The Spending Review has confirmed that the RHI will be going ahead from June 2011, with £860 million funding allocated from 2011 to 2015.  DECC (Department of Energy & Climate Change) has pledged a commitment to using the RHI to drive “a more-than-tenfold increase of renewable heat over the coming decade.”

One major change is that the RHI will now be funded directly by government, rather than by consumers as proposed by the previous government.  The DECC press release states: “The Government will not be taking forward the previous administration’s plans of funding this scheme through an overly complex Renewable Heat levy.”

There are as yet no details on tariff levels and it appears that funding levels may be lower than originally planned.  Details of the actual design of the scheme are due to be published before the end of the year.

The confirmation of its move from ‘proposed’ to ‘approved’ is a great result for both homeowners and the renewables industry and will help the UK to meet required energy targets for 2020. 

DECC says that this confirmation will help in “shifting renewable heat from a fringe industry firmly into the mainstream”

Nu-Heat is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more

You’ll probably know by now that organic cotton can help babies and children with eczema or sensitive skin because it doesn’t contain the finishing chemicals or pesticide residues that are found in conventional cotton. Organic cotton has a longer smoother fibre because it is grown naturally without the chemicals needed to boost production, this results in a silky smooth, ultra soft feel which can reduce irritation.
 
There is a lot of anecdotal evidence to say that younsters with sensitive skin or eczema do much better wearing organic cotton clothing. Wearing organic cotton next to babies sensitive skin reduces the risk of irritation and reduces the risk of absorbing chemicals through the skin so if you treat your children to one organic cotton item then it’s wise for it to be something worn next to their skin.

Children are more susceptable to skin irritation at night due to the fluctuations in temperature so treating your child to organic pyjamas can be hugely beneficial.

Globalkids is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more

We bring this 24 hour event to your attention. Only 12 places remain, so please book now to avoid disappointment later.

The event will run from Wednesday evening, 3rd – Thurs afternoon, 4th November, 2010. Charney Manor, Oxon

This is a coaching skills programme for all those who coach others as part of their work, whether as owners, coaches or line managers and is offered by practicing coaches Sandra Goddard and Alastair Russell.

We know that people gain most from development programmes based on everyday issues balanced with practical content. This workshop will be highly interactive and will support integration of your learning with exercises and practical application.

OBJECTIVES
Participants will be able to:
• Appreciate the necessity for constructive coaching and feedback as a day to day
requirement in managing their working relationships effectively
• Identify a range of situations where coaching is relevant
• Understand practical approaches underpinned by the GROW Model and feedback tools
• Demonstrate the necessary coaching and feedback skills for personal impact

Proposed draft programme
• Welcome & Introductions
• Working Environment
• Coaching Principles (small group work)
• ‘Silent’ coaching
• Introduction to GROW Model
• Coaching Practice (using GROW)
• Coaching Demonstration
• Coaching Practice (using GROW)
• Personal review & planning
• Warm Down – closing reflections & next steps

Format
• highly participative: a mix of whole and small group discussion.
• practical emphasis using participants’ real-life scenarios
• additional feedback skills component

ACTION:
In advance of the workshop please identify 3 to 4 topics/situations of your choice on which to be coached. The topic matter may be work-related or personal: it’s entirely up to you.

By preparing beforehand we can then work together to focus on:

• the practical application of coaching skills
• addressing your specific needs and maximising your learning.

http://www.qandb.org
Events Working Group
For Quakers and Business
www.qandb.org

Tel: 01684 891 566

Quakers and Business is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more

Gite Mallerin is a restored stone farmhouse surrounded by fields and forest in the heart of the Morvan Regional Nature Park in Burgundy. The house has two spacious ensuite bedrooms. The living room has an old granite fireplace with a double combustion Jotul wood burning stove, a french oak beam ceiling and original terracotta tiles, and opens onto a 35 square metre terrace which overlooks the Morvan hills. There are more than 3400 kilometres of marked trails in the Morvan for hiking, mountain biking or horseback riding and many lakes for swimming, sailing and fishing. We have a large organic garden and we sell our fresh organic fruits and vegetables throughout the year. Our own organic honey and local organic bread are also available for guests to buy. http://www.organicholidays.co.uk/at/2907.htm

Organic Holidays is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more

WIN A FAMILY TICKET

Win a family ticket worth £56 to visit Marwell Wildlife park.

