Last week saw the launch of the world’s ‘first’ eco-club in London.  Surya is an environmentally sustainable club run by the so-called Dr. Earth and is in Kings Cross.  Green really is the new black as the green revolution moves into the world of clubbing.  Is eco-clubbing going to be the next big thing?

  So how do you make a club green?  Well the club is powered by wind turbines and solar energy and generates enough electricity to pass on to its neighbours.  With rising energy prices this will make Surya very popular!

  Alongside alternative energy the club has low flush toilets, eco-friendly air conditioning and a rather exciting dancefloor.  According to Dr. Earth the dancing motion will help generate electricity!  This is due to a mixture of quartz crystals, ceramics and some interesting technology.  So now even dancing can be responsible and green!!

    The indoors is also kitted out with recycled and eco-friendly materials.  For example there is a Biro chandelier.  They even sell organic wine and beer.  Not sure about the spirits or mixers though…..

  It seems that ethical and green issues are really in the limelight at the moment.  People are concerned about their carbon footprint and being carbon neutral.  If Surya can convince it’s guests to make even the smallest of changes to reduce their carbon footprint this could make a big difference to the environment.  Hopefully eco-clubs will eventually become the norm as opposed to a unique selling point.

  We’ll be bringing you information on ethical fashion so you can have a complete eco-clubbing experience!  You can check out ethical fashion at Adili.

The founder of Eco Libris recently contacted us and told us about his business. We had a look and it sounds like a great idea. Here is some more information about the site:

More than 20 million of trees are cut down annually for virgin paper used for the production of books sold in the U.S. alone. What Eco Libris want to do is to raise awareness to the environmental impacts of using paper for the production of books and provide people and businesses with an affordable and easy way to do something about it: plant one tree for every book they read, sell or publish. Customers also receive a sticker made of recycled paper for every book they balance out saying “One tree planted for this book” and can later display these stickers on their books’sleeves. Publishers can use the logo in their cover designs to indicate one tree is planted for that book.

Eco Libris have partnered with three highly respected US and UK registered non-profit organizations (SHI, AIR, RIPPLE Africa) that work in collaboration with local communities in developing countries to plant the trees. These trees are planted in high ecological and sustainable standards in Latin America and Africa, where deforestation is a crucial problem, and planting trees not only helps to fight climate change and conserve soil and water, but also benefits many local people, for whom these trees offer many benefits and an opportunity for a better future.

Eco Libris are one year old and in the past year they have balanced out 50,005 books which results in 65,586 new trees that are being planted with their planting partners in developing countries.  What a great result!  Their website is http://www.ecolibris.net 

They also run a blog that is about “books, trees and everything in between”.

The address is http://ecolibris.blogspot.com.  Get involved.

Those of you who keep up to date with the Royal Family will know that Prince Charles is a keen eco-warrior.  He is committed to renewable energy programs and runs his Duchy business in an ethical and green fashion.

This week in the news it was revealed that Prince Charles has reduced his carbon footprint even further by running his cars on biofuel.  He has reportedly spent £5000 converting his Jaguars, Audi and Range Rover to run entirely on biodiesel.

What intrigued us here at Ethical and Green is the fact that Prince Charles 38 year old Aston Martin has been converted to run on bioethanol from surplus wine!  What a great idea!  Who knows- maybe one day we’ll all be doing this.  Watch this space….

This week in the UK the television show Panorama rightly expose Primark as using child labour to make their cheap clothing.  Clearly this should not be a surprise considering how cheap the clothes are?  Why it should have taken the UK media three years to unveil this in depth is a surprise.  In 2005 Ethical Consumer magazine voted Primark the most unethical fashion store.  The fact that Panorama has only just made a programme about this shows that, finally, ethical fashion is on the radar of the public.

The big question is will this actually stop people from buying clothes from Primark?  At the moment money is tight due to the credit crunch so will people put their morals on hold until they can afford to shop elsewhere?

Stores such as Gap, TopShop and Marks and Spencer have all been highlighting their ethical fashion credentials recently.  Could this programme shaming Primark finally signal a shift in the consciences of the public?  It would be great for the planet and foreign workers if it is.

There are a wide range of ethical fashion designers popping up.  We’ll be looking at ethical fashion in more detail.  For now check out Quail, a UK based ethical fashion company, to prove that ethical fashion is fashionable!

