Ethical Fashion and Homewares that
don’t cost the earth – Jungle Berry Sale

Ethical retailer Jungle Berry is
running a breathtakingly brilliant spring sale, with loads of
bargains across their exclusive ranges of homewares, rugs, bags and
jewellery.

Sale products include naturally-dyed
rugs, gorgeous clutches, handwoven cushion covers, oil burners and
placemats, as well as fashion jewellery designed by Suzanne Campbell
for Jungle Berry. You won’t find Jungle Berry products anywhere
else!

Beautiful because they’re
beautiful, and beautiful because they’re ethical.

With an extensive product range
designed in the UK and made in Brazil and Mexico, Jungle Berry’s
philosophy centres on the idea that fair trade products should be
intrinsically desirable, not just because they’re associated with a
good cause, but because they’re stylish and beautiful.

A Berry Good Idea

Founded in 2004, Jungle Berry works in
partnership with indigenous cooperatives in the heart of the Amazon
rainforest and southern Mexico to create sustainable livelihoods for
local people by making fair trade jewellery, homewares and
accessories.

Jungle Berry has been recognised as a
fair trade importer by the British Association of Fair Trade Shops
(BAFTS) since 2005.

Review by The Green Familia

I was really intrigued when I saw the
Eco Ezee Paint Tray – it seems such a simple idea. We are currently
renovating our house and are going to be doing a lot of painting.
When I have decorated before I’ve always used the traditional
plastic painting tray and roller. I never liked having to wash all
the paint out of the plastic tray when I finished and was impressed
by Eco Ezee’s claim that their tray can be reused without washing
it out! A brilliant idea! So, I gave it a go to see just how well it
works.

Concept: The Eco Ezee Paint Tray
is designed as an alternative to all the plastic and metal trays
currently available. It is made from 100% recycled waste material.
When you have finihsed painting, there is no need to use water to
wash the tray – just wipe out any excess paint and leave to dry. Any
paint left will soak into the tray and dry.

In use: The Eco Ezee tray is
very easy to use – it is just like any other paint tray. The tray
holds paint well and the roller section helps you get a good coverage
of paint on the roller. There is also a very useful little gap at the
end of the roller section which I found perfect for holding
paintbrushes. I thought the tray might become ’soggy’ when I used
it, but I was pleased to see that it held the paint well the whole
time I was using it. Although I could feel the paint soaking into the
tray, I never thought that it would ‘give’ or tear. It always
felt very strong.

The cleverness of the Eco Ezee’s
design really becomes apparent when you have finished painting.
Instead of having to wash the tray out, I wiped out the leftover
paint (if you have a lot of paint left you could pour that into a can
first to use again). Once all the excess paint was gone I just left
the tray to dry! No washing, which saved me time and water. When I
used the tray the next time, the paint had dried into the tray and it
was ready to use again. As the paint soaked into the tray, there is
no flaking or peeling like you get on plastic trays. The tray was
perfect and ready to be reused.

Positives: I loved everything
about this tray – it is made from recycled waste materials, it’s
easy to use, it can be used again and again and it needs no washing.
It will also last a long time. The paint that soaks into the tray
when you have finished using it, helps to make the tray stronger the
more it is used.

Negatives: None at all.

Cost: The Eco Ezee Paint tray
costs about £1.50, depending on where you buy it, which I think is
excellent value for money.

Where can I buy it?: A list of
suppliers is available on the Eco Ezee website, in the Where to Buy
Section. As well as being sold at Travis Perkins, the tray can also
be purchased from several online suppliers such as Ecotopia and My
Little Eco.

Verdict: 5/5 – a very clever
product.

Travel Angel makes scents for holiday
journeys

A new ingenious product for travel sickness.  The Travel
Angel is a natural way to get relief from car, plane, train or
seasickness. Containing essential oils of blended ginger, orange and
peppermint, it enables you to enjoy instant and natural relief from
travel sickness before, during and after a journey.

It’s
easy to use – simply open the band compartment and inhale
the essential oil aromas deeply, breathe out and relax. 