In support and to highlight Marwell’s fantastic animal conservation work, in particular the Grevy’s zebra, we have a family ticket worth £56 up for grabs.

Marwell Wildlife is a magnificent 140 acre home to over 250 exotic and endangered species. Marwell are at the forefront in the UK with pioneering animal conservation projects both here in the UK and in other parts of the world.

For a chance to win this excellent family prize all you have to do is tell us who your favourite animal is. Is it a bird, fish, mammal or even an insect? It’s as simple as that!

What’s Your Favourite Animal?

There are two ways to enter:

1. Visit Competition Corner and enter your answer on the link.
2. Visit our Facebook page and add your answer to the wall thread currently running.

We Wish You The Best of Luck Everyone!

Terms and Conditions Apply

Competition Closes Friday 26th November 2010

Animal Days Out is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more

Our historic Pembrokeshire home has been restored using traditional methods. When preparing our Pembrokeshire Produce Breakfast we strive to utilise the very best locally produced foods. Eggs come from our own organically reared and fed flock. Milk, butter, bacon, sausage and preserves are produced locally and complemented by homemade yogurt and our own home baked bread. Freshly squeezed orange juice plus melon, smoked salmon, muesli, cereals and a sumptuous bowl of fresh fruit complete the breakfast offering. We can provide a three course dinner for you, providing it has been booked in advance. Meat and fish are locally sourced, while most of the vegetables and salads are harvested from our kitchen garden immediately before cooking. http://www.organicholidays.co.uk/at/2905.htm

Organic Holidays is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more

Borders Environmental Education Services runs Eco-holidays on the Northumberland Coast. Pete Carthy Director said, “We use the John Muir Award to deliver holidays, which is an environmental award scheme focused on wild places. It encourages awareness and responsibility for the natural environment, in a spirit of fun, adventure and exploration”.

We are offering a 10% discount on our upcoming weekend break 26-28th November, book before the 31st October.

You’ll be able to Discover, Explore and Conserve this beautiful stretch of coast. Accommodation is in a bunk house, which has an open fire, hot showers and is next door to a 14th Century Peele Tower and woodland walks.

The normal price is £100; this includes all food, accommodation and transport. It is open to anyone aged 18-75 yrs old, and participants are covered by our personal accident insurance, whilst taking part in the activities.

Pick-up is at Alnmouth train station at 6.30pm on the 26th, or make you own way to the accommodation.
Places are limited to 10 participants, so book early. For more details contact Pete on 01835 869869 / 07807032491 or email pcarthy@bee-active.org

Why are some of the world’s best athletes also some of the most superstitious? How can a good luck charm (or simply good luck wishes from a friend or colleague) sometimes improve someone’s success at a task? Because belief in a lucky charm actually does work, according to a study by psychologists at the University of Cologne, in Germany.

“I watch a lot of sports . . and I noticed that very often athletes hold superstitions,” says Lysann Damisch, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University, and head researcher for the report. Michael Jordan wore his college team shorts underneath his NBA uniform for good luck; Tiger Woods wears a red shirt on tournament Sundays, usually the last and most important day of a tournament. Damisch wondered why they did this. She thought that a belief in superstition might help people do better by improving their confidence. So, with her colleagues Barbara Stoberock and Thomas Mussweiler, she designed a set of experiments to see if activating people’s superstitious beliefs would actually improve their performance on a task.

In one of the experiments, volunteers were told to bring a lucky charm with them. Then the researchers took it away to take a picture. Half of the volunteers were given their charm back before the test started; the other half were told there was a problem with the camera and they would get it back later. Volunteers who had their lucky charm did better in a series of tests. They felt more confident and set higher goals for themselves.

Indeed, simply wishing someone good luck was shown to improve their success at a task. “This is especially true in situations where people feel a bit insecure and thus want to gain some confidence . .  for example, before a tournament, an exam, a job interview, an audition. Our results suggest that it is helpful to have a little lucky charm close by,” said Damisch.  

