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Tag: Green

Eco Hero: Julia Hailes

Anna Guyer | 08.03.10

Green/environmental author and expert Julia Hailes If working for sustainability of our planet was an Olympic sport, Julia Hailes would be on the podium with a green medal. A tireless advocate for an eco-friendly lifestyle, she dedicated herself to environmental issues long before anyone ever knew it was important, or that we would need to think about it, or it became the fashionable status symbol that some consider it to be today.

The list of her contributions on social, environmental and ethical issues is too long to list here, but you might know her as the author/co-author of nine books on green living, including the best-selling Green Consumer Guide published in 1988, which sold over a million copies.

That book and it's 2007 sibling, The New Green Consumer Guide, serve as veritable bibles of how to live your life in a responsible and green way. Julia highlighted green issues and wrote about solutions before sustainability was a word on the public or boardroom agenda.

As a modern day Robin Hood, Julia leverages the grown-up salary she makes as a green consultant for some of the biggest companies in the country, so she can work for the smaller, less wealth-laden causes about which she is passionate. Currently, she's particularly fired up about supermarket refrigeration and resomation (an alternative form of cremation using water and with less impact on the environment).

I am work-shadowing her at the moment to learn more about sustainability - and on how to be superwoman. I've seen her turn up in comfy clothes, disappear into a public loo at a station, and emerge in smart clothes and quirky boots ready to take on the world. I sit, listen and learn while she tells clients or the minister or the councillor or whomever exactly what she thinks, how it is and what they need to do about it.

She connects people. She is pragmatic. She makes me laugh. She is an inspiration and she shows that you can stay true to your beliefs. She's my Eco Hero, and here are her answers to our Eco Hero questionnaire.

1. How would you describe yourself?

I describe myself as a campaigning consultant. Also, because I do lots of different things I summarise it by saying that "I wear many hats but they're all green.'

2. What is your mission?

Making a difference. When I co-founded SustainAbility with John Elkington, in 1987, we decided that the values of the organisation were like a three pronged stool, with all the prongs being equally important. They were to make money, make a difference and enjoy ourselves while we were doing it. I think that's still a pretty good approach to my work.

3. What do you care passionately about?

Saving the rainforests. It tears my heart out when I see chainsaws ripping through the forests, orangutans clinging to wrecked trees or swathes of tree stumps stretching into the distance. It was my concern for the rainforests that got me into the environmental field. Now I work on a huge range of issues and I'm passionate about many of them. For example, it might be strange to feel passionate about waste but I do. We've become such a disposable society where products and resources are consumed like there's no tomorrow. This has to change.

4. Why is green/eco so important?

Because it's all about the world we're living in. I don't want to live in a brown and dead landscape or in a society like the TV programme Survivors where everyone is at war with each other. Actually, I thought the film Avatar illustrated the contrast between an industrial and consumerist society vs. a green community that values nature. Most of us would prefer to be in the Avatar camp.

5. What is the next big challenge?

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green, environment, eco, new green consumer guide, julia hailes

Barbra Streisand, the One Pot Pledge and Me

Kenneth Hill | 26.05.10

I don't talk to my plants. No, sir. I'm not a crazy person.

I don't sing to them either, not when I have Barbra Streisand to do it for me - with proven results.

In the 1970 Vincente Minnelli film On A Clear Day You Can See Forever, Ms. Streisand gives a marvelous performance as Daisy Gamble, a nice woman living in New York, engaged to a guy so boring he could make weeds wilt.

Among her gifts, aside from channeling her past lives during psychotherapy, are two sorta cool "superpowers:" She hears phones ring before they ring, and she sings to make plants grow --and I mean grow REALLY FAST - with lyrics like:

"Hey buds below
Up is where to grow
Up with which below can't compare with.
Hurry, it's lovely up here…"

The supersonic plant growing is done to marvelous effect in the film thanks to the talents of John Nash Ott Jr., a time-lapse specialist who pioneered the medium working for Disney and others as early as the 1950s. Ott was also a horticulturist.

