Save as you Spend: Consumer Protection of the Environment and Local Social Cohesion

Our consumer society places enormous demands on the environment in terms of use of resources, production processes and distribution demands. It also devalues the local economy by concentrating wealth in a few super-corporations and removing it from circulation in the local regions. This chapter will assess how the consumer can select the less environmentally destructive products and re-establish the local identity by trading with alternatives to the conglomerates.