E-charger was picked as one of the three best portable chargers by the Metro on Friday 10th July 2009
Here is what they said
E-charger Pack this compact emergency charger and you’ll never be caught out with a dead phone, BlackBerry or iPod.£15, www.echarger.co.uk

Echarger Ltd is a small company
aiming to make a big difference to the environment by offering a range
of environmentally friendly – and extremely useful – battery and
mobile chargers for people on the move or out of reach of a standard
power supply.

Offering the following products: 
- emergency charger 
- solar mobile charger  
- solar bags ranging from business bags  
- messenger bags  
- city style bags  
- pouch  
 
Echarger’s range of fashionable, energy efficient and solar travel
chargers is available in a variety of formats to suit a wide range of
portable gadgets.  
 
The solar mobile charger, emergency charger and solar bags supplied
by the business are just right for any occasion. Available on the website,
the products are beautifully constructed and last for life.  
 
Echarger Ltd has an expanding network of clients, located in and around
London, including Eco friendly sites. The company is managed by Tony
Momoh who has been focusing on the business for many years. Having previously
worked for the IT industry, Tony Momoh is more than qualified to look
after the company.  
 
With a fully fitted workshop and fully qualified staff, the company
provides a professional b2b to businesses. The service is designed to
cost effective, enabling clients to make a difference to save the planet
economically. 
 
 Link to product review article  

http://www.lifegoggles.com/1738/echarger-emergency-charger-product-review/

For people interested in a sustainable future
Saturday January 24th 2009 9.30 – 5.00
hosted by Transition Bristol

What’s this training about?
When you (or others) are in conflict how well do you cope?

Would you like to deal with conflict more constructively and creatively?

Does it sometimes seem to be very hard to be true to / stand up for yourself and your values and avoid getting into conflict?

A group can have high aspirations, and yet suffer from internal dynamics that hold it back. We know we need diversity and inclusion, but we can still fall into issues of power and helplessness. Conflicts may float around unresolved in the background and continue to affect the life of the group, and are sometimes only resolved by withdrawal or
exclusion. Unresolved conflicts can bring overwhelm and burn-out.

How did this training come about?
At the recent Transition Cities conference in Nottingham, there was a short workshop on Working with Conflict.  It was facilitated by Iona Fredenburgh and introduced theory and practice from “Process Work”. There was a lot of interest from participants in having a longer training, so here is the first one, hosted by Transition Bristol.“Process Work” has been used all over the world to work creatively with conflict and group dynamics, as well as many other applications. (see below for info links) It welcomes all voices, perspectives and experiences as valuable, and offers skills for facilitating the way they all interact.

Who is it for?
This training aims to be relevant and useful for anyone who wants to add to their relationship and group skills, whether in the Transition movement, Sustainable society work or in everyday life. We will focus especially on skills for leadership and participation in groups. We welcome your interest, and want to share our excitement about creating effective collaboration between those who want to make a difference in our society.  

What will we do?
There will be some theory and lots of practice.  Some of this will be in pairs and small groups, and some as a whole group together. We will share the ‘metaskills’ of respect, curiosity and compassion that make it easier to explore challenging areas.

We will share skills for leadership, facilitation and participation in groups. How to work with conflicts that arise internally, in relationship and in groups, organisation and teams. This will include noticing early signs of conflict, talking about it, and practices for working together creatively to find out more about it and learn from it.We will look at how ‘rank’ differences affect the way we relate to each other, how to notice this and use our rank skilfully. This helps reduce power dynamics in groups. We will show how roles emerge in a group and can interact creatively in group process.

We will explore some of the specific roles and issues that emerge within Transition, and what we can learn from them to strengthen our resilience and sustainability.

Importantly, we will find out how these skills make our practical activities more effective.

There will be an opportunity for lots of interaction and feedback, and for people to bring other questions.

Venue and cost
The workshop will be held at Rookery Farm, Shellards Lane, Alveston, Bristol BS35 3SY

Directions and travel info will be sent out to participants, including lift share info.

Cost is £50 (if the cost is an issue, do contact us). Please send a deposit of £20 asap to Paul Baker at Rookery Farm, cheques made out to Transition Bristol. Please contact Paul paul@paulbakerandcompany.co.uk or 07828882213 if you have any queries.

Please bring lunch for yourself or to share.

The facilitators:

Iona Fredenburgh Dipl POP. I am a Process Work Therapist and Facilitator based in Stroud, where I’ve been involved for several years with Ruskin Mill’s work with land, sustainability, therapeutic education and teenagers with special needs. I’ve worked for over 30 years as a group facilitator in various contexts, including team and leadership development, open forum facilitation in organisational settings, ecopsychology and shamanism. I am a Faculty Member of RSPOPUK, the Process Work Organisation in the UK.

