The Bradford-based company’s emphasis on sustainable media packaging has led them to develop a unique DVD case which is manufactured entirely from FSC accredited board and printed with vegetable based inks.  wewow is also working with a local printer to use alcohol-free printing where ever possible to print the bespoke cases.  The FSC accredited board was selected in order to ensure that the material used is sourced from a well managed forest.  Alternatively, customers can opt for a 100% recycled board.

The DVD WowWallet is produced from a single piece of board and features a durable DVD tray, which removes the need for a plastic tray glued within the case.  The case was developed in response to customer’s requests for a case which retained the eco-friendly credentials of the CD WowWallet and wowPak but was the size of a traditional DVD case and featured room for a booklet.

wewow are already working with a well known media company to supply DVD WowWallets for their upcoming project and are very excited about introducing the wallet to their customer base.

wewow Ltd is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more

11am-8pm Saturday 5th December

Fair Christmas Fayre is back on Oxford Street for it’s second year running. This ethical Christmas market place is being run by the Salvation Army and will include 30 unique stalls selling Fair Trade and eco gifts, cards and ethical fashion. There will be Fair Trade Christmas cakes, a free swap shop, music, DIY crafty present corners and knitting workshops.

Lucy Aitken Read, organiser of the Fayre, says “We will have a huge range of stylish and fun gifts for all the family, showing once again that an ethical Christmas doesn’t have to involve rubbish presents.”

Fair Christmas Fayre is being held on Saturday 5th December at the Salvation Army 275 Oxford Street- opposite BHS and just a few metres west of Oxford Circus. The full day goes from 11-8pm and hopes to inspire Oxford Street shoppers with the potential of ethical consumerism.

A recent research report from the EMCC (European Monitoring Centre on Change) stressed the importance of businesses to cultivate “anticipatory awareness” and flexibility in building resilience to change.  How does this translate into straightforward, practical steps that a small business can take to help it “thrive come what may?”

If you’re already running your small business sustainably (i.e. in accordance with the triple bottom line – people, planet, profit) then you’re well on the way to establishing resilience in your business. There is, however, another vital ingredient for sustainable small businesses to take on board in order to ensure that we can respond effectively and quickly to unforeseen changes. This essential business quality is known as “holism”.

What is a Holistic Business?

“The whole is more than the sum of its parts.” Aristotle

Awareness

A holistic business is one that operates in the awareness of the importance and interrelatedness of all of its parts and of its integration with its physical, community and business environments.

One way we can understand the interrelatedness of business parts is by using the holistic view of the human form – mind, body and soul.

Mind

We can think of the “mind” of a business as being its collection of plans, strategies, logistics and management systems (financial, marketing, distribution etc). So, just like in a human, it’s the thinking, rational part of the business.

Body

We can think of the “body” of a business as being its resources, materials and stock, physical environment, employees, business relationships, premises etc. It’s the company’s physical manifestation in the world.

Soul

We can think of the “soul” of a business as its values; those qualities that are the most important reasons for its existence, aside from earning a living for those employed by it. This is usually communicated in the form of a mission statement and spells out, in the case of a sustainable business, how the company is making a positive contribution to humanity and the planet.

Within the business, these three elements are interconnected. You will probably know from experience that whatever you do to change a management system (business mind), for example, will have an impact on your material resources (business body). Also, that it’s a good idea, when making business decisions (business mind), to refer to your mission statement (business soul) to ensure that whatever you decide to do will keep you on track with your business purpose.

The business, rather than existing in isolation, is intricately linked to its physical environment and the community it serves and that it operates in.  A business can be said to be holistic when it recognises itself as a significant, interdependent element in its environment.

So, how does the “sum of the parts” become more than “the whole” and how does it help us to respond to unforeseen circumstances?

By recognising the interconnectness of these internal and external elements, we become more aware of how everything we do within and outside the business has the potential to create or destroy, to serve or to consume. So, a holistic and sustainable business not only adheres to the triple bottom line, but it also behaves authentically, congruently, ethically and with integrity. It recognises that what it gives to the outside world, also benefits itself. The two cannot be separated.

Paradoxically, because of this interrelatedness and synergy, each business is also unique in its business requirements. With small businesses in particular, the company is often a reflection of the values, character and personality of the business owner or management team. This doesn’t mean that the Managing Director is the only person in the business whose ideas count, or that it is run dictatorially. Rather, it indicates just how personal and inspiring business ventures can be and just how much potential there is to effect positive and creative change using business as a vehicle.

