Grace McLaughlin

A Guide to Environmentally Conscious Businesses

Global Context - Globalisation and Sustainability

Goal - To accomplish raising awareness for the environmental crisis we are currently facing. As well as making it so people will be less likely to support businesses who do not care about the environment whatsoever!

Introduction

Businesses like “Pretty Little Thing” are guilty of exactly this, yet they continue to be supported when businesses like “Grown” who sell beautifully made, sustainable clothes are much less known. I want our environment to not only survive but to thrive. To achieve this goal, I set out to write a book about businesses in Ireland and how they are working to decrease their negative impacts on the Earth. I then ranked said businesses on a scale from 1-10, 1 being the least sustainable and 10 being the most! I have three chapters ranking different types of businesses. Chapter one is dedicated to Fashion businesses or clothes shops, chapter two is dedicated to food or food establishments like cafes and grocery shops! And chapter three is dedicated to Accessories and cosmetic businesses. I have a chapter four that looks a little different, I had the pleasure of interviewing Mary Harney who has been working in government for many years. She has been Tánaiste, The Minister of the Environment, she is currently the Chancellor of the University of Limerick, and along with these she has been many other things too! It was truly an honour to get to interview her! She gave some good insight into the state of the climate in Ireland! I hope my book can function as a guide of sorts for anyone who is looking to educate themselves on how to be more environmentally conscious. This book is dedicated to Earth, our home.

Process

This notebook functioned as my progress journal, I picked it out because it was made from recyclable materials, as shown in the picture, the cover says it used to be a plastic bottle.

It was a tad ironic that it came wrapped in unneeded plastic, just goes to show how much further we have to go before we are a completely sustainable country. The second picture is of my first entry/brainstorm in regards to my Personal Project, I knew I wanted it to be about the environment but I was unsure of which aspect of the environment that I wanted to focus on specifically, I eventually focused on Irish Businesses and that is why there are multiple things circled in red because I wanted to mix a few of my ideas together!

Veganic - 8.5/10

https://www.happycow.net/ reviews/veganic-dublin-173257

Fresh Cuts Clothing - 8.5/10

https://www.freshcutsclothing. com/

Avoca - 9/10

https://www.avoca.com/en/ stores-and-cafes

Rating

Some of the Businesses I chose to rate were...

Conclusions

My name is Grace McLaughlin, and I am the author of this book. I created it because of the love I have for my planet. You see Earth is heating up, ice caps are melting, animals are going extinct, and natural disasters are becoming unbelievably common. Humans are threatening to go past the point of no return in the name of technological advancement, in the name of the “future”; but let me ask you this: how can you say you are modernising and preparing for a future when that specific thing you are advancing towards may just be the reason that we do not have a future?

Table of Contents: 1. Prologue 2. Chapter 1: Fashion 3. Chapter 2: Food 4. Chapter 3: Accessories and Cosmetics 5. Chapter 4: The Interview 6. Epilogue