Not an overtly popular political or celebrity figure these days, His Royal Highness Charles, Prince of Wales, has a little-viewed environmental side that has recently gotten around to the knowing ear of Time magazine, making him one of 45 “Heroes of the Environment” selected by the periodical.
Why Charles Windsor? Apparently the heir to the English throne has an environmental record that reached farther back than most popular environmental awareness, to include the 1986 conversion of Prince Charles’ Duchy Home Farms to all-organic production methods. This switch is even more extraordinary given the then-popular mentality surrounding bigger, better methods of food production, no matter the chemical byproduct.
Today these farms provide materials for Duchy Originals, a food company set up by Charles to provide organic foodstuffs as well as sending all proceeds to charity, making not only the source of the food environmentally responsible, but making the end goal of the company socially responsible.
Duchy follows many of the basic rules when it comes to sustainable farming, including hiring small, local farms, which do not use pesticides or fertilizers as part of their operations. Along with this is a change in packaging, including less mass in the packaging per package as well as recycled fiber packaging that can be recycled and decomposed.
On the social side of things, Duchy promotes a strong standard of ethical conduct when it comes to the individual farms that produce their products along with wildlife and environmental preservation in the face of the damage farming can cause. By not using chemicals in food growth and production, along with only buying wild fish from fisheries approved by the Marine Stewardship council, Duchy is making their food responsible in all the senses of ethical. And as already mentioned all profits go to the Prince’s Charities Foundations.
None of Duchy’s food is genetically modified, grown with chemical additives or produced with colourants, and all meats are free-range and organically certified. No growth hormones or antibiotics in this dish!
In the days of government apathy and questions concerning environmental impact it’s good to know that at least one figurehead has taken it into their own hands to spread the word about good organics and good food going hand-in-hand.