The scene below is a fantastic ride through Daisy Gamble's ability to get things to grow, something I'm thinking a lot about at the moment as I watch my little pot of basil inching, well, quarter-inching, it's way to become something I can harvest.

Oh Ms. Streisand, how my One Pot Pledge could use you now!

PS: Do you talk or sing to your plants? C'mon, you can tell :-)

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green, one pot pledge, gardening, john nash ott jr, on a clear day you can see forever, singing to plants, barbra streisand, talking to plants

EDF NAMED AND SHAMED FOR ITS GREENWASH

Anna Guyer | 17.06.10

Green Union Jack

Today French nuclear energy giant EDF has launched Green Britain Day. We need your help to expose EDF's Green Britain Campaign for the greenwash it represents. EDF is not green, it's not British. And it spends £20m on marketing Green Britain day which is more than its annual spend on investing in new green energy. It's a travesty and we are outraged by how EDF is behaving. Join us to support the Real Green Britain!

Consider the facts ...

EDF stands for Électricité de France = the state owned French energy provider
It operates 8 nuclear power stations in the UK
It is the world's largest corporate producer of toxic nuclear waste behind the US and Canada
Its claims around "low-carbon energy" actually refer to nuclear power that has generated 1420 tonnes of high level nuclear waste that will remain a toxic threat to the environment for hundreds of years.
Only 1% of EDF's generation capacity in the UK comes from Renewables (Nuclear = 66%, Coal = 28%, Gas = 5%).
EDF's electricity generated from their coal fired power stations is responsible for over 20m tonnes of CO2 emissions.
Over the last 6 years EDF spent a yearly average of £4.98 per customer building new green energy - this puts them in 5th place amongst the 'Big 6'

That's what Green Britain Day is meant to distract us from.

In this morning's London Metro, not one, but twelve pages feature ads for EDF's 'Green Britain Day.' EDF also bought the whole back cover. Metro didn't do this for free. That's just a tip of the melting iceberg in terms of EDF's greenwash spend. There are also outdoor ads, deals with media partners including Heart FM, ITV, and MSN, and a costly TV campaign.

Frankly, EDF's big-buck advertising budget would be better spent investing in producing cleaner energy and less, say, in buying ads to cover up the company's self-acclaimed role as one of the "one of the largest participants in the global coal market," as the Guardian's Fred Pierce pointed out on last year's Green Britain Day.

So what's a person who really wants to make Britain greener to do?

Switch to Ecotricity, for one. Ecotricity is a British company reinvesting its profits into building more wind turbines and creating new green energy. Ecotricity invests more than £400 per customer per year to build new green energy -- far more than any competitor.

Ecotricity founder Dale Vince is dedicated to real green energy and, together with Greenpeace, is combatting EDF's greenwash.

"Only 1% of EDF's generation capacity here in the UK is from renewables - how come so little? Could it be that EDF spend more time and money on green image making than on green doing - I certainly think so," Vince says. "The truth is that EDF are one of Britain's biggest polluters. They should start a little closer to home if they really want a Green Britain. There's plenty of scope in the 20 Million tonnes of CO2 they pump into Britain's atmosphere each year - for example. We might all take them a little more seriously if they did as they say we should all do - so go on do something for the team EDF."

Ben Ayliffe, head of Greenpeace’s nuclear campaign, said: “EDF’s shameless advertising campaign is little more than an attempt by a French state-owned nuclear monolith to play the British public for fools. There’s absolutely no way it’s a green company. It’s only interested in fleecing taxpayers for billions of pounds to subsidise a new generation of expensive and dirty atomic power stations.

We want to expose EDF for what they are doing. Here are a few ways you can take help:

'How about Green France Day?' - why Green Britain Day is a fraud.

Facebook: Exposing the Great British Greenwash

Ecotricity: a British company dedicated to turning electricity bills into windmills. Find out how.

Twitter: Ecotricity ic clocking the greenwash here.

And finally, check out Mock Green Britain Day where you can design an ad (and see what others have done) to expose EDF. You can win free electricity for a year (up to £500), too. Note that these are some pretty peeved people and not all the ads are safe for work!

