There will be all the ethical and charitable things you could want with lots of information about how to save something or someone near you.

If you can’t wait to see what we look like, feel free to e-mail any comments and questions to:
alex@smallisall.com

Reject pets
Instead of pampering a pet with food from caged, harassed animals, treat every animal as you would a pet. Buy whatever you need from companies who guarantee they don’t test their cosmetics, toothpaste and shaving cream on animals and maybe walk a dog or two at your nearest rescue centre.

Think less
Instead of bemoaning the fact that you haven’t thrown yourself in front of a whaling ship this year, do whatever you can. Write down all the causes you care about on the back of the envelope you got your last mobile phone bill in and tear them into individual strips, put the strips into your recycling bag and go and ask your next door neighbour to pick just one. That’s your cause for as long as you want. While they’re yours, sign all their petitions, write to you MP about their issues, adopt one of the children or animals, buy your Christmas cards and presents from a charity, leave a donation to them in your will or call them and ask how you can help.

Travel more
Walk, cycle, run, skateboard, sail and dream your way through life. If you have to get somewhere far away in a hurry, try car sharing with people like www.liftshare.com. Check out bus and train services which can be faster than cars and internal flights with long check-ins and are cheapest if you book in advance which is unfair for the disorganised among us but that’s life. Enjoy the journey because wherever you’re going you won’t find all the answers.

Recycle less
Unless you have yet to jump on the bandwagon, in which case…where have you been?? Using less stuff and reusing existing stuff is cheaper than recycling, has less environmental impact and will gradually change our perception that new things are best when new things are just…new. Some are great, like this site, and some are silly like mobile phones. Enjoy what you have, donate what you don’t want and borrow what you need.

Shop more
Make the most of second hand shops, antique/flea markets and the good old jumble sale while they’re still around. Buying brand new things uses the world’s resources and creates a market in which vulnerable people, children and the poor, are easily exploited when the W.I. ladies would love to make more cakes for you.

Eat better
Locally produced, organic food maintains the soil’s health for next season’s crop and has less distance to travel so provides more nutrients for you meaning your body could resist more of the annual germs we all encounter which in turn saves time and money for the NHS. Giving up meat is the single best thing most people can do to reduce their carbon footprint. It’s complicated so please trust me on that and at least cut down and buy organic.

Spend more
Cheap things have usually caused the most damage before you get them let alone think about how best to dispose of them. Paying more for things with a known source allows producers to pay and treat employees justly and keep animals kindly and allows the cycle of niceness to continue. Paying more also means we think twice about what we buy which might have prevented millions of people buying houses with storage space to keep all the things they never use.

Live locally
Supporting local amenities means they will be around for longer. Instead of meeting your jolly friends in an American coffee chain, have a cup of tea and stale cake in an oppressively quite tea shop, get a stained book from the library, buy fruit and vegetables from a green grocer, newspapers from a newsagent and books from a book shop. That way, when corporations fail to take over the world, you can be smug about your small, vital part in the victory.

Laugh more
Laughing benefits the world by releasing endorphins and such making you happier which is one less sad thing for the rest of us to worry about. Being miserable doesn’t help anything but having a positive, problem-solving, approach to life could inspire people you meet to solve problems which otherwise build to hatred and create huge global problems like the arms trade. If all those people followed these suggestions they may think twice about making and selling things to kill other people’s children.

Stop smoking, but not for your health…
Tobacco plantation workers are usually poorly paid and frequently suffer health problems as a result of the pesticides used on the crops. Cigarette manufacturers spend billions ‘lobbying’ governments all over the world to do things that are not in the long-term interests of citizens, the environment or economies. In the UK, the smoking ban means more pubs are fitting heaters to the outsides of their buildings expelling huge amounts of heat and energy in an attempt to make standing out in the cold and rain more possible for smokers, so stop it.

Watch TV
The natural world is breathtaking but if we all try to look at the best bits it won’t stay that way. Enjoy all the fantastic images of animals and places like Antarctica from the comfort of your shared home, without feeling the cold, or contributing to their destruction.

Be flawed
Because we can’t admit we’re as annoying as everyone else, land currently being used by people to look at, take bland photographs of and manufacture clean air in, is being gobbled up by the drive for zillions of tiny homes for depressed people. Save money and leave some land for animals by finding a couple of people who can bear your annoying habits and stick with them. Maybe they’ll still be there to lean on when you’re too old to stand alone.

Question IVF
The world is full to bursting with people, many of whom have wildly inadequate food, water and housing. IVF costs millions of pounds, using vast scientific resources and animal experiments to produce even more people. No one has the right to overthrow nature, if you can’t work with it, accept it and think about all the happiness adoptive parents create from such commitment to a small stranger.

Consider the impact of everything you do.
A little bit of thought about your actions goes a long way. What you do matters because its all you have, and you matter. While you do considerate things, thinking whatever you want is good – as long it leads to you doing what I think is best.

And finally… stop communicating through digital networks and talk to a stranger in the shop/café/pub….unless you recognise the only person in there from the news, when you should call the police and don’t go straight home in case they’re following you.