Recently Barbie has been accused of it, Shell and BP deny claims that they do it but it seems like all and sundry are jumping on the green bandwagon to sell their products.

“Green washing,” is the combination of the words green and whitewashing. This term was created by environmentalist Jay Westerveld who coined the phrase when examining the ‘so called’ environmental towel policy at hotels around the world. Today, it is becoming ingrained into modern language as global warming remains top of the planet’s agenda. The term describes efforts, mostly in business, to create the impression that a company is implementing practices meant to improve the environment when it is not really doing so.

The Team at MoreEco
are constantly being sent products to review from green companies so we
always do a green wash check to see if a product can live up to it’s so
called environmental credentials:

• How many air miles has it done?
• Where, how and what has it been made of?
• Is
  it packaged in an environmentally friendly way?  (I can’t name all the
  times when we have been sent items in bubble wrap or copious amounts of
  unnecessary packaging!)

Back in December 2007, environmental marketing firm TerraChoice released a study called “The Six Sins of Green washing”
which found that more than 99% of 1,018 common consumer products
randomly surveyed were guilty of green washing. Out of a total of 1,753
environmental claims made, with some products having more than one,
only one was found not guilty of making a false or misleading green
marketing claim.

A good example of a company doing it right
is Ribena, with all their bottles made from recycled plastic and the
juice itself being produced under ethical conditions in the UK.
Marketing Manager for Ribena, Rachel Harris states, “We are committed
to making the supply chain for Ribena as environmentally friendly as
possible, from the way we grow our blackcurrants to the packaging in
which the products are wrapped.” Ribena’s cap- and label are not
recyclable but they are honest about this and state this is something
they are looking at.

Here at MoreEco
we feel that packaging for products should contain recycling
information so people can make informed choices when it comes to
purchasing. Check out this great example of clear and concise recycling
information on this OWL wireless electricity monitor.

In part two of this article, we question whether some energy services are as green as they state they are!

FORTHCOMING NATIONAL TV
BBC’s Countryfile Sunday 26th April 2009
Channel 4’s Grand Designs Wednesday 29th April 2009
Also appearing at Channel 4’s Grand Designs Live, Excell Centre, London 1st May 2009
In 2003 Ben Law captivated the nation by building his woodland house on Channel 4’s Grand Designs – it has been repeated many times since and been voted the best ever Grand Design programme. Presenter Kevin McCloud said Ben was a born designer and  that his was the most watched (over 5 million viewers) programme of the original series. Kevin loved the project so much that he has written the foreword to this book!

Full of stunning colour photographs, this is a visual guide to how Ben built his outstandingly beautiful home in the woods. It is also a practical manual and the story of a man realising a lifetime’s dream to build one of the most sustainable and beautiful homes in Britain.

The Woodland House gives details of the evolving design process, the identifying of materials, costings, project management and the actual building. It proves that low cost, low impact and high aesthetics can go hand in hand and that it is possible to build green and to build affordably. The first hardback edition has sold over 10,000 copies and this new, edition has a seven year update of his home, with additional photographs of its extension.

What the Press have said about The Woodland House
“The quaint wooden house in Prickly Nut Wood is no fairytale concoction – it is an icon of the movement to combine ecology and ethics in design.” The Guardian
“A fascinating chronicle of a dream. It’s to the point, with clear photography links and information.” Good Woodworking
“Ben Law’s home has become an iconic and inspirational example of how to live lightly but with style.” www.0footprint.org
“This book is well organised, very readable, with beautiful pictures and useful appendices including organisations, resources
and technical drawings.” Agrofoestry Research
“An inspiring story. A valuable tale of an extraordinary home.” Smallwoods
“Full of stunning colour photographs, this is a visual guide to how Ben built his outstandingly beautiful home.” Permaculture Works
“A great read for those interested in the idea of self build projects.” Design4Design.com
“One of Grand Designs most popular builders.” Grand Designs Magazine
“Superb photos of the building process and finished house accompany the text.” Building For A Future
“One of the more inspiring tales on Grand Designs, the series that charts the highs and lows of self-buildrers.” The Times

The Author
Ben Law is an innovative woodsman of 20 years and a woodlands expert held in the highest regard and author of two other
titles, The Woodland Way – A Permaculture Approach to Sustainable Woodland Management and The Woodland Year.