Special Offer of 15% discount in May, just enter ”Travel”
at the checkout.   

The
Travel Angel is available on-line at www.wristangel.co.uk

Sustainabilitylive! - May 19 to 21, 2009

Sustainabilitylive! taking place at the NEC, Birmingham from 19 – 21 May 2009, is the UK’s largest forum for excellence and innovation in environment, water, energy and land.

Love London Green Festival – 4th to 28th June

The Love London Green Festival is believed to be the largest annual green festival in the world. From 4th to 28th June 2009, over a hundred green events will take place across the capital, bringing communities together to share ideas and celebrate innovations.  These events provide fun days out and engage Londoners in building a sustainable future for our city.

World Environment Day - 05 Jun 2009

World Environment Day, commemorated each year on 5 June, is one of the principal vehicles through which the United Nations stimulates worldwide awareness of the environment and enhances political attention and action.

GreenFest 14th June

GREENFEST 2009 will be both a lovely way to spend an afternoon beside the river, and a chance to discover some stuff about the environment, cycling and the local community.

National Shed Week  - 06 to 11 Jul 2009

“Do you have a garden shed that is unique?” asks Uncle Wilco head sheddie of readersheds.co.uk. “Maybe it’s your own little bolthole away from the trials of life. Maybe you have converted your humble garden building into a pub, or it’s just a normal wooden building that’s special to you.”

World Recycling Day - 08 July

On July 8, 2009 keep track of your recycling and enter the number of aluminum cans, plastic bottles, glass containers, newspapers and office papers you’ve recycled into the recycling calculator at recyclingday.org or at http://apps.facebook.com/gorecycle/ and see how many barrels of oil, trees, gallons of water, pounds of carbon dioxide, kilowatts of electricity, and cubic yards of garbage you save!!

Big Green Gathering - 29th July to 2nd August 2009

What is it? The Big Green Gathering is a 5 day camping event which is currently located in the Mendip Hills in Somerset. It has grown out of the original Green Gatherings of the 1980’s and the Green Fields of Glastonbury Music Festival. It has developed organically in response to a desire from people within the green movement for a festival that was focused on Green issues

National Allotments Week - 10 to 16 Aug 2009
A week to promote awareness and availability of allotments both locally and nationally as well as showing the public and the local authorities the strength of support and interest for the heritage of allotment culture.

World Water Week - 16 to 22 Aug 2009
Experts from 100 countries are assembled this week in a global effort to improve human; welfare and the planet’s health.

International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer - 16 Sep 2009
International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer – reflects the urgent need to preserve the ozone layer, which filters sunlight and prevents the adverse effects of ultraviolet radiation reaching the Earth’s surface, thereby preserving life on the planet.

World Carfree Day - 22 Sep 2009
World Carfree Day is an annual celebration of cities and public life, free from the noise, stress and pollution of cars

In part two of our green wash feature, (part 1) we put the energy and oil companies under the microscope and ask if they are really doing their bit for the environment or pulling green wool over our eyes. Not every company that claims to be green is lying with many businesses spending millions reworking practices to become more environmentally friendly.

This can be demonstrated by Inc.com’s Green 50 which charts what businesses are doing to become more environmentally friendly. However with all these efforts there are many more big companies getting their big green paintbrush out.

Take energy giant Shell for instance. They bought out their big guns to shout about their commitment to a low carbon future but started selling off their Solar business as it wasn’t making ‘much profit’ and putting more money into oil sands. Oxfam criticised Shell in 2008 for massaging its emissions figures of oil sands as a “dangerous green wash” that hides its contribution to further climate change and puts poor people around the world at greater risk

In early 2009, Energy regulator Ofgem sparked controversy by making the decision that power companies wishing to offer green tariffs would be required to make additional efforts to reduce carbon emissions. This means that that currently suppliers offering green tariffs need to demonstrate that they are making additional investment in renewable energy or carbon offsets, on top of their legal obligations. The top six energy companies signed up to this. However this decision was slated by Dale Vince, MD of Ecotricity who accused the six of greenwash and said that this action would divert investment from increasing renewable energy capacity.