The website is www.quailbymail.co.uk

BT (British Telecom) is the largest provider of internet and phone lines in the UK.  In 1990 the company made a pledge to optimise environmental management.

Since 1966 BT has reduced its carbon footprint by 58% which is pretty amazing.  Their new target is to achieve an 80% reduction in CO2 production by 2020.  Even better they are to propose a new model to encourage global businesses to follow suit.  Good on BT.

Now I have to admit that I have found customer service at BT slightly wanting but knowing how committed they are to the environment makes it worthwhile.

Other green initiatives the company have are cutting down on paper bills.  If you elect to have your bill online you save £1.25 a month and The Woodland Trust will plant a sapling in a British woodland creation site on your behalf.

BT are also looking to their suppliers to reduce carbon emissions.  They are encouraging suppliers to promote sustainability and reduce impact on the environment.

BT has 18 million customers in 170 countries and therefore they are in a position to make a real difference to the environment.  The company has produced a range of energy efficient phones and by July 2008 more than 90% of their phone range will be energy efficient.  Cost to the customer?  Zero.

For businesses BT has produced a guide to help companies see how they can go green by reducing energy consumption and carbon footprints.

Well done BT- keep up the good work.

If you want to change your phone or broadband or indeed both follow this link BT Total Broadband - click here to order now

This week the UK will see a £100 billion renewable energy strategy unveiled.  Yes that is £100 billion.  The EU has set targets for its member states to reach 15% of their energy consumption to be generated by renewable sources by 2020.  As part of this is government is to build 3,500 onshore wind turbines and 7,000 offshore wind turbines.

For homeowners who generate their own power there are plans to allow them to sell surplus power to the national grid for a premium price.  What an incentive to get people to install renewable energy sources into their homes!  Although there is a large initial outlay in costs for the installation of renewable energy, eventually huge savings are made and if you can sell back surplus you may even make a profit!  Good news for the planet.

However, the government still aren’t doing enough in terms of grants for installing renewable energy sources such as solar panels.  Installation of solar panels cost between £5000 and £10000 which is beyond the reach of most homeowners no matter how eco-friendly they may want to be.  If the government can not offer bigger incentives it will be difficult for them to reach the targets set by the EU.

On the plus side of the green energy revolution using renewable sources of energy would result in a 5% drop in oil use by 2020.  This would significantly reduce the UKs carbon footprint.  Another positive, as pointed out by Greenpeace, is that this would make the UK more self-sufficient in terms of energy production as we would be less reliant on foreign countries.  Our energy bills would also come down in price in the long term which I think we would all agree is needed!

It would seem that the UK government has held back or as long as possible to look into renewable energy sources.  If investment had been put in ten years ago we would not be in the position we are now of huge increases in our fuel and energy bills.  You have to admit that it is not a surprise that fossil fuels have gone up in price as reserves run low and countries develop.  The fact that stores of fossil fuels will not last forever is not exactly a new concept.  So why has the government taken so long to act?

Long live the green energy revolution!  It has been a long time coming but things are gradually turning in a green direction.  For those of us who can not afford our own solar panels check out the Green Energy page and have a look at what energy companies are doing to go greener.  There is a list of companies that are offsetting their carbon footprints alongside those who are using 100% renewable energy sources.  If we all sign up to one of these tariffs we could make a huge difference to our carbon footprints.

Click here to go to the page.

As we approach the official start of the summer and the longest day it appears that festival season is in full swing.  Last weekend we had the Isle of White festival and soon it will be Glastonbury- which for the first time in years has not sold out!  The best festival by far (in my opinion) has to be Latitude.  Sadly I missed out on tickets this year and I am still immensely disappointed.  However I thought I would still let you know why Latitude is one of the most ethical and green festivals.

Latitude is now in its third year and is held near Southwold in the UK.  It is a unique festival in that there is music, poetry, comedy and loads of other exciting stuff going on amid beautiful scenery.  At night there is a club in the woods, which is decorated with fairy lights- very magical.  I can honestly say that I have never enjoyed a festival so much before. The ethos behind the festival is great and there is a real sense that the organiser’s care about ethical and green issues.

Last year when we arrived at the campsite we were given a Camper’s Waste Kit to separate our waste so it could be recycled.  There were also Ecocover shower gel etc for us to use.  One of my favourite ideas was to pay a deposit and get a plastic pint glass for the duration of the festival.  This encouraged people to hang onto their glass rather than throw them away after they have been used.  In fact, almost a year on we still have ours!