Mock Green Britain Day

Environment | Share +
green, ecotricity, green britain day, greenpeace, edf, greenwash

Book of Green resources for your life, plus contest to win eco prizes

Sally Hill | 28.06.10

Book of Green cover

When you want an eco alternative for some thing in your life, where do you go to find it? The answer might lie in the Book of Green, now available for free in print, online and as a geolocation-enabled app from iTunes.

Providing information on hundreds of eco-friendly UK companies from architects to ethical finance, body care to food, cleaning products to sustainable tourism and more, the book uses free listings as well as paid ads to help you find products and services across 15 main categories. The point is to help you build a sustainable lifestyle, and to give ethical businesses a wider audience.

Publishers of the newly-launched edition are running a contest for readers to win a Christmas shopping list of 26 presents including goodies from Green People, Jo Wood Organics, Balm Balm, Weleda, a case of wine from Vintage Roots, and a signed copy of 'The Woodland Year’ by Ben Law. There are 50 runner-up prizes, too. Contest entry is open through 30 November.

Explaining the inspiration behind Book of Green, co-founder Katie Keegan says, "We wanted to create ways of making green living really convenient and practical for people. By having a directory that is freely available, in many formats, it is now easier than ever to find many of the great green businesses that exist today."

The Book of Green still has a ways to go to be a comprehensive resource. Searching for organic restaurants "near me" on the iPhone for example won't yet deliver a full listing of what's around you, but this year's book is bigger and better than last year. It's a handy resource now, and has a lot of potential in the years ahead.

Find the print, online or iPhone edition here.

Green Living | Share +
green, book of green, living, iphone, directory, competition

Eco Rally - A Green Car Race from London to Brighton

Sally Hill | 05.07.10

Zero Carbonista wind car

The Bridgestone 2010 Eco Rally takes place this Wednesday 7 July. The race will see a selection of ‘alternatively fuelled’ vehicles travel from Brighton seafront to Hyde Park in London.

This is the fourth year of the event, and will showcase a huge range of vehicles, including electric scooters and motorbikes, the famous Tesla Roadster electric sports car, and a 9-seater electric bus.

Drivers include ethical living columnist for the The Guardian and The Observer, Lucy Siegle, F1 racing drivers including Ross Brawn, and TV personalities Kevin McLeod and Vicki Butler Henderson. Patrick Holden, Director of the Soil Association and Donna Air make up one of the driving teams.

But the car we’re keeping a keen eye on is the ‘Nemesis’ (pictured), developed and driven by Dale Vince of Zero Carbonista and Ecotricity. The Nemesis is a ‘wind car,’ built from an innovative lightweight body and run from a battery which stores power from wind turbines.

Here’s an intro to Dale’s wind car project:

More videos documenting the journey toward making the Nemesis race-ready can be found on Dale’s blog, Zero Carbonista.

Also on the day:

An exhibition at the finish line showcasing the spectrum of green transport innovation, from conception to everyday use.

Imperial Racing Green will announce the winner of the ‘Racing Green Endurance’ competition for students who have built low emissions, hydrogen fuel cell, and battery electric vehicles which have competed in races across the globe.

The UK’s first solar-powered ferry will be taking drivers on a cruise after the race.

The RCA is hosting an exclusive soiree for drivers and partners, which will give a rare insight into the zero waste design process by viewing the RCA’s aerodynamic study for Bentley.

You can follow your favourite team via the Eco Rally site and blog, and stay tuned for Greenhouse’s tweets on the live action of the day.

Green Living | Share +
green, ecotricity, soil association, wind car, eco rally, dale vince, tesla, green car, lucy siegle

Eco Rally Sparks Conversation About the Future of Transport

Sally Hill | 08.07.10

Lisa Rogers at Eco Rally

Yesterday a convoy of ‘alternatively-fuelled’ vehicles converged at the starting line of the 2010 Bridgestone Eco Rally in Brighton. The event finished in Hyde Park, London and celebratory drinks were had at an award ceremony at the Royal College of Art.

The day was not short of celebrities and glitz, among the spectators and drivers were TV presenters Lisa Rogers and Kevin McCloud, motoring journalist Quentin Willson, Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne and past and present F1 drivers and engineers.

