Lifelines is a record of the letters written by 13-year-old Alexandra Johnston - an ardent environmental campaigner - and the responses she received from people who can 'really make a difference'. Letters on farming, forests, animals and suchlike come from notables including: HRH the Prince of Wales, James Lovelock, William Waldegrave and Kathleen Raine.
In a final chapter Alex asks for people to give optimistic snapshots of the future. Some find optimism too unrealistic: Jeremy Paxman laments the onward march of technology and the fragmentation of community and Spike Milligan is more dystopian still. Below is the letter Alex received from Anita Roddick.
Your piece on eco-labelling really touched me. Along with our friends in the animal welfare and environmental organisations we have been battling for nearly two years to make the British and European eco-labelling authorities see sense.
Ordinary people, let alone 'green consumers', just do not draw distinctions between issues like ozone depletion, global warming and animal welfare. You simply cannot argue that a product is environmentally OK if its development and manufacture required suffering by animals.
Imagine how cheated someone would feel if they bought a shampoo with an official European Union stamp of ecological approval only to discover when they got home that it had been tested on laboratory animals. It might be enough to put them off being a green consumer for life! Add the EU eco-label to all the other nonsensical, misleading and misused green claims like ozone friendly, biodegradable, recyclable, etc, and we are heading for a real mess.
The good news is that our friends at the Women's Environmental Network are setting up a consumer help-line to assist shoppers who need advice. The WEN Directory of Information (WENDI) can be reached on 0171 704 6800. Also, many pressure groups and retailers are now backing legislation in the British Parliament, which should outlaw misleading green marketing claims forever.
Let us keep our fingers crossed that the campaign groups succeed and that honesty will prevail.
Love and best wishes, Anita Roddick
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