CarbonRambling

All wrapped up for Xmas

If you're worried about the huge amounts paper from under the tree, or maybe about a child eating toxic sparkly paper, then Lisa Jones is the lady for you. She has a range of recycled and eco printed wrapping papers (the range doesn't include any particularly festive designs, but hey...). And at £2 a sheet, it's not very different in price to the stuff you end up getting from Woolworths. Unfortunately the range is called Wigwam, and I have that Alex James and Betty Boo song in my head. Aaaargh.

http://www.lisajonescards.com/ 

Have you got a light mate?

It's world AIDS day today, and one of the easiest ways to show you support is by clicking  Light to Unite ( https://www.lighttounite.org/  , if i haven't got the hang of these clicking things yet) and lighting a virtual candle. It's set up Bristol Myers Squibb (pharma giant) and they promise to donate a dollar for every click (up to $100,000). They're already at 260,000, so do keep sending it out and we can guilt them into donating a percentage, rather than a fixed amount.

It was how much?

One of the main problems with saving energy is the intangibility of it all - it's hard to see your money being spent and your carbon being released when the electricity just seeps (does electricity seep?) out of the national grid and into your house.  If we are going to reduce our carbon, some of the most important steps will be increasing the visibility of energy consumption. These devices from More Associates feel like useful first steps along the way http://www.moreassociates.com/energy/

Searching the good search

Oxfam has teamed up with telecoms company Spiritel to launch a directory enquiries (DQ) service that will see 9p from every call donated to the charity.

Spiritel is rolling out a nationwide above- and below-the-line campaign urging business and residential users to use 118 918 as their preferred directory service, as well as encouraging mobile phone users to store 118 918 in their phones.

Spiritel chief executive Alastair Mills says: "We believe the 118 918 service represents a winning partnership in which Oxfam has the potential to receive significant new funds; we have the potential to make a commercial return; and consumers have the opportunity to make a difference for Oxfam without paying a premium to the price charged by major 118 services."

In a similar vein, goodsearch.com is a search engine (powered by yahoo!) that donates the revenue generated per search form click advertising to a charity of your choice. At the moment only US charities can benefit from the searches made, but other charities will be added in the future (and there are global charities on there too).

   

City farming

Our friends at Spitalfields City Farm are running an interesting project looking at the history of food growing in East London.

http://www.spitalfieldscityfarm.org/content/blogcategory/20/94/

Part of their overall and ongoing project of promoting sustainable living and a better city environment

November news

First up in November, we have easyjet, whose new green campaign breaks in January. They will be the first low budget airline to focus on their green credentials rather than price. Apparently they have been very good at reducing carbon emissions (some might say easy to do when you have such a large pool of carbon to try and reduce…)

Sales of solar panels at Curry’s (£9000) are going extremely well

Powergen expect big things from their wispergen boiler (£3000) that produces electricity whilst heating your house (pays for itself in 4 years…if your electricity bill is £750 per year?!)

The green awards take place on Nov 29^th (all tickets sold out unfortunately). It’s all about green campaigns rather than products/innovations, but O2 get a few nominations for their recycling of mobiles campaign, M&S for their ‘look behind the label’, P&G for Ariel’s ‘wash at 30’ executions.

In the US, GM have won the US State department’s CSR Award for Corporate Excellence (ACE!!)… Condoleezza Rice (named after an oil tanker) gave the award to the company that make great big Hummers. Nice touch.

Go to http://www.tomsshoes.com/ and order some comfortable footwear – and for every pair sold, they donate one to a child in need.

http://www.ecoinsurance.co.uk/ does what is says on the tin. It offsets 20% of you car’s carbon emissions as part of the policy

http://www.cahooting.com/ is a site for people who want to rent things…no waste of material, no spending excessive amounts on things that you’ll only use once. Similar, theme but more fancy (so posh frocks and bags and things) are:

Bag Borrow or Steal , Be A Fashionista, From Bags to Riches Shoulder Candy. Borrowed Bling and RK Jewellery Hire.