City Hippy

The diary of our struggle to live a green and fair life.

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CityHippy has posted its last post now (I now work for EMP plc, run At Home magazine online and more and personally blog over at http://www.altepper.com). Why? Click here to find out. We might be back. Keep our RSS feeds, keep us bookmarked, sign up for the news alert on the right. You never know...


We are dedicated to exploring how to live a greener and more ethical life. City Hippy is a growing collective of writers bringing you two types of content:

ARTICLES: Enjoy real content by real people trying really hard to live a greener and fairer life. Generally in-depth with weekly updates at least. Located in main body below.Subscribe:
 
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ARTICLES:

Wednesday, March 30, 2005

NEWS: Bet the house on green

City Hippy is not about scaring people but just to give you a simple explanation of one of the main reasons why we are spending valuable time trying to change the world please read this article from today's Guardian newspaper from the UK.

Two-thirds of world's resources 'used up'

Now we are not saying we are doomed. We do not believe we are. But like any person who has ever driven a car we know that if you see a bend in the road ahead you either make the turn or you crash.

We want to make the turn. We are dedicated to helping you join us.

Einstein famously said "We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them."

Sure we can trust our current politicians and business leaders...their is no evidence for global warming they say. Then they say it does exist but is nothing to do with human activity.

To trust them is to gamble with the only home we have. There is no choice. Look at your kids. Think about that.

We decide what to buy and use up so if we want to live more responsibly then we have that choice.

City Hippy is here to help you make that choice by providing you with an easy way to get greener and more ethical.

We are not saying 'Go live in a cave and wear rags.' We are saying 'Think about your habits of consumption and seek alternatives'.

Easy things you can do:

For plenty of ideas see our list of links.

Let's start making that turn ... starting now.



Monday, March 28, 2005

OPINION: Not a Drop to Drink

Charles Dickens gave us one of the most memorable sentences in English literature when he said, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."

Arguably it's the worst of times in the United States if you choose to call yourself an environmentalist. If you believe this singular planet we inhabit is more than a simple commodity to be exploited, you have a right to be mildly despondent. Certainly if you're one of those Americans who now considers the American government the principal element of a worldwide environmental problem ... well. But what about the "best of times?" Be patient dear reader as Mr. Dickens would say. We still have the worst of times to contemplate.

We are running out of oil. Now that's a big problem. The when is still being debated, but not the if. Who says? The oil companies for one. But there are others like the U.S. Geologic Survey, the U.S. Department of Energy, and many independent studies. The most optimistic say the spigot will be a trickle by the end of this century. The most pessimistic say we will face some very bleak consequences within ten years.

But what about all those alternative energy sources--wind power, hydroelectric power, geothermal, and solar cells? Perhaps physicists may even discover the subtle secrets of controlled nuclear fusion! Then we'll have fuel that will last practically forever, and best of all no carbon dioxide--no greenhouse gases--will be produced. Hope does spring eternal. In my part of the country ethanol is touted ( by the politicians ) as the new renewable energy source. You can find a lot of "corn" in the Midwest.

What the politicians don't know or don't want to tell their constituents is that ethanol as a fuel may require more energy to produce than it provides. Its use could be quite limited. Unfortunately, nothing just mentioned is ready to become a substitute for oil. Leaving the SUV in the garage may be the least of our problems.

Some thirty years ago Chairman Mao dragged the People's Republic of China through the unmitigated disaster called the "cultural revolution." Self-sufficiency was the cry. Mao advised the Chinese to build backyard steel furnaces. This was genuine faith-based science.

In short, finding alternatives to oil and reducing greenhouse gases is ultimately not a backyard endeavor. These will be major national and international undertakings, requiring cooperation on a global scale. It will undoubtedly require leadership from what we euphemistically call the "first" world countries. Now are we ready for the best of times?