The Publisher
Permanent Publications is one of the UK’s leading publishers of information concerning all aspects of sustainability. Queens Award
winners in 2008, they have been publishing for 16 years and have an essential backlist of titles encouraging self-reliance.
ISBN: 978 1 85623 044 5 PAGES: 104pp SIZE: 250 x 220mm BINDING: paperback
ILLUSTRATIONS: 107 colour photographs, 10 line drawings and 3 tables. PRICE: £14.95
Ben’s books and the complete backlist are available from:
Permanent Publications, The Sustainability Centre, East Meon, Hampshire GU32 1HR, UK
Tel: 01730 823 311. Email: tony@permaculture.co.uk Web: www.permaculture.co.uk
Distributed by Central Books (www.centralbooks.com) Tel: 0845 458 9911

As MEPs prepare to vote next month (May 09) on proposals to update Europe’s animal experiments directive [1], animal advocates are taking to cyber-space to demonstrate public support with a virtual march on the European Parliament. Launched today by the Dr Hadwen Trust for Humane Research, Four Paws and the Humane Society International,[2]  the Make Animal Testing History virtual march is a global first for animal protection campaigning. [3] It is being launched throughout the European Union to coincide with World Week for Animals in Laboratories.

More than 12 million animals are used in experiments in Europe each year. [4] Animals such as rodents, rabbits, cats, dogs and monkeys are used in experiments that can cause physical and mental distress. The law that regulates experiments, Directive 86/609, is more than 20 years old and desperately out of date.

Improvements have been proposed such as better animal protection, a phase-out of primate experiments, ethical review and real progress on non-animal alternatives. However, pharmaceutical and animal research industries are lobbying hard to thwart new welfare measures, even opposing limits on the level of pain animals are allowed to suffer or the number of times they can be re-used in experiments.

“The revision of Directive 86/609 is a key moment in the history of Europe’s treatment of animals.” says Wendy Higgins, spokesperson for the Make Animal Testing History coalition of groups. “It has a clear opportunity to lead the world in replacing animal experiments with advanced non-animal techniques, and until complete replacement is achieved it should be championing the most robust, transparent and progressive regulation achievable. Surveys show that citizens across Europe share that vision, but politicians seem to be largely ignoring their views and pandering to the vested interests of the animal research industry instead. It is vital that they start to listen and our Make Animal Testing History virtual march is a novel way of demonstrating public support for change. This gives the idea of peaceful demonstration a whole new virtual dimension that can appeal to a mass audience. The cyber community has a keen sense of social justice but is more likely to click a computer mouse than wave a placard.”

The virtual march at www.MakeAnimalTestingHistory.org is launched in no less than 13 European languages including Greek, Romanian, Bulgarian and Hungarian. Citizens from across Europe are being invited to get e-active by signing an on-line pledge and creating their own personalised avatar figure to join a mass cyber parade through Brussels towards the European Parliament building. Web visitors will be able to monitor the number of marchers from each EU member state, and after the EU Elections in June, they will be able to see which MEPs have joined the march too.

MEPs are due to vote on the 86/609 proposals in the European Parliament in May this year. It will be the first time that the full Parliament has voted in what is set to be a lengthy process of debate.

END

Notes to editors:

For more information or interviews contact Wendy Higgins on mobile 07989 972 423 or email wendy@drhadwentrust.org

1. Link to the revised 86/609 proposal http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:52008PC0543:EN:NOT

2. The Dr Hadwen Trust for Humane Research is the UK’s leading non-animal medical research charity www.drhadwentrust.org; Four Paws is an international animal welfare organisation with offices in nine EU countries www.fourpaws.org.uk; Humane Society International is a leading animal protection organisation representing 11 million members across Europe, Australia, Canada, China, Costa Rica, India and the United States www.hsieurope.org

3. Go to www.makeanimaltestinghistory.org and click on the virtual march link

4.. 12.1 million animals were used in EU experiments in 2005; Fifth Report on the Statistics on the Number of Animals used for Experimental and other Scientific Purposes in the Member States of the European Union published 5/11/2007 (these are the most recent EU wide statistics available).

PRESS
RELEASE
April
24th 2009

Cause
+ Affect to launch UK’s first branded, certified fair-trade,
organic Polo on World Fair Trade Day

Cause
+ Affect today announced the launch of their new range of ethical
Polos to coincide with World Fair Trade Day on May 9th 2009. A UK
first, both Men’s and Women’s Polos are made from certified
fair-trade
in-conversion organic cotton and embroidered with the Cause + Affect
butterfly logo. Initially available for pre-order at a cost of £30,
Cause + Affect will donate £10 to WaterAid
for each Polo sold before they arrive in stock on 6th July
2009.

Available in 4 colours; Black, Red, Navy and White,
these Polos are only available online from 9th May from the Cause +
Affect website.
The cotton used in the manufacture of these garments is grown at a
co-operative farm in India and the Polos are then manufactured at a
fair-trade certified factory nearby.

