A Good news, Suzanne. There are lots of ethical clothing companies out there who are trying to work with nature without tie-dying everything they can get their hands on. Howies (www.howies.co.uk), for instance, is a low impact, environmentally sustainable clothing company that makes great, long-lasting and innovative clothes while People Tree (www.peopletree.co.uk) works hard to make sure all its gorgeous clothes meet Fairtrade principles. High street shops such as Laura Ashley, Levi's, Marks & Spencer and H&M are getting in on the act too and offering clothing lines that are Fairtrade or 100 per cent organic or both. Considering the paucity of green fashion that existed a few years ago, the current explosion in eco-conscious fashion is great to see. Of course, you can always refresh your wardrobe by buying vintage clothing or mix and match outfits from charity shops or jumble sales. If you're feeling particularly adventurous, you could even hold a 'swishing' party where you and your girlfriends each bring along a couple of items of clothing you no longer want and swap them for other people's more desirable cast-offs. It can be great fun, especially if you make a night of it and lay on some Fairtrade wine and nibbles. There's also an online swap shop, www.whatsmine
isyours.com, where you can buy, sell and swap all sorts of clothes. It's a great site, with thousands of clothes up for grabs at any one time, so make sure you pay it a visit.


Q Can I eat tuna with a clear conscience? I get through several tins a week. Richard Ricketts

A Years of over-fishing have left tuna stocks severely depleted, Richard.
Although skipjack tuna, the most common species of tuna used for tinned products, is more resilient to overfishing than yellowfin, bigeye and blue fin tunas, it's still under pressure. Without effective fishing controls, even these stocks risk eventual collapse.
To make matters even worse, some tuna fishing practices are responsible for wiping out thousands of sharks and turtles every year. This is because most tuna is caught using 'fish aggregation devices', or FADs, which are used to lure the fish into position.
Unfortunately, these devices also attract a host of other species and juvenile tuna before everything around them is scooped up in huge nets. On average, every time a FAD is used, 1kg of these other species will be caught for every 10kg of tuna.
To help bring more attention to these destructive fishing techniques, Greenpeace recently introduced a Tinned Tuna League Table. Sainsbury's own-brand tinned tuna topped the table, while the UK's two biggest brands – John West and Princes – finished last and second to last.