A recent Massachusetts Institute of Technology survey reported that global warming is "poorly" understood by the public, and the environment ranks number 13 on a list of 22 items that Americans consider the most important issues facing the country. Concerning global warming, U.S. elected officials, the survey suggests, will likely not provide the necessary leadership because of economic costs the average citizen may be "willing" to pay.

On the other hand, the German government has made a policy decision to make the transition to renewable energy by 2020. It seems that the elected politicians have made this collective judgment, with considerable help from informed and involved citizens. Finally, "scientific analysis" has been the basis for establishing this policy.

What is to be done? Meetup.com, for example, has more than one million people around the world that have joined various "meetup" groups, encompassing everything from vegetarianism to environmental activism. There are numerous 'action" networks posted on the internet. The good news is that an increasing number of these groups have become politically astute, are comfortable working outside traditional structures but, at the same time, are familiar with how governments and global corporations work. Even more important is how these groups have slowly learned the methods of presenting the issues in understandable ways.

The "best" of times has clearly not yet arrived, but to leave you with one final word from Mr. Dickens. Let us be moral. Let us contemplate existence. And the sooner the better.



Sunday, March 27, 2005

NEWS: The Future of Fairtrade Fashion

Fantastic news in The Telegraph on the 26th (Click here for the article.)

Fair Trade are apparently working on a fashion 'mark' to allow clothes producers from Top Shop to Versace the chance to sell Fairtrade fashion.

Further annoucements are due we reckon at any minute from the Fairtrade Foundation as this is meant to be up and running in the summer.

Have emailed them to ask for more info and will report back if and when we hear back from them.

In the meantime you can buy organic and fairtrade clothing from a variety of places including Vivavi and Peopletree



Thursday, March 24, 2005

NEWS: Being organic and ethical

We feel that now is a good time to outline the steps we are collectively taking to make the world a better place.

We are not perfect. We drive cars. We spend money needlessly. We try not to eat 'fast food' but we know when we are drunk and hungry we could. We live eco-unfriendly lives most of the time. We know it and are trying to do something about it. We believe the world is too consumer focused. We believe we need to change what we value before we lose everything of real value.
We can tell our values by looking at our checkbook stubs. Gloria Steinem

Only when the last tree has died and the last river been poisoned and the last fish been caught will we realise we cannot eat money. Cree Indian Proverb

If the Earth were only a few feet in diameter, floating a few feet above a field somewhere, people would come from everywhere to marvel at it. People would walk around it, marveling at its big pools of water, its little pools and the water flowing between the pools. People would marvel at the bumps on it, and the holes in it, and they would marvel at the very thin layer of gas surrounding it and the water suspended in the gas. The people would marvel at all the creatures walking around the surface of the ball, and at the creatures in the water. The people would declare it precious because it was the only one, and they would protect it so that it would not be hurt. The ball would be the greatest wonder known, and people would come to behold it, to be healed, to gain knowledge, to know beauty and to wonder how it could be. People would love it, and defend it with their lives, because they would somehow know that their lives, their own roundness, could be nothing without it. If the Earth were only a few feet in diameter. Joe Miller

You will get no condemnation from us after all who are we to judge. We are trying to change as fast as we can. We recognise we cannot change the entire world in a day.
one person alone cannot bring light to all the world, but if every person brought light to their own corner then the world would be filled with light. Ghandi

So to light our own little corners and start shifting our own values here is a list of actions some of us are already doing or planning on doing:

HYGIENE, GROOMING & BEAUTY
  • Purhcase body cleansing and beauty products from organic and ethical sources i.e. Lush, Aveda, Origins, Dr Hauschka and Ecover.
  • Try and use grooming products and make-up only when necessary and not for the sake of pure ego and vanity.

