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Green Balloons, Customer Example

  One such individual is Mrs Mildley-Greene who lives in the Home Counties, drives a five-year old Volvo diesel (so much greener than buying a new Prius) and religiously sorts her rubbish every week for recycling. She and her husband are even thinking of giving up their second home in Italy because they feel guilty about the global warming caused by flying. She is the local organiser for a charity which is raising money to buy goats for African villagers.

She is about to spend £300 on a balloon race to raise funds for the charity. Naturally she is asking questions about what she is buying:

1. Are the balloons biodegradable?

2. Where does the gas end up and does it cause global warming?

3. What about using balloon valves?

4. Shall we tie ribbons onto the balloons?

Hopefully all balloon suppliers & retailers know the answers to these first four questions Check your answers here

1.  We  bought a Fair Trade football last week for our son. Can we get Fair Trade balloons?
2. Which country does the latex for the balloons come from?  Are the growers and farmers and their employees treated fairly or is there any economic slavery taking place?
3. Are rubber plantations causing environmental damage for example by causing deforestation, by chemical pollution such as fertiliser runoff, or by evicting the resident wildlife?
4. Are the raw materials and the finished balloons flown long distances, so adding to global warming?
5. If these balloons are made in  America then does the latex travel all the way from Malaysia to the USA by ship? This is also undesirable because shipping also causes global warming  - the CO2 emission from ships is more than that of aircraft according to some sources. 
6. Are conditions in the factories safe for the workers? Are the workers paid a fair wage?
7. Is excessive packaging kept to a minimum? 

I personally do not have a clue what the answers are!