Lisa Rogers, who presents Channel 4’s Scrapheap Challenge, was participating in the eco rally for the third year. She competed in her own car, an Audi A4, which she converted to run on vegetable oil. She said ‘In terms of running, it's great as it's so much cheaper. It's a bit messy but I have a farm where we have the space for a chip fat filter. It's not as convenient as going to a petrol station but, that said, it's incredibly cheap by comparison with filling up your engine with diesel.’

Chris Huhne, Energy and Climate Secretary took part, and commented that ‘What this event gets across is that electric and low carbon vehicles have really come of age. They are no longer just souped-up milk floats.'

The vehicles’ energy sources ranged from hybrid to electric to hydrogen-powered and major manufacturers supporting this year's event, including BMW, Citroen, Lotus, Tesla and Honda. The Honda CR-Z, the world's first sport hybrid, was first past the post.

Sadly, our friends at Zero Carbonista were forced to pull put at the last minute and could not race the ‘Nemesis’ wind car. However, the car is still being developed, and we’ll keep you up to date with its release.

The twittersphere followed the day enthusiastically, with the #ecorally hashtag seeing snaps posted throughout the day and rivalries coming to the surface.

The day also helped to spark conversations online about sustainability and the future of transport. Eddie Irvine, who participated, noted that he could happily live in most parts of the world without a conventional car, and that it’s ‘a very interesting period in the world in terms of what is going to happen over the next 20 years.’

One tweeter made the challenge: ‘The very idea of an eco rally is an oxymoron. You are still using unnecessary energy.’ We hope the Eco Rally will spark an ongoing conversation and inspire more Brits to think about alternatives to travel as we have known it.

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green, wind car, eco rally, alternative fuel, brighton, rally, car, eco car, london

Weekly Greenhouse Round-Up

Sally Hill | 09.07.10

It has been a week of exciting events and developments for sustainable transport.

Here in the UK, Greenhouse kept a close eye on the Eco Rally, which showcased a hoard of new alternativelly-fuelled vehicles.

And more fascinating still, there was news of a solar-powered plane which took a 24hr flight in the darkness. The story was first reported here by Inhabitat that the plane, the Solar Impulse, was about to embark on a trial journey. The plane successfully completed the trip and landed in Switzerland 26 hours later.

The flight will progress investment in solar-powered aircraft, with particular emphasis given to the fact that the plane was able to store enough energy to fly in darkness. While a commercial solar flight is still a long way off, this is a trail-blazing design and a huge step forward, and shows that the seemingly impossible can be done. You can follow Solar Impulse flights in real time on Solar Impulse TV.

Here are the links we loved this week:

'Glastonbury's Call to Eco-Conscious Arms'
Daisy Dumas seeks out 'eco-ness' at the festival and discovers it is built into the design of the festival.
(The Evening Standard)

'Eco Rally: A Green Car Race from London to Brighton'
Profile of Dale Vince's wind car entry into the 2010 Rally.
(Greenhouse)

'Healthier Office Spaces Benefit Everyone'
The 'Living Office' at the Chelsea Flower Show designed around research that shows the link between plants and fresh air and productivity.
(Treehugger)

'What Does the UK Public Want to Drive?'
Gap exists between those who want to be sustainable and those who would be willing to buy an electric vehicle.
(Eco Rally)

'Greenpeace Names, Shames Companies Over Deforestation'
Tesco named among those responsible for large scale forest destruction and species loss in Indonesia
(Yahoo Finance)

'Take Up of School Lunches Rises in 2009-2010'
Release of figures shows uptake growing in both primary and secondary schools
(School Food Trust)

'Eco Rally Sparks Conversation About the Future of Transport'
What participants had to say about the 2010 Eco Rally and what it means for transport.
(Greenhouse)

'European Union Could Cut Emissions by 95% With Renewables - Greenpeace'
Report from Greenpeace says savings would easily outweight investment in renewables.
(The Guardian)

'Gordon Brown's Vegetable Patch Goes to Seed'
The Brown's beloved vegetable patch has been overlooked by David and Samantha Cameron.
(The Telegraph)

Oh My God What Happened
'The Book for Everyone Who Wants to Move Into the Digital Era of Awesomeness'

Weekly Greenhouse Updates | Share +
green, green living, eco rally, solar, greenpeace, social media, deforestation, plane, cars, glastonbury

Eco Hero: Siân Berry

Sally Hill | 13.07.10

Sian Berry portrait Since joining the Green Party in 2001, Siân Berry has been a candidate in numerous council and parliamentary elections, and was the Green candidate for London Mayor in 2008.