HYGIENE IN THE HOME
  • Purchase home cleaning products from organic and ethical sources i.e. Ecover. Read more about the dangers of everyday chemicals here and here

GROCERIES
  • Purchase grocery products that are recycled, local, organic and/or fair trade. There are too many places where you can buy recycled, local, organic and/or fair trade products to list them all here but see our list of links to the right for some good starting points.
  • Support smaller suppliers as opposed to products pushed by large store own-brands with huge advertising budgets. Know who you are giving your money to...Appletise is owned by Coke...Whole Earth Ginger Drink isn't.

PERSONAL FINANCE
  • Choose ethical banks to manage your money and stop supporting banks that finance and invest in unethical companies. Two good ethical banks are the Co-op bank and Triodos.

RECYCLING
  • We recycle paper, glass & cans obsessively. And you know what, we love it!
  • We intend to compost as much as possible and grow as much food as we can. Free food! Yeehaa!

GENETIC MODIFICATION
  • Say no to GM products! Why? Read this article to find out why. Tell supermarkets and other stores not to stock it because you will not buy it and that you may shop somewhere more committed to ethical and organic trade.

DEFORESTATION
  • We want to be more and more vegetarian. Don't do it for the animals. Do it more for yourselves. Huh? we hear you ask. Well apparently to produce 1 unit of meat requires that we use up 4 units of grain or 12 square metres of grass. Do the math. We don't have that much space to play with. We could all have enough to eat on this planet if we were more wise and restrained with our diets. Save the rainforests from being chopped down just so we can eat more burgers. Read this article for more information.

TRANSPORT
  • We try to minimise how much we fly to prevent the massive environmental damage that airline fuel causes. When we do have to fly we try to offset the carbon cost of our flights using Future Forests which enables you to calculate how much carbon fuel you use when you fly and then plant the right amoung of trees to offset the carbon released into the atmosphere.
  • We try to use public transport as much as possible. Never gonna be as nice as a personal space in a car but so what...we feel better for it every time we use it instead of the car. And we also get to meet people we might never meet. More community and communication between people is good.
  • Also car-pooling is a good way to save money, meet like-minded people and save the planet. Check out Lift Share for more info.
  • We try and walk more...and are trying harder to walk even more. Good for our hearts and good for Mother Earth.
  • We are keeping our eyes on the alternative transport market. A Toyota Prius is a good start. The recently unveiled ENV hydrogen cell motorbike is a fantastic step forward but we are drooling at the thought of owning a car powered by air hopefully being produced shortly by The Air Car company. Click here to see our recent article on GREEN TRANSPORT for more info on that topic.

HOLIDAYS
  • We will be exploring ethical and green holiday options. So instead of a normal holiday why not try something different, equally as restful and infinitely more fulfilling. Check out Responsible Travel for some inspiration.

CONSUMERISM
We want to take control of our spending habits and lock out those corporate ad campaigns.

We want to make our own spending decisions more and more of the time. We try and ask ourselves the following questions when we are about to spend some of our hard-earned cash:

  • Do I really need it or have I been convinced by clever advertising/marketing?
  • Am I buying this to make myself feel better ie is it retail therapy?
  • Can I buy an organic or ethical alternative?

Just by asking ourslves those questions we advance our own consciousness one more step towards mental freedom from the chains of consumerism. And that is a very good start in our book.

Ultimately happiness is not having what we want...it is wanting what we have.

Namaste

City Hippy



Sunday, March 20, 2005

NEWS: Green transport

As promised we got in touch with Intelligent Energy to probe a bit more about their new ENV motorbike that runs on a Hydrogen Fuel Cell and their plans for a car version.

Their prompt reply, from the CEO no less, a ­Dr Harry Bradbury, was very encouraging about the car potential: Watch this space. Of course they would be nuts to not go for it. The cost may be prohibitive at the beginning but then they always are high at first in pioneering areas but the prices always come down over time.

The ENV bike only costs £3000 apparently and with a zero petrol cost, a probable overall lower maintenance cost plus a probable longer lifespan that must equal good value for a conscientious traveler.