Flexibility

Flexibility in business is about having choices. When faced with the downturn of a market we’re serving, we need to be able to diversify. When looking for new opportunities, we need to have the ideas, the energy and the resources to follow them up and convert them into something tangible. By running our businesses holistically, we become aware on a daily basis of the big picture of our business – the place it occupies in the world and it’s interrelatedness to all things internal and external. This is the approach that allows us to unearth countless possibilities for change, growth and development. This is the approach that feeds our creativity, imagination and motivation. So, it is a model that fully supports flexibility in our small businesses and therefore the capacity for resilience.

Conclusion

Sustainability plus holism leads to resilience, for small businesses.

By using this insight to cultivate awareness and flexibility in our business ventures, we can quickly respond to changes and opportunities and recover from setbacks in a fruitful way.

© Sally Lever 2009. www.sallylever.co.uk

Sally Lever works with those who aspire to live more simply and with less stress or who are running sustainable small businesses. She offers one-to-one coaching, workshops for groups and writes a blog.

Sally Lever is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more

Deepdale Christmas Market
Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th December 2009
www.deepdalefarm.co.uk/christmasmarket

Burnham Deepdale is known for great food at Deepdale Café, excellent shopping at Dalegate Market, and of course the eco-friendly hostels, tipis and yurts at Deepdale Backpackers and Camping.

In December 2009 Dalegate Market will also become known for wonderful Christmas spirit, as the whole place goes all Christmasy for the first annual Deepdale Christmas Market on Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th December.

Naturally you’ll be able to relieve those retail therapy cravings, buy presents and enjoy great food, something you can do virtually every day at Dalegate Market. However the Deepdale Christmas Market will add many new stalls and activities, to really start December with a large glass of festive spirit (mulled wine or real ale to be exact).

Of course the regular shops and café at Dalegate Market will be open throughout the weekend, including Fat Face Clothing, Little Giggles Traditional Toy Shop, BloominGorgeous Florists, Leftleys Costcutter Supermarket and Deepdale Café. We’ll be welcoming Relish Jewellery & Accessories who will be opening their new shop shortly before the Christmas Market weekend.

During the day on Saturday and Sunday, a large range of stalls will be open offering Christmas goodies, great present ideas and some competitions. You’ll be able to enjoy real ale from Beeston Brewery, handmade jewellery from Ambrielle Designs and pottery from Bodgers Farm Pottery. Random Loveliness will be selling hand made items from India, Jo Spaul will be selling her illustrations and you can learn more about your surname from Family Footsteps. More stalls will be announced nearer the event.

On Saturday the RNLI will be selling second hand books and Christmas cards to raise funds for the lifeboats and Brancaster School will be running a tombola.

If you like Christmas you’ll love Saturday evening (4pm to 6pm). Hunstanton Concert Band will be performing Christmas tunes and carols. The St Mary’s Church Carollers will be supplying carol sheets for anyone wishing to join in, along with mulled wine and roast chestnuts. There will be plenty of other Christmas fayre.

Throughout the weekend Deepdale Backpackers and Camping will be holding a Christmas Present Hunt around the campsite and hostel, run by Father Christmas and his elves for both little and not so little children.

It isn’t too late for stall holders to sign up, they just need to visit the website and register their stall – www.deepdalefarm.co.uk/christmasmarket

The best that the East of England has to offer came together at the awards ceremony on the 29th of October 2009 at Ickworth Hall in Bury St. Edmunds to battle it out for awards and accolades in this year’s regional awards for Excellence. Deepdale Leisure was nominated in the category for Sustainable tourism and faced tough competition from Fairhaven Woodland and Water Gardens in South Walsingham and Pinetrees Bed and Breakfast in Suffolk. It is a contest that gets more difficult year upon year as businesses realise the impact that they have on the local environment and economy and take steps to maximise the positive aspects whilst minimizing the negative ones, but in a close fought contest Deepdale Leisure was awarded the prize.

Sustainable tourism is an industry committed to making a low impact on the environment and local culture, while helping to generate income and employment for local people. The aim of sustainable tourism is to ensure that development is a positive experience for local people; tourism companies; and tourists themselves.

Deepdale Backpackers and Camping has strived to fully encapsulate this ethos into its development from the very beginning. Starting as a single camping paddock back in 1979 used only through July and August, a summer project has grown into a worthy representative of sustainable tourism.

Deepdale has in place many environmentally friendly schemes to aid in waste reduction, recycling, use of renewable energies, and water consumption reduction. Solar heating systems reduce the use of fossil fuels on a site that runs year round. Waterless urinals, and low flow taps and showers reduce the precious resource that we take for granted, and integrating local suppliers into the business where ever possible reduces fuel consumption and costs for delivery or collection whilst also increasing the business generated in the surrounding area. The development of several permissive footpaths around the local farm land has improved access for residents and tourists, as well as improves safety statistics on the local roads for walkers and cyclists.