Mark O’Connell Dipl POP, Dipl FT. I am a Process Work Therapist and Facilitator, and a founding member of RSPOPUK, with a private practice in Ipswich. I specialise in working with organisations caring for children, and with young people with Learning Difficulties and EBD. I live on an organic fruit farm from where I co-run The Apricot Centre, an eco-venue for training workshops related to sustainable living www.apricotcentre.co.uk. I have worked for many years in the field of environmentalism and ecopsychology, having designed and co-run the HNC for Sustainable Environments – The Ecology of People and the Land.

More info about Process Work (PW):
Process Work in the UK: www.rspopuk.com
Arny Mindell, founder of PW: www.aamindell.net
Examples of PW around the world:
www.maxfxx.net ; www.deepdemocracymovement.net and www.worldwork.org

Image courtesy of weirdvis

Children’s sustainable living website Mimimyne to introduce new lines at the East London Design Show and Eco Design Fair in December

Introducing a new range of sustainable, ethical eco-friendly children’s products, Mimimyne will be showing new items from Naomi Dean, Teenytini, Spinifex, and a new SPLAT chair prototype, as well as Mimimyne’s own design children’s T shirts at the London Design Show which runs from 5th to 7th December at Shoreditch Town Hall.

They will also be exhibiting at the Eco Design Fair in London’s Brick Lane on 13th and 14th December. 

Mimimyne will be showing the following new items at the East London Design show:

Naomi
Dean Spin Tables – say goodbye to the Ikea crush with these 100% recycled chipboard bedside/coffee tables come individually or in pairs and can be configured in any way you choose thanks to their ingenious design and coasters giving them portability. Made from reclaimed London
office furniture destined for landfill, these quirky tables are perfect for toddlers to teens and with their negligible carbon footprint give you a healthy home and conscience, too!

Spinifex OTA/OTO message boards – keep the whole family in check with the Spinifex wall-mounted message/storage boards – chalk on notes, hang your keys, stash mail and even slip a photograph into the special cut-out section. Made from recycled plastic and using low VOC paint, the boards come in a bright array of colours including blue, magenta, pink and purple to suit boys, girls, mums and dads alike!

Teenytini by top eco fashion designer JK Lange – stunning hand-crocheted one-off clothing creations for babies aged 0-2, you won’t fail to fall in love with the beautiful colours and cute designs including dungarees for boys, pinafore dresses for girls and a stunning range of soft, safe cuddle toys such as a tortoise, bird and mouse. Perfect for winter, Mimimyne will be showing the adorable Teenytini scarves, hats and gloves at the show. Created from natural fibres and dyes, these clothes won’t pollute baby’s skin
or the environment. The Gin Lady blog commended these beautiful clothes, saying “we love the teenytini range from Mimimyne.”

Mimimyne will also be exhibiting at the Eco Design Christmas Fair on 13 and 14 December in London’s Brick Lane, where they will be showing other
products from the site including Paperpod’s delightful range of recycled corrugated paperboard toys, including an aeroplane, rocket, doll’s house, teepee and fort complete with drawbridge!

They will also be exhibiting and selling Twisted Twee’s matching adult and child T-shirts – the Pint and Half Pint sets for Dads and Sons – made from 100% organic cotton and organic ink, and in army green and toffee brown colour combinations, these make fantastic gifts for man and boy! Mums and daughters will love the Oak Tree and Pine Tree twinsets – why not make the perfect Christmas gift of the Pine Tree twinset, which displays a Christmas tree and pinecone.
http://www.ecodesignfair.co.uk/

Other news – Mimimyne has recently sponsored two rabbits (Orchid and Daisy!) at the Spitalfields City Farm, the company’s designated charity,
providing an eco-friendly child-friendly farm in the heart of East London.

Winning green business awards- Inspire yourself!

Green Mobile Ltd has had an incredible emotional ride over October and through November, winning not one but two green business awards and narrowly missing out on winning outright south west London Green Guardian Business award.

Back in October they won the local Green Guardian business award (Kingston) because of the many ‘green’ innovations they added to their telecoms portfolio e.g. using softswitches that use less electricity when making calls.

Johan Thomsen, a manager at Green Mobile, said ” It’s great to have this kind of recognition. We’ve worked really hard to provide the greenest business telecoms that also save customers money”.

Then in November, Kindred Spirit Magazine’s readers voted Green Mobile 2nd place in their green category awards. At the end of last year, KS ran a two-page article about Green Mobile that clearly lodged in their readers’ minds. Johan said, “This was totally unexpected and we’re all really touched that people remembered us”

Entering and (hopefully) winning ‘green’ awards really underscores your business’ commitment to doing something for the environment and gives your organisation a nice PR boost too. It’s a good idea to check and see if your local newspaper is running any environmental awards and find out about the entry requirements. Don’t aim too high and go for the really big awards (especially as many of them want a quite expensive ‘entrance’ fee) and you won’t go too far wrong.