The most interesting thing about the Hydrogen Fuel Cells is how flexible they are. Check out what Intelligent Energy are saying in a press release:

In the none-too-distant future people will be able to use a bike like ENV to leave work in an urban environment, drive to the countryside, detach the CORE and attach it to another vehicle, such as a motorboat, before going on to power a log cabin with the very same fuel cell, which could then be re-charged from a mini hydrogen creator, the size of a shoebox.


WOW! Your own private power station...and the output of that power station other than energy? Water...pure enough to drink. As drunk by NASA astronauts on the Apollo missions. DOUBLE WOW!

And all the Guardian could focus on was how quiet the bike was. Shame on you Guardian. Kind of like covering the Iraq war with a headline like 'It's war and it's bloody hot!'. Sounds like a Bridget Jones headline if you ask me. If you agree that they fluffed that one then click here to email them and tell them what muppets that made them look. City Hippy already has.

City Hippy has also done some more digging on this topic and discovered something else equally, if not more, amazing in the Green Transport sector. It is called the Air Car. Check it out. We will investigate further and come back to you but basically it is a car that runs on Air & Fuel with a driving range of 2000km and at best no pollution. Admitted it does look a tad 'futuristic and flimsy'. Would not stop me though. It seats 6 (!!!) and price-wise looks like costing about 7000 Euros (not including tax). Under £4000!!! That can't be right? Can it? We will email them to confirm cost and production dates. Wow!



Wednesday, March 16, 2005

NEWS: Va va shhhhhh!

It's green, it's clean and it's, er, too quiet is a very interesting piece in today's Guardian about a fantastic new development in the alternative transport scene.

Finally someone has produced a vehicle, a motorbike in this case, that uses hydrogen fuel cell technology to power itself. It's waste product is pure drinkable water. Fantastic!

One problem...it may be so quiet that it may be dangerous to ride. So they are going to give it a fake sound.

Perhaps the most revolutionary day in green transport in modern times and all the media focus on is the lack of noise. People would have to pay more attention on the roads. Vehicles would not add to noise pollution. Vehicles would produce pure water when you used them. Where do we sign up?

When are they making a car version? That's what we want to know!!!

We have emailed Intelligent Energy, the bike's manufacturers, to find out...will keep you posted.



NEWS: UK Election Ahoy!

On Monday 14th in the Evening Standard there was a small note on p.12 titled 'Now Tories turn green' about an appearance by Michael Howard on Channel 5 last week.

Howard was speaking to floating voters about the issues they hold dear. One of the voters mentioned that there was no information about Environmental issues on the Tory website. Michael Howard promised to rectify that problem.

City Hippy's curiosity has been ignited and with an election looming over the next few weeks City Hippy will be evaluating, as fairly as possible, each of the 3 main parties committments to the Environment and Social Justice.

Check back for more news from the City Hippy UK Election 05 News desk.



Monday, March 14, 2005

NEWS: Fairtrade for all

Well Fairtrade Fortnight finally came to a close yesterday.

The media seemed to focus more on the issues this time round, which is good. Not good enough though.

Saw nothing about Fairtrade on TV though - did you spot something we missed? - Let us know.

I think a good goal for next year's Fairtrade Fortnight campaign would be to get some prime time TV coverage of the issues perhaps similar to the way some of the daily newspapers did.

Only one supermarket seemed to make any attempt to promote Fairtrade Fortnight. And we visited Tesco, Waitrose and Sainsburys so we gave the main ones a fair shot.

We will be shopping at Waitrose as much as possible from now on and encourage you to do the same.

They have a good fairtrade selection, more than most it seems. Tell them you have turned into regulars at their stores because of their committment to fair trade and organics and that you want to see even more.

Well done Waitrose!

We know, we know, they can be a tad pricey but they have budget selections and to be honest whats an extra tenner a week to make the world a better place. Budget often means poor quality and dodgy suppliers. Personally if we can help make the world a better place by spending our cash on green and fair / local / family run produce then that is a good start and we encourage all to follow that lead.

