Do you have a service or product that is ethical? Then you may need to talk to us.

At epitype we create advertising campaigns that stimulate interest from people with big hearts, enquiring minds and ethical standards.

Because we are an integrated agency, we also do the media buying which means that we can find the people you need to talk to about your product.

Whether you work within the environment, alternative products or professional services if your offering is ethical we can help you communicate that.

Contact Martin for more details

Telephone 0845 3456 051

m.roach@epitype.co.uk

www.epitype.co.uk

epitype is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more

This article explains how using market/financial incentives to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases from deforestation and forest degradation is fundamentally flawed. It argues that we need to address the underlying factors driving deforestation if we are to protect the world’s forests and prevent further climate change.

Given the importance of deforestation to
climate change it would be perfectly reasonable to ask why we don’t just
protect the world’s forests. But reducing deforestation is no simple effort.
Forests are being destroyed as a consequence of global economic forces (e.g.
demand for timber, beef, soybeans, palm oil, etc). Slowing or eliminating
deforestation means addressing these underlying drivers by making forests
valuable as living entities, rather than solely for what can be produced when
they’re cut.

One solution, known as Reduced Emissions
from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD), is being pushed as a key element for
a new global agreement to fight climate change after the Kyoto Protocol expires
in 2012. The logic underpinning REDD is fairly simple. At present, the
short-term economic gains from deforestation outweigh the long-term good of
forest conservation. By investing up to £7.5 billion globally per year into
saving forests, the economic balance is believed to change in favour of the
latter. This money would be paid in the form of carbon credits, worked out in
relation to national deforestation rates – the more a country saves, the more
it earns.

This might seem like a good idea but such a
scheme is fraught with problems. REDD simplifies the function of forest
ecosystems to that of a carbon store. This undervalues them as water catchment
areas, habitats for biodiversity and as the basis of indigenous and local
peoples’ livelihoods. Indigenous groups and forest communities are concerned
they will not see benefits from REDD. Worse, some believe the mechanism could
trigger a new wave of land grabs and evictions by parties seeking to capitalize
on carbon payments. Indigenous groups and forest communities have long
struggled against development interests seeking to exploit their traditional
lands and resources. More than a billion people worldwide depend of forests for
their livelihoods, so schemes such as REDD pose a huge threat to them if not
managed properly. Another danger is that schemes to ‘avoid deforestation’
become a further means for rich countries to avoid responsibility for
over-consumption and evade emissions cuts (e.g. they continue spewing emissions
offset by ‘avoided deforestation’ carbon credits). There are also fears that a
market-based mechanism for reducing greenhouse gas emissions would crash carbon
prices by swamping the market with cheap credits (e.g. making it cheaper for
polluters to avoid genuine emissions cuts). This would reduce investment in
low-carbon and renewable technologies, and cause developing countries to lose
out on a massive investment in low carbon technologies. In essence, low carbon
prices could derail global efforts to tackle global warming.

It seems quite clear that an unrestricted
carbon market won’t save the forests or stop runaway climate change. Forest
conservation can be done much easier by a fund (e.g. Cool Earth) than by market
cowboys racing around the world looking for cheap offsets.

What we need to examine are the factors
driving deforestation, including the international trade in beef, soy and
paper. We should first address those drivers rather than throwing money at
companies cutting down trees, when we continue to give them incentives to do
so. Financial incentives could also play a role, insofar as they support the
recognition of land rights for indigenous communities or education projects.
Such measures, which would cost far less than the proposed financing for REDD,
could be of genuine worth in avoiding deforestation. But they are unlikely to
show up on the balance books of a forest carbon-trading scheme whose main
purpose seems to be providing Western countries with yet another escape from
their responsibility to reduce emissions at home.

We must pressure our governments to
drastically cut carbon emissions at home rather than buy offsets from abroad.
We must encourage them to introduce stricter environmental policies that reduce
the consumption of imported forest products (e.g. waste management strategies
that reduce the consumption of timber and paper, setting higher
targets and timetables for paper and cardboard recycling from the domestic
sector). The UK is currently one of the world’s
largest consumers of timber and paper products.

We must hold businesses accountable.
Corporations need to know that the public will hold them accountable for
business practices that are socially or environmentally destructive. If you
feel that a company’s business practices are environmentally irresponsible,
send the company a letter expressing your concern, or organize a boycott of the
company.

We need better education across all levels
of society. At the moment, many people are alienated from the knowledge of the
consequences of their demands, and how their carbon heavy lifestyles contribute
to deforestation and climate change (e.g. the excessive consumption of beef,
paper and timber).

