Individual activism and creating small scale positive change can feel overwhelming and impossible. “Voting with your dollar”, however, and supporting independent businesses where possible, is a crucial and impactful form of local activism. It feeds money into local businesses, supports local—and therefore more sustainable and ethical—suppliers while simultaneously diverting profit from large monopolies and conglomerates. As students, likely operating on a very small budget and a lot of time constraints, this can be very difficult to do. However, I believe that the easiest way to do this is to shop sustainably by supporting independent cafes and local businesses which tend to have very similar prices to that of a big chain.
Green Routes Cafe, for example, is situated on Magdalen Road in South Oxford, between Iffley Road and Cowley Road. It is nestled among a little eclectic string of independent cafes, pubs, an organic food shop, and a Tibetan restaurant surrounded by stunning street art. Green Routes is the flagship shop of Routes, a London-based coffee company focusing on sustainable and traceable manufacturing processing. They directly support coffee farmers all over the world and focus on maintaining and improving soil quality, biodiversity and sustainable farming practices throughout the supply chain. As well as serving great coffee, Green Routes offers teas and other speciality drinks, a delicious, entirely vegan menu, and great selection of cakes and pastries. It is evident that they care about their coffee, their food, and their mission, so you are sure to feel good about supporting them, especially given they are the first UK coffee brand to be recognised as a “Certified Regenified Coffee Roaster”. They demonstrate that good food can be cruelty-free and ethical without an extortionate price tag.
On the other side of Oxford, Wild Honey is a small Oxford-originating business with three locations across Summertown, Jericho, and East Oxford. It is primarily a health food store, selling organic produce and products, but also offers eco-friendly makeup, skincare and toiletries, supplements, and herbal remedies. They sell lots of reusables, as well as having refill stations and zero-waste beauty products with low or no packaging and natural, cruelty-free ingredients. They also have a wide range of gifts, such as organic soy or beeswax candles, chocolate, jewellery et cetera. The food is, of course, generally more expensive than big chain supermarkets, but they do have a lot of pantry staples that are reasonably priced , as well as offering products that you certainly would not be able to find in Tesco.
The last business I want to highlight is Tap Social Movement. Tap Social is a social enterprise, providing training and employment for prisoners and ex-prisoners. Their brewery, where they brew “Criminally Good Beer”, is located locally in Botley, West Oxford. They have two current locations: The Taproom in West Oxford and The Market Tap in The Covered Market. Their business model provides prison leavers with an income, a plan, and stability that they are often completely denied by the prison system but which significantly reduces the likelihood of reoffending. Tap Social is an incredibly impressive social enterprise, and one we are very lucky as a city to have on our doorstep.
Although this is just a small snapshot of the many hidden gems across the city that offer local, sustainable, and ethical produce, food and/or services, these three businesses certainly present a starting point to support sustainable practices. They provide an easy way for students to contribute to direct and tangible change in the local community by diverting profit from predatory chains and supporting small businesses who genuinely care about consumers, community, and the planet as a whole.