Johan
is quick to point out that he was a little disappointed that Green Mobile didn’t win the Green Guardian’s outright green business award on 21st November at a gala event at Epsom Race Course, but would enter again next year “I’m delighted for this year’s winner but we’ll mount another strong challenge in 2009″

In the meantime, Green Mobile has just launched push to talk (PTT) with Push to Talk Ltd (www.pushtotalkuk.com). PTT (push to talk) turns business mobiles into
global range walkie talkies – thus saving a company money and helping to increase productivity. Green Mobile donate 4% of their PTT customers’ ongoing bills to tree planting and carbon offsetting.

As Green Mobile offers 20% discount on BT business landline rental and call charges over 85% cheaper than BT, should your business swap over to green mobile? Call 08452 333 333 and speak to their friendly staff about your telecoms requirements or visit: www.greenmobile.co.uk

Organisations who have already chosen to benefit and confirmed there presence include: Friends of the Earth, The Fairtrade Foundation, The Soil Association, The Ecologist, Charity Bank, Hubcap Creatures, National Ethical Investment Week, The Recycle Warehouse, Green Row, Neo, Greenfinder, WWOOF,  Morsbag, Alternate Style and Incognito.

So, if you want to join these heroic and illustrious champions in the great 2009 pageant of all things ethical and sustainable then contact Jodie or Danny at UK AWARE whilst early bird prices remain as low as they are . . . but not for long.

UK Technology launch – Mobile Push to Talk for businesses

Green Mobile in association with Push to Talk Ltd can now offer businesses push to talk services (PTT) on their mobile phones.

Widely used in the USA, PTT is the newest, fastest and most cost effective communication system for business mobile phones. It’s like turning your mobile into a walkie-talkie but with a global range.

‘Pressing just one button on your mobile lets you instantly talk to one or everybody in your chosen group at the same time’ says Johan Thomsen, a manager at Green Mobile.

How does it work?

• We text you software that embeds itself into your mobile
• The software automatically links to your contact group and sets up the PTT button.
• Press your PTT button, wait for the beep, then begin to speak
• Your message can be heard by everyone on your contact list
• If you want to speak someone individually, just select that persons name from your contact list and press your PTT button to talk
• Whoever is pushing the button is the speaker

PTT works by routing calls over the data connection on your mobile. PTT only uses data when you speak. This means if you have a data package on your mobile all your PTT calls could be free. Tests show that the average data use for PTT is just 30Mgbs per month.

The benefits of PTT are immense; besides cost saving on network calls, it can help increase productivity. Talk to any of your staff anywhere!

Being Green Mobile’s PTT, 4% of business customers’ ongoing bills are used to plant trees or carbon offset (at no cost to the customer).

Find out more:

Green Mobile is so sure that your business will like PTT that we offer a free one month trial (limited period only) to businesses with 5 or mobile phones. Call Green Mobile’s customer service on 08452 333 333 and find out how your business can benefit from using PTT.

A Schumacher College course
24 November – 5 December, 2008

Learn from leaders in the field, build your networks and develop essential skills to start your enterprise and help it thrive.

At this time of great change, how do we create organisations and
businesses that engage with sustainability and ethics? This is a unique
opportunity to explore these questions and develop your business plan
or strategy. This highly participative and inquiry led course will be a
real investment in you as an ethical pioneer.

This course brings together insights and approaches to ethical enterprise from the
mainstream to the radical – within the unique engaged learning environment of Schumacher College. Previous participants have gone on to develop projects that build bridges between formal institutions and grassroots communities in dynamic and productive ways. Others have used the course to deepen their skills and confidence as leaders for change.

For further information on our courses, please see our website

+44 (0) 1803 865 934
admin@schumachercollege.org.uk

Dial Green is now well established and looking to help all businesses reduce their environmental impact, save them money on their telephone bills and at the same time green their supply chain by changing to Green Minutes – our carbon neutral telecoms solution.

As an introductory offer to Ethical Junction business members we are offering £100 worth of calls to new customers who join Dial Green for our green telecoms solution*

Put simply, we have found savings for all enquiries to date on business telephone bills, sometimes quite substantial amounts on call charges alone, and we provide a hassle free changeover for you. There are no connection charges, no set up costs and no hidden extras as you would
expect from an ethical business.

An added bonus is that you also speak to humans not robots!

As part of our ongoing commitment to the client, we also provide a regular telecoms health check to highlight any areas where savings and efficiencies can be achieved.

Many people have asked about our Green credentials and how using their telephones, broadband or teleconferencing can have an environmental impact, but the electricity passing through the telephone lines is not accounted for as it doesn’t come from their own supply and we are able to measure it and offset that, reducing the clients Carbon footprint in the process.

So call 0808 1410131 (free-phone) or email enquiries@dial-green.co.uk for more information on our own ‘beyond carbon neutrality’ and the ethical approach behind the company.

Our Website has much more information about Dial Green – www.dial-green.co.uk – including a full run down of the services we offer and our own environmental policies and practices.

We believe we are the most environmentally friendly telecoms business in the country, and with other projects in the pipeline, we intend to stay that way! 

We look forward to talking Dial Green to you soon.

*These minutes will have a use by date of 60 days from taking over
the lines and call provision*