It's Not Easy Being a Green Leader
by Bonnie Alter, London on 09.19.06
It’s not easy being at the forefront of a movement and trying to change people’s habits. Jamie Oliver is considered a hero by many because of his very successful campaign to improve the quality of lunches at English schools. As a result, the government was shamed into introducing new standards for lunches ( to include more fresh food ) and banned the sale of sweets and chips from vending machines. So what has happened? The students are buying the junk food at nearby shops and the vending machine companies are refusing to bid for contracts, claiming lost money due to the ban. And to make matters worse, some mothers in Yorkshire are taking orders for junk food and selling it to the poor dears at lunchtime. Then there is Tyrells, the luxury potato chip company (see Treehugger), committed to selling their chips only to small independent shops and Waitrose. They discovered that Tesco, a huge rival, was selling them when they had already “politely” asked them not to. This is part of a larger problem concerning the relationship between big supermarkets and their suppliers. Friends of the Earth says that large retailers are “bullying” farmers and suppliers. According to Tyrells “nobody is going to pull them up for their behaviour because they will get delisted as a supplier”. :: The Guardian