We need to look at the role of ecotourism
and volunteerism. Although this results in more people trampling in beautiful
places, it is a very forceful mechanism for conservation and also brings
revenue to local people without selling their land for timber, cattle farming
and soy production.

There are many things we can all do to help
protect the world’s forests and reduce carbon emissions and we cannot afford to
be distracted by measures that provide no real solutions. The carbon market is
not a ‘magic bullet’ to prevent further climate change, the growth in emissions
or deforestation. The answer lies in changing our lifestyles and political systems
and convincing others (individuals, businesses and politicians) to do the same.

Stephen Knight is the webmaster of Volunteer Latin America

Several million ethical consumers offer two ways to boost your business prosperity…

There is a new Ethical Junction member company going live very soon. It is called Your Ethical Startup (YES Club) and will be encouraging people to set up their own ethical businesses. Don’t worry! – rather than creating competition for existing Ethical Junction members, it will be focused on increasing awareness among consumers of the need to spend their budgets more thoughtfully from now on. In this way, YES Club is intended to create MORE business for existing ethical traders. It is also designed to enable more mutual support between ethical enterprises, this will be facilitated by the YES Forum, to be launched at the same time as YES Club.

YES has something you might find extremely
interesting: access to several million ethical consumers. If you would
like to attract some of these to your business as paying customers via
the new company, you might wish to consider the following:

1. Offering a discount to YES Club and YES
   Forum members. A discount offered at the YES launch could win you many
   new customers who will stay with you for years to come.
2. Running an event – perhaps a seminar,
   workshop or conference – during Spring or Summer of 2009. Again, YES
   members would need to be offered a discount. If you can trade it, you
   can teach it – why not open up a whole new revenue stream? And if
   you’re already running courses or other events, then this is your
   chance to promote them to several million new ethically-aware customers.
   

Please let us know as soon as possible if you
are interested in participating – the YES website launches shortly and
we would like to include as many special discounts and events as
possible.

Please contact YES here: info@ecobloomfield.com

Over the past few months, the ethical brand consultancy Scamper Branding have been pushing the boundaries of affordable web design and are now able to develop professional websites for a fraction of the usual cost.

“From our experience in web design and discussions with our clients, we found that there was a huge disparity between the cheap template websites that don’t meet clients needs, and custom designed websites that are very time consuming and therefore expensive to build” says Scamper’s Tom Greenwood.

“What many companies need is something in between, giving them a high
level of style and functionality at a price they can afford.”
By utilising the open source WordPress content management system (CMS)
and modifying the style and functionality of existing design themes,
Scamper are now able to give their clients advanced websites for the
cost of much more basic ones.

“We believe so strongly in this technique that we decided to practice
what we preach, and redesigned our own website according to these
principles. You can see the result at www.ScamperBranding.com” says
Vineeta Greenwood, co-founder of Scamper.

Now, to celebrate the launch of our new website, we are offering
Ethical Junction members free carbon neutral hosting with all WordPress
sites, as well as 10% off any sites ordered before the 1 April
2009.

Get 33% off all advertising at the Brighton Vegan Fayre March 21st 09

Our advertising rates are already cheap – and now they just got cheaper!!

We are offering 1/3rd off all our rates for all the Brighton Vegan Fayre advertising opportunities, including the Flyer (30,000 B5 8 page folded) and the Programme (10,000 B5 32page booklets) to all members of Ethical Junction!

See our rates for all the prices!!

Contact Charlie on 0117 9239053 to book your slots

Passion for the Planet has received a Special Commendation in the “Green Business” category at this year’s Merton Green Guardian Awards.

The awards are designed to recognise businesses, individuals, schools and projects that are making a positive difference to their local environment.

Listener Teresa Wingfield was so impressed with Passion, both on and off air, that she decided to nominate the company for the award.

“I’ve learnt so much listening to the radio station, I definitely recycle more now that I understand what happens to these materials and how they are recycled. I’ve started composting, reduced my car use (haven’t quite got round to swapping the car for a bike… yet!), use less water, less detergent and less energy. I know I have a way to go, but without what I’ve learnt on Passion for the Planet I am not sure I’d have started.” said Teresa as part of her nomination.

Founders Chantal Cooke and Kenny Stevens have ensured that the company is as passionate about the planet as they are; the studios are sound-proofed with Scottish grown hemp, they use low energy light bulbs, the office furniture is reclaimed, there are recycling bins for paper, cans, glass, plastic, CDs etc. All office PC equipment is switched off completely at night (no stand-by lights left on). Passion produces only one small carrier bag of non-recyclable waste each week. And they are carbon neutral by off-setting their CO2 emissions through “Pure the clean planet trust”.