“So don’t scoff at those good luck charms”, says Melanie Bourne, Proprietor of Indalo Art and one of the founders of an online gifts shop for good luck gifts and charms called good.luck.gifts.com . “This new research shows that having some kind of lucky token really can improve performance . . by increasing self-confidence and faith.”

The research was published in Psychological Science, the journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

Indalo Art is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more

Smartbags.co.uk are proud to be sponsors of the NSPCC Childline Ball 2010. The theme this year is “Childline’s Got Talent”. To celebrate the event smartbags.co.uk have produced a vibrant reusable goodie bag.

The prestigious fundraising event with be held at the newly re-furbished Savoy Hotel in London on Thursday 21st October, 2010. There will be a unique mix of variety show entertainment from stars of the Britain’s Got Talent stage as well as auction.

The auction lots available, include a Caribbean getaway, a table at the Pride of Britian Awards and a chance to own the last ever Big Brother Diary Room chair. All funds raised will go to help the NSPCC protect children across the UK. For more information please visit the NSPCC website: nspcc.org.uk

For quality reusable eco-bags for your next promotional event contact us by email matt@smartbags.co.uk or visit our website http://www.smartbags.co.uk/2010-index.htm 

Smart Bags is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more

Passivhaus (translated as ‘passive house’ in English) is an approach to designing ultra low energy homes and buildings that is beginning to sweep the nation. Today (Tuesday 12th October 2010) Green Building Store launches ‘Future Passiv’ a short 10 minute documentary which makes the case for Passivhaus as a standard for all UK new builds – and even for the refurbishment of existing buildings.

Presented by eco broadcaster Penney Poyzer (BBC2’s “No Waste like Home”), ‘Future Passiv’ features Green Building Store’s Denby Dale Passivhaus project in West Yorkshire and outlines the many advantages of the Passivhaus approach to low energy building. As well as offering incredibly cheap heating bills (heating costs for the Denby Dale Passivhaus are expected to be around £75 per year), Passivhaus buildings can also make a significant contribution to tackling climate change, as well as being very comfortable to live in. ‘Future Passiv’ includes interviews with the owners of the Denby Dale Passivhaus and looks at the way in which Passivhaus design is really beginning to take off in the UK including housing associations, schools, offices and community centres as well as private homes.

Passivhaus design can create buildings which use 90% less energy for space heating than standard UK buildings. Based on the principle that reducing heating loss to the minimum is the most cost-effective way of creating a low carbon building, Passivhaus design relies on a simple ‘tea cosy’ effect maximising the use of super insulation and stringent airtightness. By combining this with passive solar gain and mechanical ventilation and heat recovery (MVHR) systems, Passivhaus design can create healthy and comfortable buildings that require minimal heating.

Penney Poyzer said,

“Passivhaus is a philosophy in itself. It is a mix of applied physics, common sense and practical wisdom and it can be applied to any type of building, not just housing. It can be applied to new build or retrofit. It is a proven technique which shows that it is entirely practical and feasible to aim for buildings that use 90% less energy than typical UK housing stock. If the UK is to achieve massive reductions in carbon then it is essential that we tackle the built environment. Across Europe, buildings account for 60% of carbon emissions. I believe that Passivhaus can slash those emissions now.”

The ‘Future Passiv’ documentary is part of a larger film ‘Passivhaus low energy building in the UK’  project which includes a 60 minute technical film for building professionals, covering all stages of construction of the Denby Dale Passivhaus  – the UK’s first Passivhaus to be built using traditional British cavity wall construction methods. With a Foreword by Jonathon Porritt, the film sets out to offer the UK construction industry a template for building ultra low energy Passivhaus buildings using construction methods and materials familiar to UK builders and designers.

The Future Passiv documentary and Denby Dale Passivhaus technical film are freely available to view at Green Building Store’s website www.greenbuildingstore.co.uk.

‘Future Passiv’ and ‘Passivhaus low energy building in the UK’ were filmed and edited by student film-makers and were made possible thanks to the kind sponsorship of Kirklees Council.

Green Building Store is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more