Plus we found organic honey at 10p less than the same brand regular honey. And Fairtrade tea is now cheaper than regular tea. Hurrah! So I guess the more we buy the lower prices will go.

No Waitrose near you? Can you suggest a local alternative? What about the Co-op I hear you yell. Well we love the Co-op and will be finding one near us soon. Ultimately of course shopping at our local Co-op will be the aim. Will keep you posted on that.

Wahoo Waitrose!



Saturday, March 12, 2005

REVIEW: 1001 Natural Remedies

1001 Natural Remedies
Have you ever wanted a book that could tell you how to make natural remedies that don’t do damage to your wallet or the planet. Well here at City Hippy we think we may have just found the answer: 1001 Natural Remedies by Laurel Vukovic, its brilliant!

In this astonishing book you will find remedies for almost any ailment or condition you can think of in one of four sections: Health, Beauty, Home & Pet Care.

Here are just a few examples of the topics covered in the book: snoring, colds & flu, IBS, high blood pressure, dry skin, natural shampoos & face creams, herbal baths, mouthwash, aftershaves, natural pest control, stain removal, cleaning, composting, growing fruit & vegetables and everything you need for your pet’s health & wellbeing.

It explains how and why the remedy works, the ingredients you need and how to make the remedy. The ingredients that are recommended in the book are easy to find & use e.g. Lavender oil, vinegar, salt and honey. There is also a very useful plant name list, resources list and Index at the back of the book.

City Hippy likes this book and gives it a rating of 4. You can order this book online via Amazon AND if you buy it via this link then Amazon will give a little financial love back to us here at City Hippy Towers. Costs you nothing extra and helps us at the same time.



Friday, March 11, 2005

NEWS: The good ship Earth

Saturday 12 March 2005 is Green Architecture Day so sit back, relax and let us tell you a story.

Imagine living in a home built from used tyres. Imagine how you could run a home that is totally self-sufficient and utilises the planet's natural systems to generate power and process waste. It could be as large as you want and need. You could save money and save the planet!

City Hippy is delighted to tell you that this is no dream, that these homes already exist and that you can have one. They are called Earthships and their purpose is to reduce our impact on the planet. Earthships are thriving in Fife in the UK, in the beautiful San Juan mountains of Colorado and also in Taos, New Mexico.

We first heard about Earthships through Spirit & Destiny magazine. Further internet research revealed a couple of very informative sites.

Low Carbon Network is a great UK resource and is building Earthship Brighton which will use the sun and rain to provide heat, power and water. The project has a lot of local support.

Earthship Biotecture offers a wealth of information along with intensive one day sustainable living workshops and an excellent forum.

You can even experience what it's like to live in an earthship by renting a suite or even the whole place for the night or longer. The Hybrid Earthship in Taos, New Mexico, features interior botanical cells, a solar sewage digester and flagstone floors.

So will we all be living in our own personal Earthships one day? City Hippy believes we just might be as Earthships are designed to address all our habitat needs without compromising the environment. The idea of living in harmony with the Earth is very appealing and with the pressure on to adapt our way of life this sounds perfect to us. We will try and keep track of the development of Earthship Colonies which would present a viable alternative for city dwellings.

If anyone has visited or lived in an Earthship we would love a review. Get in touch with us at Image hosted by TinyPic.com.



Wednesday, March 09, 2005

REVIEW: The UK Organic Directory

One of the great people City Hippy met at Green Drinks International was a very nice man who runs a variety of web sites which make being green easier. And the City Hippy believes it is all about making it easier to be green. It is not about being judgemental. It is about helping you do what you can do.

Anyway I guess their main site is the fantastic UK Organic Directory.

You have to check it out. Even if you don't live in the UK.

The UK Organic Directory is packed full of ways to help you get green at whatever pace that suits you.