As a campaigner, she keeps busy working on a range of green and social issues, setting up the Alliance Against Urban 4x4s in 2004 and Reheat Britain, which successfully brought in a scrappage scheme for boilers last year.

Siân has also written a number of books on green issues and home improvement, including ‘50 ways to make your house and garden greener’ and ‘Mend it!’. Her next book will show how to make attractive household items from random articles of junk. Writer Anna Shepard gets her take on the issues.

How would you describe yourself?
Writer, campaigner and green politician.

What is your mission?
The cliché is to say you want to make the world a better place, which in some ways I do, but I’m also about trying to change people’s attitudes. I want to change the way people see green issues. I’ve worked hard to encourage people to see the Green Party differently -not just as an ideological party but also as a practical one. So you vote green not just because it reflects the principles you believe in but also because it’s going to make changes that will benefit your life.

Career highlights?
One of the most enjoyable and successful things I have done was to set up the Alliance Against Urban 4x4s (stopurban4x4s.org.uk). This was about changing social attitudes to 4x4s, to show that they weren’t cool anymore. I also worked on the Boiler Scrappage Campaign (reheatbritain.org.uk) which encouraged people to swap their old energy inefficient boilers for modern efficient ones. It was immediately taken up by Government, that provided a £400 incentive to households making the change.

What's your next project?
I’m working on DIY-related stuff. My generation has grown up without practical skills so we tend to chuck things out when they break. My last book Mend It! is a really accessible guide to how to fix things around the house. I’m trying to give people the confidence to open up that toaster and see if they can work out what’s wrong – it’s often not as difficult as you think. My next book is going to be about making things out of junk so at the moment I’m going around and picking things out of skips.

Found any gems?
I couldn’t resist bringing home an old rocking horse the other day, even though its head is hanging off and it’s got a really manky tail. I haven’t got any children, but it’s going to be lovely when I’ve finished with it, so I’ll have to find one to make the most of it. I also found a really beautiful hat stand.

What do you think is the next big challenge?
Dealing with climate change but in a way that involves everybody. What’s going on at the moment is a lot of debate about big technical solutions - whether that’s nuclear power or giant wind turbines - but bringing the project home into all our lives is the challenge. We want people to be conserving energy, being more resourceful and making a difference as a normal part of everyday life. There are lots of countries that are ahead of us on this, places in the EU where recycling is second nature. We have to catch up and make sure it is a collective venture instead of waiting for green measures to be imposed on us by the Government. There are already positive signs, such as the Transition Town movement, so hopefully we’re moving in the right direction.

What would you change?
There’s too much complaining about the possibility that green measures might be imposed. It’s like the JFK quote: “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” We should be thinking about the ways we can do stuff that we enjoy but also that will help the environment, not worrying about how Government regulation might affect us.

What top green principles do you live by?
I’m really keen on working with my hands. Grabbing a bit of wood from a skip, cutting it in half, painting it and making something from it is deeply satisfying. We are otherwise in danger of losing these creative skills, such as woodwork, knitting and crafty things, because most of us sit in front of screens all day. I’m pretty green in my daily life – I haven’t flown for years, I’m very careful about the energy I use, I avoid food leftovers and compost food waste. But I understand that no one is perfect and I don’t think anyone should be too preachy about it.

Any green sins?
I eat meat. Not huge amounts as my boyfriend is vegetarian but I love eating it in restaurants and I don’t think I could give it up completely

Is organic important to you?
I don’t think it’s compulsory but yes, I do choose organic food. I know it’s more expensive but if you’re minimising food waste carefully then it works out ok.