In-conversion cotton is
grown on land which has only recently been converted to organic
methods. Farmers often experience an initial drop in yield whilst not
being able to obtain premium organic price for their crops. Cause +
Affect is therefore proud to be supporting farmers making this
difficult but important transition to organic farming.

Since
their launch in April 2008, offering just a few t-shirt designs,
Cause + Affect has continued to grow adding further t-shirt designs
and more recently hoodies to its range of ethical high street
fashion. All products are made from 100% certified fair-trade and
organic cotton.

World Fair Trade Day is a global festival of
fair-trade with events organised across 70 countries. For more
details please see http://www.worldfairtradeday09.org/

Cause
+ Affect is a new clothing brand created to design and manufacture
clothing for ethical living.

Started
just over a year ago by three young professionals concerned by the
level of exploitation within the clothing industry, our aim is
produce ethically made clothes that people want to wear, enabling
them to both look good and feel good.

We
believe in doing things the right way and helping to positively
affect the world we live in.

To
find out more please visit www.causeandaffect.co.uk,
email us at press@causeandaffect.co.uk

or
call us on 0118 9310177.

Last Thursday, Earth Day, The Chancellor, Alistair Darling, has delivered his 2009 Budget statement. The team at MoreEco have gone through the documents and have listed the points which have a green, eco, or natural aspect to them. The question is the 2009 budget green enough as this could be out last chance.

• From next month until March 2010 motorists to get £2,000 discount on new cars if they trade in cars older than 10 years.
• £4bn of new capital from European Investment Bank for low carbon stuff.
• Alistair Darling promises at least two and maybe four carbon capture projects with “new funding mechanism”.
• Britain commits to cut carbon emissions by 34% by 2020.
• Opening
  up north sea for further expansion, including offshore wind and carbon
  capture & storage with £525m for offshore wind projects over the
  next two years.
• Budget offering £500m to help housing industry
  of which £100m of that is for local authorities to build energy
  efficient housing.
• Fuel duty to rise by 2p per litre from
  September, then by 1p a litre above indexation each April for the next
  four years. May be more of is will drive our cars more better.
• An extra £1bn to help combat climate change by supporting low-carbon industries.
• £435m support for energy efficiency schemes for homes, firms and public buildings.
• £405m to encourage low-carbon energy and advanced green manufacturing.

Actually I did have a dream but I can’t talk about that in public. I wrote a book (while more or less awake) and it talks about looking at the world as if it were an organism (that’s ‘orgaNIsm’ madame, though it certainly excites me). James Lovelock had the same basic idea and it rocks. In an organism, every organ is joined to other organs and each plays its part – the heart pumps, the lungs oxygenate and so on. If any one organ goes down, the whole organism goes down along with all its organs. Therefore enlightened self-interest says you’d better look out for the other guys or else you’re in Big Trouble…

I see companies, communities, families, nations, species, economies, markets and sectors as organisms. George Soros felt the same way and forced the British government to devalue the pound as a result. He made a billion in one night; whether you agree or not with the ethic, you can’t deny that his philosophy worked – unlike classical economics, it reflected the real world and thus had predictive power. So, what has all this to do with Ethical Junction? It seems to me that if one has a lot of organs on life-support in a lab, one has some things which are alive. If you join them up together into an organism, though, you have the potential for growth, reproduction, productivity, self-management, abundance, distributed leadership, proliferation, evolution, laughter, parties, huge mistakes, more laughter and all the other attributes of complex, adaptive, living systems. We have already got budding relationships with a number of organisations whose members, customers, supporters, staff, donors, fans, twitterers and others certainly reflect the ethos of Ethical Junction. More to the point, however, there are MILLIONS OF THESE PEOPLE. If we were to join up with them we could not only do more business, find more like-minded souls, get more ideas and perhaps feel more empowered and less isolated – we could trigger a revolution and really start to change fhe flippin world. Or we could go back to dreaming…. What thoughts?

The EcoVillage Team are pleased to offer a 5% discount to any Ethical Junction member who books up for The EcoVillage at the Kent County Show this year.  With 85 exhibitors over a massive 5000sqm of space,  
this years EcoVillage is promises to be a great event for sustainable businesses. Our stand prices start from only £222 for a 3 day event, with both indoor and outdoor space available.  Space is running out so  
contact Amanda if you are interested and she will give you more information, email info@theecovillage.co.uk or see www.theecovillage.co.uk for more information.

The EcoVillage at the Kent County Show is on the 17th to 19th July and is sponsored by Protect Kent and The Countrystyle Group.  Media partners are The Ecologist, Kent on Sunday and Kent Profile Magazine.

