Hello, how you doing today? I hope you're doing well.

My name's Mrs. Tomassi and I'm gonna be working through with you on your citizenship lesson today.

So hopefully, you've got everything you need, you're all set.

And when you're ready, we can make a start.

So today's lesson title is How Can Shopping Sustainably and Locally Help to Support the Local Economy? And This forms part of the unit on how can the local economy help support sustainability? Hopefully by the end of the lesson today, you'll be able to explain sustainable shopping and consider the impact of spending money locally.

So there are three key words that you're gonna see throughout the lesson today.

And these are sustainable shopping, which is using resources and making choices as a consumer in a way that does not harm the environment and can continue for a long time.

Circular economy.

So an economic system based on the reuse and regeneration of materials or products moving away from the model of take, make, and throw away.

And then finally, the multiplier effect.

This is the concept that when consumers spend money at a local business, it stays within the community, continues to circulate, triggering a chain reaction of economic activity that benefits the economy.

Now these three words will be embolded throughout.

So if you can't remember them or you wanna refer back to them, you can here.

We'll make a start with our first of two learning cycles today, which is, what is sustainable shopping? So some people make their shopping decisions based solely on their favourite brand or price, but some choose a more sustainable way of shopping.

Now, sustainable shopping, did you know what this was? So it's this idea of using resources, making choices as a customer, as a consumer in a way that does not harm the environment and can continue for a long time.

It's beneficial to both the local economy and the environment.

Have you ever shopped sustainably? Can you think of any ways to shop sustainably? Sustainable shopping contributes to a successful circular economy.

Now this was the key word we looked at earlier.

So it is this idea that is based on the reuse and regeneration of materials for products.

A lot of what happens in today's society is this idea of take, make, and throw away, which contributes to a massive buildup of waste.

So, and it doesn't allow for this model of sustainable shopping.

The government tries to encourage people to shop sustainably because a circular economy helps every community.

So if you did think of any ways earlier, you might see them here now.

So buying items that use less packaging.

buying items made from recycled or natural materials.

buying items which are produced without harm in animals.

And it can also be in thinking about how far something's travelled before it reaches the shops.

So actually, if you've got any products at home, go and have a little look at them, especially if they're food products.

And you can see on the back where it's come from.

So some products come from all over the world.

So it's having this idea of maybe using more local products as well.

So if something comes from the other side of the world, it creates more pollution.

This is because it's been transported.

So if you've got a reusable water bottle, you don't need to buy water or dispose of the single-use plastic waste.

So this is one way of being more sustainable.

And again, it's this idea that sustainable shopping helps to reduce.

So could carbon emissions eliminate waste and stop overuse of natural resources? Check for understanding now, which actions or examples of sustainable shopping? Arrange these actions onto the correct side of the scale.

So yes, sustainable, no, unsustainable.

You've got here four examples.

Shopping locally, buying bottled water, buying recycled products, buying goods with lots of packaging.

See if you can work out which side they go on.

How did you get on? So we've got, yes, sustainable is shopping locally and buying recycled products.

No, unsustainable is buying bottled water and buying goods with lots of packaging.

So sustainable shopping also means about thinking long term.

It's moving away from that idea of you know, just taking news.

It is moving to an idea of what is gonna be the long term impact.

To give you an example, buying better quality clothes that last longer, it might cost more at the start.

However, you're not gonna have to replace them for a long time.

So then in the long run, it's a saving there.

And then also think about ethical choices.

Have you heard of ethical choices before? Now, ethical choices would be about avoiding fashion brands that maybe underpay workers maybe go against human rights, avoiding fast fashion brands that might harm the environment.

So it's making them ethical decisions when you buy products.

Both sustainable shopping and ethical shopping is all about considering the rights of others.

Sweatshops, so if you've heard of them before, are often found in low income countries and they pay workers as extremely low wages whilst also failing to speak basic safety standards.

So if you think about those people that are working in them shops, the impact that it's having on them, it probably means that a lot of their rights aren't being adhere to.

Whereas in the UK there are strict health and safety regulations to protect workers.

And also, you know, there'll be things like minimum wages, etc.

to ensure that workers are paid the right amount of money.

Whereas in the sweatshop, many factories might with little protection for the rights and health of their workers.

To give a tragic example from 2012, Tazreen Fashion's factory fire in Bangladesh where over 100 garment workers died and over 200 were injured due to locked exits and inadequate fire safety.

So conditions that would be made illegal in the UK, unfortunately weren't there and led to that tragedy.

Another thing to think about when we think about sustainable and ethical shopping is about considering the environment.