Passion for the Planet has also encouraged the owners of the building in which they are based to be greener too. They arranged for them to have an environmental audit, have put “hippos” in the toilet tanks and organised a weekly collection of paper for recycling.

“Awards like this are an important way to encourage people to make green choices and to recognise those that are already making a difference. Green is sometimes portrayed as a bit dull and worthy, it’s our mission to make it fun, easy and acceptable, and winning an award is certainly fun!” said Passion for the Planet’s Managing Director Chantal Cooke.

A special evening of Last Minute Ethical Christmas Shopping!
18th December 2008 from 4pm – 8.30pm
2 Belgrave Square, London SW1X 8PJ

Ethical, fair trade and organic products from Latin America and around the world!

Christmas gifts, Quality Arts & Crafts, Stylish Ethical Fashion, Fine Jewellery, Live Music, Raffle, Global food, Mulled wine. Come and support independent producers by shopping for your Christmas gifts at Canning House; enjoy food & drink & live music from Latin America all on the same night! FREE Entrance.

If you are an ethical trader and are interested in having a stall then contact Claire McIntyre on 020 7235 2303 ext 222 

Do you consider yourself to be small?

Do you want more people to see what you’ve got?

Would you like what you’ve got to grow some more?

Well, we can help . . .

LITTLE guys with BIG ideas can now advertise
for SMALL change in Sustained!

The new look Sustained Magazine has a doubled readership of 60,000 and comes in a bigger, full colour format. Still run by the same small team, they’ve just created a new small ads section where you can advertise for as little as £50.

Small price – big response
And what do you get for such a tiny sum? Well, you get a substantial space measuring 40mm x 30mm and all in glorious technicolour. Well hello!

Huge discount for a few words
To celebrate the launch of this new section the first 10 people to send an email to littleguy@sustainedmagazine.com completing the following sentence can claim their spot HALF Price. ‘Small is best because . . .’

So does size matter?
Well yes it does actually. Hard working entrepreneurs account for 37 per cent of total business turnover and small businesses contribute over £1bn to the UK economy.

For more information on this offer, or any advertising in Sustained, call Marc, ‘the little guy’ on 07973 435483 or 01206 574147.

Sustained
Small Change, Big Difference

London Olympia – 17th and 18th April 2009

Following the success of its May 2008 inaugural show LONDON AWARE 08, UK AWARE will take over Olympia Two on Friday 17th and Saturday 18th April 2009 and expects in excess of 10,000 visitors.

It is the UK’s only public facing green lifestyle show with a proven track record. Zac goldsmith of the Ecologist magazine said; “The sheer diversity of activities on show at UK AWARE is testament to how much we can all do to make a difference. It’s inspiring.”

UK AWARE has chosen Olympia because it was imperative to use a venue which aligned itself ethically. EC&O have recently won an AEO award in recognition of their sustainability initiatives, so it was a natural choice. In an industry which traditionally has a large carbon footprint it is great to be able to work with a venue which is setting the industry standard, not just as a venue, but as a sustainable venue.

Danny Carnegie, Founder of UK AWARE said; “We’ve got an interactive, mainstream show which is going to blow the socks off the UK Consumers. Expect lively debate, amazing exhibitors and an opportunity to experience the future of consumerism for the benefit of this planet.

Exhibitors and speakers include Oxfam, Trevor Baylis OBE, Fairtrade foundation, Method, Green Homes Concierge Service, Greenpeace, G Wiz and many exciting consumer products and services. Live music and entertainment plus other unique exhibitors will be announced in due course.

For further information about exhibiting please contact Jodie Carnegie at UK AWARE on 020 8842 7500 or Jodie@ukaware.com

Introduction to affiliate marketing programs
By Lloyd Apter of eee.coop 

Following on from the previous introduction to affiliate marketing where I looked at affiliate relationships, the foundation of this type of marketing, this next workshop is concerned with explaining what an affiliate programme is.

Firstly have a read of this short article about affiliate programmes.

Secondly, take a look at this a basic guide explaining how to setup your own affiliate programme, which includes:

• Formulating your affiliate program marketing strategy

• Defining the systems to operate your affiliate programme

• Launching your affiliate programme

If you ave any questions or wish to share any of your own thoughts you can do so by visiting the forum for this workshop.

If this is your first encounter with this course you might like to read the first workshop on affiliate marketing relationships.

All the best
Lloyd