GREEN CONSUMER VIDEOS – 1988-1990

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, I regularly appeared on TV and radio shows talking about green consumer issues. This coincided with the publication of The Green Consumer Guide (1988), Green Supermarket Guide (1989) and The Young Green Consumer’s Guide (1990).

Sadly, I’ve only got a few of the clips and some of them are cut short. My niece has kindly pulled them together in different compilations to give a flavour of the issues at that time.

Since then there have been a few recordings which will be on other parts of the website. And, I’ve created a separate page for wilding videos taken in 2020 and 2021..

Many people will be surprised to know how much interest there was about green consumerism in the late 80s and early 1990s.It was kicked off by the publication of The Green Consumer Guide, co-authored by myself and John Elkington, in 1988.Read More…

Published in 1988 ‘The Green Consumer Guide’ was written by John Elkington and myself – Julia Hailes. The book had 11 print runs in the first month, shot to the top of the non-fiction best-seller list and eventually sold over 1 million copies worldwide, being published in 20 countries. Read More…

The Green Consumer’s Supermarket Shopping Guide was launched on Green Shopping Day in 1989. A year on from The Green Consumer Guide, the supermarkets had completely changed their tune -green consumers were their customers and they wanted to appeal to them. Read More…

We were surprised to find that the style of The Young Green Consumer Guide, with illustrations and simple language, was very appealing to adults! The book encouraged children to challenge their parents, as well as businesses, on what they were doing to be green – and help them to understand how these issues affects their everyday lives. Read More….

I was amazed to discover this edition of Kilroy in my archives. I remember doing it but I didn’t remember how many well known people were participating. Stephen Fry looking very young but who sadly doesn’t speak. Imran Khan who was a prominent man about town at the time – and is now President of Pakistan. Elizabeth Emmanuel, designer of Princess Diana’s wedding dress. David Icke before he started promoting theories about green lizards … Read More….

The BBC Nine O-clock News covered Green Shopping Day an initiative organised John Elkington and me. We were launching our second green consumer book – The Green Consumer’s Supermarket Shopping Guide. The video includes Jonathan Porritt who was, at the time, director of Friends of the Earth. Read More…

Anne Diamond was very enthusiastic about green consumerism. On her programme again, I’m talking about the sort of ‘green products’ people could look out for. Actually, there weren’t that many and some of the discussion is out of date! Read More…

I presented Green Matters – a mini series within the ITVs This Morning Programme. I had to dress up in a green tracksuit and each week focus on a different topic. This one on Waste is the only one I’ve got a copy of… I remember doing one on tourism, when we went to the Lake District – and another we spent some time at a sewage farm – the smell was overwhelming! Read More…

One of the themes that emerged after we wrote The Green Consumer Guide was the value of light greens vs dark greens. The argument was that green consumers were ‘light greens’ and weren’t really doing nearly enough to help the planet. Here’s a debate chaired by Gloria Hunniford between me and a dark green… Read More…

The campaign to remove CFCs from aerosols was one of the most successful that I’ve been involved with. In the late 1980s, the link between chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and the destruction of the ozone layer was made. However, it took a while to convince the industry that this was a real problem. Read More…

Recycling was probably the most popular green consumer issue because people could really understand what they could do. Quite often it was the only environmental thing they were prepared to do! Here I’m talking about recycled loo paper, overloaded landfill sites, saving energy, recycled materials, Mcdonalds cartons, egg boxes etc. Read More…

Gosh – this video is actually quite funny. The lady from Next is incredibly competitive about what the company is doing. “I’m not going to let everyone else bring out green t-shirts”. She reinforces her lack of environmental knowledge and awareness by with this bold statement “Everything about green cotton is environmentally sound”. That’s nonsense. Paul Smith is rather more rational. Read More…

Organic produce was quite a niche market in the 1980s. I remember talking to a group of enthusiasts about getting it into the supermarkets and they were decidedly unenthusiastic about the idea. I couldn’t disagree more. It’s clear organic is a better environmental option – what’s not to like about that? Read More…

If there was ever a moment when I decided to dedicate my life to the environment, it was witnessing the forests being destroyed in the Mato Grosso in Brazil. I could see dense forest stretching for miles into the distance and then shockingly heard the sound of chain saws. Here are a few clips of me trying to promote sustainably sourced timber. A few years later I was at the launch of the Forest Stewardship Council… Read More…

A phone in on the This Morning Programme with Richard & Judy, interviews on TV-Am, Anne Diamond and The Time the Place. This compilation of TV clips was from 1988/89 post publication of the Green Consumer Guide. Julia is talking about ozone-friendly aerosols, pump action sprays, nappies, batteries, packaging and other green consumer issues. Read More..

GREEN CONSUMER VIDEOS 1988-90