So what do consumers think? We know we are getting wiser about greenwashing and the web is helping us spread our distain for it. Consumers are quick to use the web to condemn green washing and voice their skepticism about corporations, researchers from Nielsen Online found during a recent survey.  “When it comes to the environment, consumers are insisting on both transparency and consistency from the corporations they patronise,” said Jessica Hogue, research director for Nielsen Online.

Ecover’s unique partnership with conservation organisation WaterAid, provides sustainable and ongoing access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene education to 11 villages and over 14,000 people in Ethiopia.

Ecover has always recognised water is a precious commodity but it was the desire to highlight the importance of protecting the water supply on a global scale that led to the unique partnership with WaterAid.

To help you do your bit Ecover is also offering a free watercare pack which includes a hippo water saver for your toilet as well as tips on how to save water and reduce water pollution, both locally and globally.

MoreEco Support

Also MoreEco, the Eco Shopping Reward Site, will donate £1 to WaterAid for each person who signs to their site (offer code ‘wateraid’). To buy Ecover Products online visit MoreEco who list the best Eco Shopping sites and Eco offers.

About Ecover

The people at Ecover, the world’s leading manufacturer of ecological cleaning products, make products designed to have minimum impact on the environment after you pull the plug. Ecover products help minimise the burden on the global water supply and aquatic environment as they require significantly less water to neutralise after use than conventional alternatives. For example if 5% of families in the UK switched to Ecover Biological washing powder from a conventional product, in excess of ½  million Olympic swimming pools worth of water would be safeguarded against pollution in a year.

11 June London clothes
swap will be massive

www.DaisyGreenMagazine.co.uk
and ethical stylist have teamed up to host what is hoped
to be the UK’s biggest ever clothes swap.

E-tickets are now on
sale for the swap that will take place on Thursday 11 June at the
opulent, brand new surroundings of INC Space in Grape Street, London
WC2.

With swishing now
established as a new craze, 100s of people are expected bringing with
them 1,000s of clothes. Nicola Alexander, Founder of ethical online
women’s magazine, daisygreenmagazine.co.uk,
said:

“Swishing is a
really fantastic way to beat the credit crunch and steer clear of
fast fashion made in sweat shops. It is a great girls’ night out
and you can find some amazing bargains, including good-as-new
garments from designer names. It’s like a fashion treasure hunt!”

The evening will
kick off at 6.30 and, as well as the swish, it will feature an
ethical styling demonstration by Lupe Castro, music from top green
band, The Phoenix Rose, burlesque dancing and shopping opportunities
from ethical fashion brands including Bochica, Makepiece, Bourgeois
Boheme, Cred Jewellery and natural beauty company, Green People.

DaisyGreenMagazine.co.uk
recently hosted a hugely successful swish at UKaware at Olympia 2
which was so popular it turned into a marathon of six swishes.

Tickets are £10 in
advance and £15 on the door available from
nicola@daisygreenmagazine.co.uk

The
Bristol Vegan Fayre May 30^th
and 31^st
2009

Now
in its 7^th
year, the Bristol Vegan Fayre continues to be the biggest vegan
gathering anywhere in the world, with record crowds expected for this
year’s event after the near sell out 2008 show which saw over
11,000 visitors over the 2 days

Organised
by Bristol based firm Yaoh, The BVF 09 is once again an eclectic mix
of all things vegan, with 100 stalls including 20 caterers with vegan
food from all over the globe, plus 40 talks and cookery demos over
the weekend, and an amazing line up of entertainment for the whole
family.

The
acoustic stage sees a variety of musical talent throughout the
weekend including acts such as Bristol jazz combo Kev & Mike’s
Groovy Thing and local legends Dub From Atlantis, plus headliners
SohoDolls on Saturday, right opposite the onsite licensed bar. There
is also a performance stage in the amphitheatre with Brazilian
Dancers and Sikh swordsmen amongst others, and the Kids Area is
rammed to the rafters with an assortment of magic shows and workshops
for the nippers

But
The Main Stage once again grabs the headlines with some truly
excellent acts on later in the day – The Saturday line up is
definitely party time with The King Blues on the Main Stage at 5pm,
with Ian Dury’s band The Blockheads headlining Saturday at 9pm.
Sunday sees reggae uberstar Horace Andy (famed for his work on the
Massive Attack albums) take the stage at 7pm along with his band Dub
Asante, with Macka B fresh from headlining last years St Pauls
carnival live on stage Sunday 5pm.