There will be Green Messengers on site who will be able to direct you to the recycling bins and offer advice on how to be good to the environment.  The festival organisers are also encouraging people to travel in an eco-friendly fashion by taking the train, coach and running a car share scheme.  Even the Market Traders have to be eco-friendly with their packaging and recycling their waste!  All good ideas!

One of the best things about Latitude is that the event organisers really want to hear your ideas.  Their website has a forum section where people can post their thoughts, positive and negative, and offer suggestions and ideas.  There is a section for Latitude Green where people have been posting their green ideas.  Someone has had the idea of a place you can share items that you might have forgotten to bring with you so you do not have to buy them.

The Latitude festival has some tips for green camping which you can read here.  These tips can be used where ever you are camping be it at a festival or on holiday.  

So there we have it.  What a wonderful festival.  The organisers Festival Republic have a strong ethical and green ethos which is evident in the way they think about running their events.  They use renewable energy and recycle and use green cleaning products in their offices.  Their aim is that this will spread the message to the people who go to their festivals.  It’s good to see a company practicing what they preach so well done to all those who put in so much effort to organise these events.

Enjoy the festival season!

The Ethical Fashion movement is really taking off and rightly so.  Here in the UK a company called Quail caught my eye. 

Making Clothes in Devon the ethical and green way

Quail By Mail is a clothing label located in Devon which specialises in organic and Fairtrade cotton clothing which has been designed and made in England. Quail believes in British ingenuity and only commissions British fashion graduates.

Design elements such as functioning pockets, pleats, generous cuts etc are Quail’s speciality and all clothing lines are produced as limited editions. Interested in producing vintage-inspired practical clothing with genuine ethical integrity, Shauna Chapman, founder of Quail said:

“Our aim is to add maximum design value to the organic and Fairtrade cotton fabric. Recently we discovered that larger sizes were needed to include a wider audience so we will begin to introduce sizes up to 20 before the end of Summer 2008.”

To combat Greenwash, Quail uses the phrase “Product Provenance“ to show customers exactly how their fashion purchase started from the non-GM seed grown organically in India to the recyclable paper and raffia bow packaging used to parcel up orders”. The entire lifestyle of the Quail founders at the live/work studio in Brixham, South Devon is devoted to energy- saving, buying local, organic produce, fairtrade, traditional, reuse, reduce and recycle. Having produced clothing with provenance, which is also ethical, green and British it is Quail’s aim to grow the business sustainably and create artisan, exciting ‘proper’ fashion!

In the past fashion journalists have commented that ethical fashion just isn’t cool.  You can see from the pictures that just because it’s ethical clothing it doesn’t mean it’s not fashionable.  I’d certainly wear these clothes as would a number of people who I’ve pointed in Quail’s direction.  They have a really lovely box pleat shirt but I couldn’t get a picture on here.

Check out the website at www.quailbymail.co.uk

A while ago we looked at green cars and how engines are being modified to run on biofuels and alternative sources of fuel.  However, not all of us (me included) have a car that has low CO2 emissions so what can you do to keep emissions lower without having to fork out for a new car?  The obvious answer is to leave the car at home and use public transport or cycle/walk to your destination.  This is great but what if you need your car for work?  Thankfully some companies such as PwC have low CO2 emission company cars but this is not the norm.

If you want to reduce CO2 emissions whilst you are driving here are a few tips from the UK Government about driving efficiently.  When fuel prices are so high this is useful for everyone!

• driving smoothly can reduce fuel consumption - check the road ahead, anticipate traffic and avoid harsh acceleration and braking
• shift to a higher gear at the right time - shift up at 2500rpm for petrol cars and 2000rpm for diesel cars. A vehicle travelling at 37mph in third gear uses 25 per cent more fuel than it would at the same speed in fifth gear
• get in and go - modern engines are designed to be most efficient when you just get in and go. Keeping the engine running or pumping the accelerator wastes fuel, increases engine wear and increases emissions
• switch your engine off if you know you won’t be moving for a while
• check your tyre pressures regularly - under-inflated tyres can increase your fuel consumption by up to three per cent
• stick to the speed limits - at 70mph you could be using up to 30 per cent more fuel than at 50mph
• remove unnecessary weight and roof racks - they increase the weight and air resistance so they increase the amount of fuel you use
• air conditioning and other on-board electrical devices (like mobile phone chargers) increase fuel consumption, so only use them when necessary