So the UN estimates that in 2019, over 60% of clothing was made from plastic-based fibres and millions of garments still end up in landfill every year.

So when we are thinking about that idea of sustainability, what was it about? It's about that reusing.

This here is showing a large amount of waste.

Now cotton uses 6% of the world's pesticides and 16% of insecticides more than any other crop.

These chemicals harm soil, pollute water, release greenhouse gases, and can linger in ecosystems for years.

So again, we're thinking about these ideas of the impact that it is having.

Now the United Nations has sustainable development goals, which are 17 global targets designed to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure peace and prosperity for all by 2030.

If you've heard of it, you might know some, but if you haven't, these include things like responsible consumption and production, decent work and economic growth and sustainable cities and communities.

It links closely to sustainability and local shopping.

What the goals are doing is they're trying to encourage the world to ensure the environment and economy is protected.

Which organisation create the sustainable development goals? Was it the UK government? B, the Environment Agency.

C, the United Nations, or D, Amnesty International? It is the United Nations.

Now when you take part in sustainable shopping and choose products made locally, it can help benefit the environment and it supports your local community.

Can you think why? So if we think about the environment, well, if it's local products, then they've travelled a very short distance to reach the shops.

So things like lorries on the road, less air pollution, actually even, you know, they could have been transported if they've come right over from other countries by boat and by air as well.

So actually having it local is cutting down the amount of pollution that is used.

As well as this, it's supporting small businesses who rely on their local customers.

These businesses are more likely to buy from local suppliers too.

And that creates that chain reaction in that area.

When we talk about the local economy, when we talk about sustainable shopping, we are talking about these chains and constantly creating these cycles.

And this is what we call the multiplier effect.

So the money spent locally stays local and gets spent again and it goes round.

Yeah? As well as that, local businesses also pay taxes, like things like business rates and corporation tax, which go to the government.

And then these help to fund things that we will use like schools, hospitals, and roads.

So again, the money then is put back into the economy and then you'll see it in the public services that we use.

So local councils get some of the money through business rates and that means the more successful the local businesses, what do you think is gonna happen to that local council and their services? It's gonna improve as well.

So again, it is this idea that when things are going well, the other parts of the council well as well.

So when people choose sustainable shopping locally, they're not just helping the environment, they're investing in their own communities too.

Check for understanding now.

So out of the three sentences below, only two are correct.

Find the incorrect sentence and correct it.

Local businesses pay tax, which helps the community.

Buying fast fashion supports sustainable shopping.

The multiplier effect means money stays in the local economy.

Did you manage to work out the incorrect one was number two? Buying fast fashion does not support sustainable shopping.

Hopefully manage to get that.

Well done if you did.

Some people can also get involved through social action and active citizenship.

This means doing something positive to make a change.

So students could start campaigns in schools to encourage others to buy from local shops or to avoid fast fashion.

They could write to their local counsellors and ask them to support the independent businesses.

Or they could organise things like close swaps event just to encourage that reusing rather than waste.

All these types of events support to make a positive difference.

So we've got the Oak National Academy pupils that all take part in their active citizenship.

Sofia says, "Remember when we all wrote to the MP to support local businesses when they were struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns? We did that as part of our citizenship online lessons." Jacob says, "Yes I do, Sofia.

I also drew a poster and put it in the window.

It was an advert to support sustainable shopping to encourage people to spend money in their local economy rather than go to big shops." Laura says, "I remember walking past your house and seeing that, Jacob so I designed one too.

It was a bit like a multiplier effect 'cause I saw loads in the local community, you were an active citizen." And this is a great example of how young people can get involved and support some of these causes such as sustainable shopping.

Now, Andeep says, "My community put an advert in the neighbourhood magazine, which supported sustainable shopping and highlighted the places to shop locally." Aisha says, "I love being an active citizen.

I go to hustings event so I can talk to my local MP to encourage him to support sustainable shopping.

I think a circular economy is really important." And Sam says, "I signed petitions, perhaps I should have a guy at making one.

I've boycotted single used plastics." And then Izzy says, "We had a local garage safari, which is sort of like a jumble sale, but in different people's garages.

We can buy secondhand items to help sustainable shopping." So again, these are all great examples of how people can get involved and what you can do to support sustainable shopping.

So national events like Small Business Saturday UK are designed to help more people discover and support local businesses and to encourage sustainable shopping.

So it takes place each December.

Encourages shoppers to buy from small independent shops and services to ensure the local circular economy grows.

In 2023, an estimated 669 million was spent with small businesses on Small Business Saturday UK.

So schools and communities get involved by promoting local businesses through posters, newsletters, or social media.