And if you can't find the stuff you want near you then why not speak to local similar shops to encourage them to get in on the 'Green' act. Trust me they will thank you for it.

Do remember of course that whilst you can place orders all around the world for most things shipping stuff can create a lot of 'food miles' which means causing a lot of carbon fuel to be consumed just to get a product to your door.

If you are interested in the whole 'Local versus Global' debate then click here to read our previous news article on that topic.

The UK Organic Directory is a nicely organised site and the City Hippies current favourite sections are the Holidays section and the Hampers section.

Holidays because frankly this City Hippy is exhausted and needs a recharge. Currently we are thinking about going camping somewhere in the UK but the Holidays section is now giving us even more holiday food for thought.

We will of course keep you all posted and report back a) on our attempts to find a green holiday that suits us and b) on the actual holiday itself.

We may even provide a picture or two when we get back. We'll see what Mrs Hippy has to say about that.

The Hampers section is calling to us because we need to get someone a gift. And sending an Organic food hamper would be such a nice gift we think. We will report back on that too when and if we go through with that idea.

The UK Organic Directory gets a City Hippy rating of 5 unsurprisingly. Exactly what I need to get greener. Go check it out at www.organicliving.ukf.net/.



NEWS: Green Drinks

Last night City Hippy attended its first meeting of Green Drinks International.

Green Drinks International is a networking organisation with nodes in a number of cities around the world.

Basically each month anyone of a green nature (they are not that fascist about who attends from what I can tell) is welcome to go along and share a few drinks with like-minded green folks.

Great conversations. Lovely atmosphere. Felt so revived from meeting people just like me. City Hippy is not alone!

If you are interesting in coming then just get in touch with them and take it from there.

Be good to see you.



Tuesday, March 08, 2005

REVIEW: Super Size Me

This is the first of many City Hippy reviews. We aim to review films and books and anything else appropriate. If you have any suggestions for reviews then contact us at: cityhippy@gmail.com

Super Size Me
Imagine a cross between Mike Moore and a dietician. The result is an explosive experiment in, and expose of, fast food. It certainly convinced us to avoid fast food as if our lives depended on it. Wait a minute...they do!

Morgan Spurlock, winner of the best director award at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival, takes you on a drive-through documentary that sees him as his own guinea pig. Watch as he tests, under medical supervision, just how healthy fast food is for a human being. He forces himself to eat only fast food and logs the results. Within days the results are terrifying.

Questions we were left asking included:
1) How can something so potentially dangerous in large doses be so unregulated?
2) How does the Fast food industry affect human rights and the environment?


This film is a must-see and gets a City Hippy rating of '5'.

If you feel inspired to buy this film then why not click here
to buy this movie via AMAZON on DVD now. And guess what? If you do buy it via that link then that will help City Hippy grow even bigger and stronger. And that can only be a good thing.


For future reference the City Hippy review ratings are between 1 and 5 with 1 = bad and 5 = good.



Monday, March 07, 2005

NEWS: A decent cuppa

Cafe Direct are doing a very cool campaign at the moment tied in to Fairtrade Fortnight.

It's all about decency.
Tell us your stories of decency and you could win Tea for Two at the Ritz

As an outbreak of decency spreads throughout the country, Teadirect are seeking out your stories and photographs to prove that the United Kingdom is still a truly decent place to live.

We need your help...

Have you witnessed an act of outright goodwill recently?

Maybe you've done something decent yourself?

And if you've got photographic evidence of the event, all the better.

Simply click on the link on the left to tell your story and upload your photos.

The most decent story will WIN Tea for Two at the Ritz, including overnight stay and transport.

Now that is decent!

For more information about the campaign and to find out how you can win that decent prize visit http://www.cafedirect.co.uk/teaGallery/



EVENT: Urban Green Spaces

Just found out about an event taking place in London this week.

