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London Green Fair

Richard Lemmer | 11.06.12

The London Green Fair celebrated its 20th anniversary this weekend, and we were there to eat, drink and be merry, to celebrate some of the great green things going on. The atmosphere was perfect for a lazy weekend, full of  eclectic activities - from scything lessons in the Permaculture zone to an 11-member sea shanty band on one of the music stages. But what impressed us the most was the amount of sustainable businesses - from  RDA organic fruit juice stalls to Blue Water Mountain information points - showing that you can fill a festival site with engaging and environmentally friendly exhibitions.

Here are some of our highlights and favourite exhibitors:

1)  Panel Debate: Business - Friend or Foe in the fight against climate change?

Our highlight of this year’s Green Fair, the debate featured a great panel who weren’t afraid to oppose one and other. Jarvis Smith, Chief Executive at Green Magazine, and Hilary Jones, ethical director at Lush, agreed that we should be wary of business. “Over consumption - that’s something (Lush) worries about a lot,” Hilary Jones said, “We need to address this core problem.” Quentin Clark, head of sustainability at Waitrose, argued that business is going nowhere and has one of the most important roles to play in the Green movement. “Business,” he said, “knows far more than the consumer. Business has a responsibility to act on their behalf.”

2) Lush

Lush gave an interesting presentation that explained how they are working towards being a squeaky clean, environmentally friendly business. Lush representative Lotte explained how Lush is perfecting the art of the Closed Loop, ie. Waste produce being used to create another product. For Lush, this is exemplified by their black pot scheme: if you bring back five empty Lush pots, you get a free face mask. Last year, over 260,000 pots were brought back. That’s a lot of fresh faces. And it gets better - Lush works with a UK not-for-profit enterprise that employs disabled people to wash the empty pots before they are recycled. As Lotte said, Lush “wants to go beyond Fairtrade and organic.”

3) Zip Car

Zip Car, the smart choice for car rental in a city like London, could give the Boris bike a run for its money. You can potentially save half the amount of money you spend on your personally owned car, and Zip Car is making your car usage more efficient, allowing you to travel when you want. And when you're not travelling in a Zip Car, someone else could be. It all adds up to us putting fewer cars on the road - and less CO2 in the atmosphere.

4) Riverford

The Riverford organic farming network are four farms that grow organic, seasonal produce, which is delivered in fruit and vegetable boxes across the country. Riverford had a great stall (good cover from the rain!) that showed the many varieties of boxes you can purchase, ranging from the mini vegbox (£10.35 - 7 varieties of veg) to the large vegbox (£18.85 - 12 varieties of veg).

5) Inspiring Story of the Fair

Tim 'Mac' Macartney rounded off the panel debate with a story that shows the sustainable business movement working at its very best. Andrew Thornton, owner of the Crouch End Budgens franchise realised his store’s flat roof was wasted space. So armed with bags of soil and vegetable seeds, he went about turning the roof into a community garden. Called ’Food From The Sky’, the project is now a thriving community hub that attracts people from all walks of life. The store also sells blocks labelled ‘Hope,’ which shoppers can take to the stores checkouts to scan and donate £1 to a charity that helps people with dementia. The store also sponsored Polly Higgins Ecocide Trial, and it won Sustainable Retailer of the Year at last year’s Retail Industry Awards.

This year’s Green Fair was a great success - we can’t wait for next year!

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