And they're great forms of social action to show young people how they can participate in active citizenship by making real changes in their community.

Check for understanding now.

Can you bullet point at least five examples of active citizenship methods, which would help encourage sustainable shopping? What did you manage to come up with? So things like writing to your MP.

Going to hustings events and speaking to your local MP.

Meeting your local counsellor.

Advertising sustainable shopping for a poster or a magazine advert.

Sign in petitions.

Boycotting single use plastics.

Buying secondhand goods.

Write a motivational posts on social media.

If you managed to get at least five of them, if you got more, even better, well done.

You might have even come up with some different ideas.

Maybe there's some stuff that you are already doing, that would be brilliant as well.

Now this leads us onto the first task today.

So can you write a short story from the point of view of a teenager who decides to shop sustainably for a day? Include what they bought, what they made those choices, why they made those choices, how it helped both the environment and their local community.

And include free keywords, sustainable shopping, circular economy, and the multiplier effect.

You're probably gonna need some time.

So if you pause it and then once you've got your story all together and you want to go through some feedback, if you unpause and we can have a look at how you got on.

Hope you have some fun and enjoy this task.

So how did you find that? Hopefully, you've got some really interesting stories or some days.

I mean you could have even, if you are a sustainable shopper, maybe you could have spoke about some of the stuff that you've done and that would be really interesting as well.

So we've got a bit of an example here.

Now you might have had something similar, you might not.

You could have gone on a completely different line, but make sure as long as you've got all those key words right and your examples show sustainability, then it'll be a great answer.

So this morning I challenged myself to only make sustainable shopping choices.

Instead of ordering a cheap jumper from a fast fashion site, I visited a local charity shop and found a quality secondhand jumper.

Not only did I save money via also reduced waste.

A perfect example of the circular economy where items are reused and kept in circulation instead of ending up in landfill.

Later, I stopped it by a local market and bought handmade soap wrapped in paper, made by a small businesses that sourced the ingredients from a nearby farm.

This was part of the multiplier effect.

'Cause when I spent money at a local business, it stayed within the community and continued to circulate, triggering a chain reaction of economic activity that benefited the local economy.

I remembered that businesses like this pay business rates and corporation tax helping to fund things like parks and libraries through local government.

It felt good to know that my money stayed in the community and had a positive impact, not just for the environment but for local jobs too.

Supporting a small business like this is the kind of action promoted by small business Saturday, which shows that sustainable shopping choices can help both people and the planet.

Hopefully you enjoyed that task and you came up with some great ideas.

Brilliant work, and we're gonna move on to the second learning cycle, which is why should we spend money locally? Now we have started to talk about some of this and we are gonna explore it more in this learning cycle.

So can you remember what sustainable shopping is? So it's that idea of reusing.

Now why does that help to strengthen this circular economy? Spending money locally means buying goods and services from businesses in your area.

Things like independent cafes, shops, local markets.

When we do this, the money is staying within the community, rather going to the bigger international companies.

Why is that a good thing it's staying in the community? What happens then? Remember it carries on going round.

So to explore a bit further that we didn't look at earlier, things like actually employing local people.

Again, this is gonna help the local economy because there's gonna be less unemployment.

You're gonna boost household incomes.

If incomes have more money, what are they gonna do? Hopefully, you've got it.

So then they're gonna be spending more money.

What's gonna happen then? Then it carries on, so the cycle carries on.

And then everywhere can continues to boost.

It carries on that cycle.

So it supports a stronger local economy improves people's quality of lives.

And then again, people retain tax, which will contribute to improving the local services even further.

So when local businesses do well, they're more likely to grow and create even more jobs.

Again, we're going back, what's happening? It's carrying on that cycle.

Which increases the amount of tax they pay.

For example, a local bakery that expands and has a second shop will pay more corporation tax to the government and more business rates to local government.

This money can be used to improve than public services again.

And now the support of the local businesses, the community can benefit because they will get the better facilities.

Now, what happens when a local business grows? A, it only really helps national government.

B, it increases unemployment and pays less tax.

C, it creates jobs and pays more tax.

It is C, it creates jobs and pays more tax.

Now big national or international chains might offer lower prices, but most of the money you spend in those shops leaves the area.

This means your community sees less benefit, whereas the local businesses spend more money of their income in the local economy.

For example, they're using the nearby suppliers, hiring local trades, people sponsoring the community events.

So to give you a bit of an example, when you spend 10 pound with a local business up to 50 pound could be generated through the local economy from the multiplier effect.