Urban Green Spaces: Sustaining the Renaissance
A One-Day Conference
10 March 2005, One Great George Street, London


The value of good quality green spaces is not in doubt. They can make a crucial contribution to the quality of the environment and to people’s standard of living generally. But delivering and maintaining green spaces is still being hampered by a shortage of funding and skills, the result of a generation of underinvestment and diminishing numbers of landscape professionals.

Organised by Regeneration & Renewal magazine, this one-day conference will bring together some of the key thinkers, policy makers and practitioners attempting to overcome these barriers and bring about green space renaissance. The day will feature strategic and practical presentations aimed at anyone involved in trying to improve the “liveability” of our towns and cities.

Keynote Speaker: Peter Matthew, Divisional Manager of the Liveable and Sustainable Communities Division, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister

Speakers include:
Sir Clive Booth, Chair, Big Lottery Fund
Julia Thrift, Director, CABE Space
Dr Stewart Harding BA (Hons) PhD MILAM, Director, Parks Agency & GreenSpace
Kelvin Campbell, Director, Urban Initiatives
John Meehan, Director, Thames Chase Community Forest


To register for this conference please call 020 8267 4011 or log on to our website http://www.urbangreenspaces.com



NEWS: To gather together

Ever wanted to be a writer but did not have anyone to write for? Well now is your big chance.

Do you feel passionate about Green living issues, Fair trade, Organic food and so on? If so then why not write for us. You can help us monitor the news or delve into the bigger issues and write full-scale features.

Whatever your position on the issues we want to hear from you. But remember we want solutions and not just rants. We have to move beyond the anger and help the world actually change. So get in touch. cityhippy@gmail.com

Together we can make a difference.



Sunday, March 06, 2005

NEWS: Karma Cola

Just a quick note to say I have finally found a suitable replacement for my addiction to Diet Coke. I have wanted to stop supporting Coke for sometime thanks to the fantastic work of KarmaBanque.

The replacement is the wonderful and tasty Whole Earth Ginger drink.

Available in Sainsbury's and almost certainly more places...if its not in your local shop then request it. If you don't ask, you don't get!



Friday, March 04, 2005

NEWS: Local versus global

Yesterday in the UK newspaper, The Independent, there was a fantastic article about something City Hippy has failed to mention thus far but something that actually is an important part of the whole green and fair circle. The importance of buying local!

The article, titled 'Buy local produce and save the world: why food costs £4bn more than we think' summarises a study published in Food Policy which shows that the cost of moving food around needs to be factored in to our thinking when it comes to consumption.

I recommend that you all go and read it. Then try and buy local as much as possible.

Our priorities when confronted by a choice between 'organic from far away' and 'local but not organic' produce? Buy local first, then organic but always as ethical as possible.

For more information about why the whole 'Local' issue is important please check out the International Society for Ecology & Culture



Tuesday, March 01, 2005

NEWS: Fairtrade fantastic

From March 1st to the 13th 2005 Fairtrade Fortnight highlights and celebrates a better way of doing business that benefits us all.

Support Fairtrade and its suppliers by visiting your local grocery shops, whether it is a local corner store or a super-sized Sainsburys, and asking them what Fairtrade produce they have on sale.

Then thank them profusely for selling Fairtrade produce if they do and encourage them to stock even more variety. If they don't sell any tell them to look into it as you the customer want to buy it and will go elsewhere if they do not stock it. Just get them to try one thing ie Fairtrade Bananas.

Then buy something Fairtrade from them if they stock it and if they do not have anything Fairtrade then buy something anyway to encourage them.

Fairtrade products currently include Coffee, Tea, Chocolate, Hot Chocolate, Sugar, Bananas, a plethora of other foods, wines, clothes, shoes (not strictly Fairtrade but follows the same principles - check out NO SWEAT) to name what we can think of off the top of our heads. We even think you can get Fairtrade furniture but more on that later.

BUY ANYTHING FAIRTRADE!!!

For more information visit The Fairtrade Foundation online @ http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/