The
show starts at 11am both days and runs to 10.30 pm on Saturday and
8.30 pm Sunday. Tickets each day are £8 in advance, £10 on the gate
before 5pm and £12 after 5pm. Kids under 12 come in for £4 each
day, and babies under 12 months come in for free. For advance tickets
go to www.yaoh.co.uk/catalog
- also available from The Bristol Ticket Shop

The
event website is www.bristol.veganfayre.co.uk

Contact
Yaoh on 0117 9239053 or email info@yaoh.co.uk

Thanks
to all our sponsors including Bute Island, Beanie’s, The Vegan
Society, Off The Hoof, VitaMix, VeggieSnow, Mad Promotions,
VeggieVision, Foods For Life, Shakeaway, Community Foods, Kingfisher
Toothpaste and Excellart

The manufacturers of some of the most-polluting cars on British roads, including Bentley, Porsche and Rolls Royce, have today  signed up for the government’s scrappage scheme, an initiative described as ‘green’ because it aims to replace older vehicles with new, fuel-efficient models.  

In theory it means that someone who scraps a 1999 Volkswagen Lupo TDi 3L, (81g CO2/km) and buys a 2009 Bentley Arnage 465g CO2/km)
would receive a £1,000 taxpayer-funded payment. The Bentley produces over 5 times as much CO2 as the smaller car.

Director at the Environmental Transport Association (ETA), Andrew Davis, said: “Buying a green Bentley does not make this scrappage scheme environmentally-friendly” 

A survey of over 900 responsibletravel.com
tour operators and accommodations has shown that over half (53%) of
respondents have seen an increase in business since the recession
started. A startling 80% believe Dubai will ‘lose out’ as a tourist
destination in the wake of the recession and 41% conclude that the UK
will benefit from travellers’ desire to save money, reduce their carbon
footprint and travel closer to home.

According to those surveyed the trend in responsible tourism -
which bucks that of the organic food movement – is here to stay as
people search out authentic, local travel experiences with almost all
respondents (94%) believing that more local and authentic travel will
be increasingly popular following the global recession. 

Justin Francis, managing director of responsibletravel.com said:
“I
am staggered but delighted by the positive growth our suppliers are
seeing at this difficult economic time, particularly when similar
sectors such as organic food are suffering. For some time we have seen
the beginnings of a changing mindset amongst consumers and the
recession has sped this up where travel is concerned. Responsible
tourism offers great value local and authentic travel experiences – in
fact it is often a cheaper holiday option.”

Destination ‘winners and ‘losers’

When asked about
Dubai’s future popularity, 80% felt it would ‘lose out’ from the
recession. 40% of those surveyed blamed its “lack of authentic,
distinctive travel experiences” and a further 38% believe it to simply
be an “environmental disaster”.

Over one third (35%) of respondents felt Euro zone countries are
now too expensive to attract holidaymakers and instead 41% predicted we
would turn to ’staycations’ closer to home in the UK instead. A further
10% believe Turkey will come out trumps as an affordable, alternative
to Europe.

Francis said:
“It’s fantastic to see UK holidaymakers
rediscovering their own backyard at a time when we face a double
incentive – the environment and our spending. I have no doubt those
destinations such as Dubai will suffer unless they clean up their act
and begin to switch towards providing more authentic, responsible
tourism options.”

Holiday ‘types’

All inclusive package holidays
will be the ‘losers’ of the recession according to well over half of
respondents (58%), whilst the winners, predicted by over a quarter of
those surveyed (26%), will be ‘back to basics’ holidays such as camping
and visits to national parks.

A further 18% believe self catering accommodation will have
flourished by the end of the recession and 16% say domestic holidays
will be the future.