Again, thinking about some of that stuff we talked about earlier, can you think why that might be? It's because they're creating that cycle of economic activity and they're supporting everyone in the community.

It is getting regenerated again and again.

Another benefit of shopping locally is that small businesses more flexible, often help the local community they are serving.

They might support crime causes, maybe school events donate to food banks.

A local cafe might sponsor shirts for the local football team.

They might encourage others to shop locally again by being advocates.

Have you heard of the word advocates before? Then they begin to speak up and share about these ideas of sustainability as well.

Another idea.

So spending locally can help develop community cohesion.

Have you heard of this one before? So this is this idea of building that kind of glue and sticking that community together.

So it's bringing them tight-knit communities who work together better.

And it means then the communities can be more resilient because actually, we've seen this great cycle that keeps going round, but at some point there might be an economic downturn and things might get a little bit worse, but those communities that are cohesive and working together are gonna be more resilient and they're gonna work with each other to get through them harder times to carry on and get back on track to getting that cycle back again.

Now what methods can local businesses use to help the local economy? Complete the boxes with answers to this question.

How did you get on? So things like using nearby suppliers, obviously then that can lead to hiring local trades people, sponsoring community events, donating to food banks, advocating to others.

You might have had a few different ideas on there as well, but anything that helps to carry on that cycle of keep going round.

So there are other forms of social action we can take to promote spending locally.

So citizens can interview local business owners and write articles for the school newsletter.

They could design loyalty cards for local shops.

Some young people even start small enterprises themselves.

So things if you know, if you make anything, etc.

Have you ever done anything? Can you think of any other ways that can promote spending locally? And it shows how citizens can influence others and support their community.

And it's a great example of active citizenship in action.

So engaging local and sustainable shopping not only benefits the environment, it strengthens the local economies.

Why do you think? Based on what we've talked about earlier, what are those reasons for? To give you an example, like research from 2023 states that brands operating with sustainable retail destinations experience revenue increases of up to 13% over a decade, which could boost of nearly 100 million pound for local economies.

It demonstrates how consumers choice towards sustainability and locality can drive significant economic growth in their communities.

Fill in the gaps in the passage below.

Social action means getting involved to help improve your, and support your local, by shopping locally and to help the environment.

We can all be, citizens and encourage others to spend their money wisely, sensibly, and locally.

So did you work out that the first one there is your community and support your local economy by shopping locally and sustainably to help the environment? We can all be active citizens and encourage others to spend their money wisely, sensibly, and locally.

Brilliant if you manage to get that.

Now that moves us onto our final task for today.

So can you write a social media post encouraging your community to spend money locally? Include a reason why it matters, a local business to support, and a fun hashtag to remind people.

Take your time with this.

Now as well, if you know much about your local area, you might wanna use this time to give some really specific examples of how it boosts your community as well to see if you can include any information specific to your community as well.

When you are ready, unpause and we'll go through the feedback.

So how did you get on? Now you could have had an idea like this, but again, if you've gone on that line of being very specific to your local community, you might have had something very different and it would still be a great response.

So today, I supported my local bakery instead of ordering online.

Fresher food, friendly service and my money stayed in the community.

Local businesses pay tax that fund things like parks and libraries and they create jobs for our people in our area.

Let's boost the local economy and protect our future.

If we shop sustainably and locally, we'll strengthen our local community and there'll be more opportunities for us.

We need them and they need us.

#shoplocal, # supportsmallbiz.

Alternatively, your posts might look like, just bought a gift from a local eco-friendly shop instead of ordering online.

It was plastic-free, beautifully made and supported, a local business.

Local shopping equals less pollution, more local jobs and stronger communities.

Let's keep the money where it matters.

#sustainableshopping, #localmatters, #multipliereffect.

Now as I said, you might have come up with something completely different and really specific to your area and that would've been perfectly fine as well.

It'd be great to see the kind of ideas that you are creating for your local area.

And that brings us to a close of today's lesson.

We are going to do a quick summary before we finish.

So to summarise, sustainable shopping means making choices that are good for the environment and smart with money, like buying reusable or secondhand items. Spending money locally supports small businesses, which helps create jobs and keeps money in the community for the multiplier effect.

Small businesses also pay taxes that fund public services like schools, parks, and libraries.

National events like Small Business Saturday raise awareness and encourage people to shop locally.

By taking social action, young people can promote sustainable and local shopping to make a real difference and enhance the circular economy.

Hopefully, this lesson shown you what sustainable shopping is, how it supports the local economy, even maybe giving you some great ideas of things that you could do in your local areas to support sustainable shopping.

So thanks so much for working with me today and I hope you enjoy the rest of your day.