Deepdale also runs environmental events such as our conservation weekend, and Earthday. Both are annual events which attract a lot of interest from all over the country and help to raise awareness and levels of education about global warming, the impact of fossil fuel burning, and ways that we can all help to reduce our impact on the world we live in.

“We take our responsibilities seriously here at Deepdale and know that we are an integral part of the local community and the global community. Without the support of the residents the development of Deepdale would have been much more difficult and without Deepdale, the local community would not have the same access to facilities that they do now. Globally the use of non-sustainable fuels and the use of non-recycled, imported goods is something we try very, very hard to avoid.” said Louise Smith, the managing director. “We have been very lucky in the support we have received and we are very grateful for it.”

As winners of the East of England regional award, Deepdale Leisure is now nominated for the National Sustainable tourism award.

Last year’s winner of this prestigious award for sustainable tourism were The Venus Company. The Venus mission is to be the greenest beach cafe and shop operator. We will strive to minimise the harmful effects and maximise the beneficial influences which our activities have on the environment.

Here at Deepdale we hope to be worthy competitors for such an auspicious award. ‘We don’t inherit the World; we borrow it from our children…At Deepdale we intend to look after it until we return it.’

For more information about Deepdale Backpackers and Camping please visit us on line at www.deepdalebackpackers.co.uk

For more information or images of Deepdale please contact:

Andrea Bramhall
andrea@deepdalebackpackers.co.uk
07799764903

Deepdale Farms is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more

The time has never been better for investing in renewable energy for your home. Until now it has mainly been the preserve of the wealthy or the committed green. Now, thanks to government plans to radically lower carbon emissions, renewable energy is a more attractive investment.

A financial incentive to encourage investment in renewable energy (known as a feed-in tariff or Clean Energy Cashback) will be introduced for electricity generation in April 2010. Germany, Spain and many other European countries have had such a scheme for some time, and it has transformed the take up of small scale energy generation.

The proposals have opened up a six month window of opportunity for people who invest in solar electricity, a wind turbine or a micro hydro scheme. If you install now, you will automatically receive the Clean Energy Cashback when it starts in April next year. You will also be able to apply for a Low Carbon Buildings Programme grant of up to £2,500, to help with the cost of installation. The grants will end when the feed-in tariff starts.
The Clean Energy Cashback will work in three ways.

• A generation tariff is paid for all electricity generated. This is likely to be 36.5p a kWh for a domestic solar system, 30.5p a kWh for the smallest wind turbines, and 23p a unit for slightly bigger turbines.
• An export tariff of 5p is paid for all electricity sold to the grid.
• You also benefit from smaller electricity bills by using electricity you have generated in your home.

The following calculations for ‘typical’ solar and wind installations show how it works:

Solar photovoltaic panels (PV)
An average size (2 kWp) system installed in southern England, producing 1,800 kWh a year, of which half is used in the home, and half is exported. (As you move further north, the system would generate less.)

Generation tariff @ 36.5p per kWh £657
Export tariff @ 5p per kWh £45
Savings on electricity bill @ 12p per kWh £108
Total annual return £810

The cost of installation would be around £10,000, giving an 8% return for the 20 years of the Clean Energy Cashback. If installed with a grant before April next year, the installation cost would drop to £7,500, increasing the return to a little over 10%. This would give a payback time of just over nine years with the grant, or 12 years without.

Wind turbine
A 6 kW Proven wind turbine has an estimated annual output of 6,000 – 12,000 kWh at an ideal site, and an average wind speed of 5 metres per second. This calculation assumes an output of 9,000kWh, of which 3,000kWh is used in the home.

Generation tariff @ 23p per kWh £2,070
Export tariff @ 5p per kWh £300
Savings on electricity bill @ 12p per kWh £360
Total annual return £2,730

The cost of installation would be around £25,000, giving a rate of return of just under 11%, and a payback time of nine years. With a grant the rate of return would increase to 12%, and payback in just over eight years.

So, although it’s still expensive, renewable electricity is now a much more attractive proposition. However, it’s not likely to hit the mainstream until there’s an attractive way of financing it. There is a lot of talk of pay as you save schemes, but so far they are mostly just talk. The Scottish Government has put aside £2m to pilot an interest free loan scheme, the UK Government is planning a pay a you save scheme, where you pay off a loan over a 25 year period from savings in energy bills. The leader in this area is Kirklees Borough Council’s RE-Charge scheme, where you can borrow £10,000, interest free, and pay it back when you sell your house.

Even if you have the cash ready to invest, microgeneration isn’t for everyone. Wind only makes sense if you’ve got a good site. You need average wind speeds of at least 5 or 6 metres a second, and no trees, buildings, hills or other obstacles that might cause turbulence. If not, you’re better off keeping your money in the bank. The only way to be certain is to measure the wind speed before you invest.