Spring 2009 sees the addition of new mineral make up brand, Inika
Cosmetics, to the So Organic beauty department. Inika are made in
Australia from crushed minerals. They are 100% vegan and do not contain
any of the synthetic chemicals found in conventional brands.

The leading organic lifestyle store is excited to have this new make up brand as part of their total natural beauty selection and is offering 20% off all Inika make up until the end of April. Samantha comments: “I love this new natural make up range. THE best coverage from a foundation I’ve ever had but even better it’s so versatile – I use it as a concealer, foundation and powder.”

So Organic and The Girl’s Experience will host an organic make up night to demonstrate the products and explain the benefits of natural cosmetics. So Organic founder and organic beauty guru, Samantha Burlton, will be joined by two specialist Inika make up artists for The Girl’s Experience evening at Boujis in South Kensington on the 28th of May 2009.

The complete range of Inika make up, available from www.SoOrganic.com 

The expected £2,000 incentive scheme for drivers who swap old cars for newer models is a motor industry bail out masquerading as  green initiative, according to the Environmental Transport Association (ETA).

Car scrapping initiatives are often labelled green because some subsidise the purchase of fuel-efficient cars, but they routinely
fail to take into consideration the amount of energy required to build a vehicle in the first place.

Director at the Environmental Transport Association (ETA), Andrew Davis, said: “Altering the way you drive and keeping a car longer can be a greener option than buying new.”

“Even if the new model you buy is more economical, once you take into account the energy needed to scrap the old car and build an entirely new one the overall benefits are likely to be tiny.”

The ETA recommends that drivers keep a car until it is no longer reliable and follow its green driving tips:

1. Avoiding harsh acceleration and braking to save fuel and reduce wear and tear

2. Look as far as possible up the road to reduce stop/start driving, thereby reducing fuel consumption and making you a safer
driver into the bargain

3. Remove unnecessary clutter from your car to reduce weight

4. If you don’t regularly use your roof rack or top box, remove it as it reduces the efficiency of your car

Sustainability initiatives in leading organisations are increasingly focusing on transformational and systemic change, rather than incremental improvements. It is this link between organisational transformation, and the role of certain individuals in leading that shift that highlight how can coaching is critical for innovation and sustainability. Through this research we identified that, with all other external factors being equal, the capability of some key individuals within organisations can make a difference to an organisation’s integration of sustainability, and that coaching can make the difference to that individual’s capability.

While we identified and support many other forms of coaching for
sustainability, we often found the current reality in organisations was
that it was often focused on particular individuals. In many cases
individuals were getting coached based on being self-identified
sustainability champions. While many of these champions may not have
formal roles in sustainability, they are all working to make change
happen. In some organisations, these ‘champion’ roles are actively
recruited for or coaching resources are directed to support them e.g.
various champion roles were described by our interviewees, including
senior directors who sponsored new initiatives, external specialists
who acted to inspire through leading by example, and grass-roots staff
who took responsibility for a particular issue such as energy
efficiency.

Whether in a formal role or not, champions are
likely to benefit from the support that coaching offers. Coaching is
one of the most effective tools for individual’s leadership
development, broadening their knowledge, skills and competencies and
increasing the flexibility of their perspectives. This development can
increase champion’s self-awareness and increase their capability to
lead through complexity and ambiguity. Our interviewees cited several
ways in which this could help:

 “…I can see a real value in
coaching to identify the 5 or 6 things that could make a difference,
maintaining the focus on those and taking them forward.”

“It’s clear that the success of a champion depends on a number of
things, some is their own skill in being able to package ideas and sell
them within their own organisation. But it also depends on the
leadership support….”

We also identified that champions and
leaders are far from stereotypical in character. Two frameworks we
presented identified differences in how champions may drive change.
This may be due to their stage of development, or their change agent
profiles. In all these frameworks individuals may have their preferred
or natural style of leading e.g. as an expert, strategist, or activist.
And, they may choose to play a different role e.g. expert or manager if
the context in which they are working demands a different approach for
them to be effective. Coaching is a process that specifically aids
individuals to be flexible in their perspective, and so supports
stronger champions.

The link between organisational
transformation and integration of sustainability, and the role of
certain individuals in leading that shift that highlight how can
coaching is explored in more detail in our report. We identified and
support many other forms of coaching for sustainability, we often found
the current reality in organisations was that it was often focused on
particular individuals. This is a legitimate and common way for
coaching to support integration of sustainability, and this link
examined in more depth in the full report.

Article 13 resource:
http://www.article13.com/csr/sustainability_coaching.asp