, health problems and human rights issues were huge. The big cotton plantations poison the land and food, dry up the Aral Sea, change the climate and enslave the people. They often have no choice if the government tells you to go cotton-picking in the harvest season. Even doctors and teachers and students have to go. Nothing has changed since the Soviet times except there are fewer cotton-picking machines. The difference is that now the cotton is not being used to make Red Army uniforms, it is being made into clothes that we buy.

The conditions surrounding growing shrimps (prawns) in ponds in Bangladesh were also very bad. Environmentally it is hugely destructive of a great river delta, and socially it is bad. A big mafia system runs the entire industry there. The farmers get only a tiny proportion of the money I spend on a prawn curry in my local Indian restaurant in London. And the big traders that I visited took no interest in improving their conditions. I stopped buying Bangladeshi prawns after that visit.

What made you hopeful during your investigations?

I think we consumers do have considerable power, if we use it. Big companies are very keen to show us how green they are. Sometimes (quite often) it is greenwash. Propaganda. But it shows they are worried about their reputations. If we can demand better standards they will be forced to deliver them. I hope my book will help that process by shedding some light on what goes on. For instance, I know some retailers are trying to ban Uzbek cotton from their clothes now.

Were you a green guy before you wrote the book?

I was fairly green in my personal life. Less so in my writing life, because I do have to fly to see the things I report on and that means my carbon footprint is quite big. Author Fred Pearce

What will you do differently now?

I gave up the prawn curry. I never fly for pleasure and take the train for business whenever I can (that is, when traveling round Europe). Give up my beer? You must be joking!

Any more eco-books in the future?

Right now I am looking at population growth - it is a kind of taboo issue in the environmental movement these days. But it shouldn't be. And actually I am quite optimistic about the future direction of world population. I think the big issue is over-consumption, not overpopulation.