Solar PV is suitable for many more people, and can be used in built up areas. Most people put panels on their roof. For it to be effective you need unshaded space, facing between south west and south east. The panels are quite heavy, so your roof must be strong enough to hold them.

Like wind, micro-hydro is site specific, and most of us don’t have a handy river or stream or old mill we can use.

I’ve only talked about renewable electricity generation. It is also possible to generate heat with wood (biomass) boilers and stoves, solar water heating and heat pumps. There will soon be incentives for heat too. The government’s renewable heat incentive will start in April 2011. Detailed proposals are due soon.

This opens a similar (although longer) window of opportunity for investment. If you install renewable heat systems for your home between now and April 2011 you will be able to apply for Low Carbon Building Programme grants and will be transferred to the heat incentive. But until the proposed rates are published we won’t know what the return will be.

Renewable energy is never going to be a get rich quick scheme. But, whether your motive is lowering your carbon emissions, increasing your energy security, an expectation that energy prices can only continue to go up, or just a love of the technology, it’s beginning to look like an attractive investment.

The government is finally getting serious about the public’s energy concerns with the introduction of the new Feed in Tariffs, also known as clean energy cash back. This means that from April 2010 you will be paid generously for all of the energy you generate, leaving you free to choose whether to use the energy to reduce your bills or sell it back to the electricity company and thereby being paid twice.  Putting this into context, based on a standard solar photovoltaic system you would receive 36.5p/kWh through the feed in tariff, a total reduction in energy bills and an extra 5p/kwh for every unit you export. This totalled over a year could be a sum in excess of £900. Compare this to the initial investment costs and you are looking at a return of around 8% per annum, far better than the returns offered by any high street banks. Looking at the potential savings in relation to the recent ofgen report stating that the cost of energy for households is forecasted to rise by 60% over the next five years, it becomes clear that turning to renewable energy could become essential to homeowners in the future.

If you have been interested in utilizing solar power in your home but have been unsure about how and when, you should act sooner rather than later, a £2500 grant is on offer by the Government to assist with the cost of installation but is only open for a short period of time.

In the coming years the cost of energy will inevitably increase, by choosing to invest now you can take full advantage of the Governments grant and the generous Feed in Tariffs by the time your friends and neighbours are dreading their next energy bill you could be safe in the knowledge that you have a sustainable and profitable energy supply.

British Eco Ltd is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more

The week sees the launch of a new green pages website for the Midlands region. ‘The Midlands Green Pages’ covers the counties of central England and enables the public to find green businesses in their local area, as well as information about living a green lifestyle.

The website provides a regional directory which lists environmentally friendly companies, organisations, services and products. From where to buy cloth nappies to finding information about woodland burial sites, green gifts and eco wedding services, all this and more can be found on the website.

‘The Midlands Green Pages’ will also include the latest green news stories, local campaigns and will include details of local green events.
 
Website founder Kate Haines founder of the national eco website ‘GreenFinder’ is based in Leamington Spa where she runs both websites from her dining room table. She said ‘Since setting up GreenFinder almost three years ago I’ve met a great many small business owners based in the midlands like myself who work from small shops, studios or home offices that provide great green services and products’

‘Being a Midlander born and bred and being passionate about the ‘shop local, shop green message’ I thought it was the ideal time to set up a regional green directory. Every pound spent with a local supplier or business is worth £1.76 to the local economy yet only 36 pence if it is spent out of the area so it’s really important for the economy of the Midlands that Midlanders support their local businesses.

Click here to visit the Midlands Green Pages

GreenFinder is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more

Could you benefit from some time to stand back from the rush of everyday life and think about how you’re living and what really matters to you?  Just think… is an 8 week self-taught course gives you the chance to stand back from your life and find ways of making it better – including living in line with your values and living the life you want.

It’s like a weekly social evening where you get together with new and old friends to think about your life and how you want to live.  Set up a new group and you could make up to £200!

Watch this video to find out more, then have a look around our website (we’re part of Life²) to sign up or get more details.  We hope we’ll see you on just think… soon!

Visit www.lifesquared.org.uk for loads more ideas on how to live well within the modern world!

Life² is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more

Three great Ecover offers exclusively on BigGreenSmile.com.

Until the 11th December we are exclusively offering:

1 - Buy 2 packs of Ecover Dishwasher tablets get a bottle Ecover Rinse Aid absolutely free. See details here

2 – Buy either the new Citrus and Orange Blossom or Lavender 1L refill Hand Soap get the same fragrance 250ml with pump, worth £3.34 absolutely free. See Ecover soap promotion details here

3 – 20% off any purchase of the 1L Ecover Washing Up Liquid. Choose from Chamomile and Marigold, Lemon and Aloe Vera or Grapefruit and Green Tea. See Ecover Washing Up Liquid offer details here

Big Green Smile is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more