What one thing do you wish everyone would do?
People have got to believe that they can take things into their own hands and change them – we need more optimism about the power of the individual, to come up with a good idea and follow it through, join a local campaign or get involved on a Government level.

What's the best way of spreading the green message?
Every way possible, whether it’s guerrilla marketing, conventional voting, campaigning or personal action at home. We’ve got to do it all.

How long have we got to save the planet?
We’ve got to get going, there’s no doubt about it, but how we do it is just as important. Are we going to do it in ways that makes people feel in charge of their own lives? Or are we going to do it in a top-down way that reduces people’s feeling of freedom? Those are also big questions.

Who is your Eco Hero?
At the moment, I’m inspired by an American campaigner called Van Jones. Last year, he was appointed to the newly-created position of Special Advisor for Green Jobs by Barack Obama. He has managed to get a whole range of people from all different walks of life demanding green investment and green jobs, not just because caring about the environment is important but because it’s the best way to build a better economy. I’d like to do the same thing here.

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green, eco hero, anna shepard, green party, alliance against urban 4x4s, politician, sian berry, mend it

Big Ideas: 29 authors look at the spirituality of being green

Sally Hill | 19.07.10

GreenSpirit book cover Last Wednesday, ‘GreenSpirit: Path to a New Consciousness’ was launched in London. It’s a new book which is receiving a great deal of attention in ‘green’ circles. The gathering was well attended by some of the UK’s finest environmental minds including guest speaker Jonathon Porritt.

Jonathon, who is the founder of Forum for the Future, drew inspiration from the book as he questioned whether we can we achieve growth and prosperity and still have room for the needs of the human spirit.

The book is an extraordinary read. The stringing together of ideas from fields as varied as ‘deep ecology,’ astronomy, spirituality, theology and mythology, ancient and indigenous culture and tradition, ‘ecopsychology,’ traditional religions and environmentalism give the reader a vast array of concepts to think about.

Author Christopher Johnstone called it ‘a valuable guide to some of the deepest thinking on the connections between ecology and spirituality. Never before have so many important ideas on these subjects been assembled between the covers of a single book.’

To explain briefly the ‘GreenSpirit’ concept, advocate Patrick Moore describes it as ‘combining environmentalism with both a deep appreciation of nature and an enthusiasm for the challenge. ‘Spirit’ as in spiritual and ‘spirit’ as in team spirit.’

The book's authors (there are more than twenty contributing writers) follows a trend in current environmental debate which questions the anthropocentrism of our culture, value-system and institutions. That is, the deeply embedded set of values that sees human beings as the centre of the world – with the universe revolving around us.

The stream of thought throughout the book describes a shift that needs to take place in perception. It compares this to the change which that occurred when humans discovered the sun didn’t revolve around the earth, but the earth revolved around the sun. The mainstream version of this idea is evident in the movements around campaigners Polly Higgins, and All Living Things.

Edited by Marian Van Eck McCain, the tone of the book is thoughtful - never instructional. McCain's writers lead the reader along a path, where each of us can draw our own conclusions.

Traditional religions are dealt with in an interesting manner. While the book draws attention to the idea that there is a part of Christianity that helped to separate humans from nature, it is never critical or dismissive of this or any religion. The philosophy embraces people both within and apart from religion, and sees Christianity as one of many cultures and traditions that gives a context and body of knowledge from which we can build a greater understanding of life, the planet, the universe, and our place in it.

GreenSpirit proposes solutions to our environmental predicament, which it calls ‘greening our culture’.It involves reforming education, law, and the anthropentrism of our institutions – essentially an overhaul of our value system, which it sees as necessary in the context of global environmental challenges.

There is a danger in any new framework being held up as the solution and as a new and right way to think and be. However, the thinkers who have contributed to the book have built into the philosophy the need to appreciate diversity of thought and perspective, which goes some way to reducing this danger. The concept never dismisses a point of view, only puts it into a new context.

The ‘GreenSpirit’ mindset may be worth exploring for those who are interested in a deep engagement with the natural world and the ‘why’ questions of being involved in sustainability. Whether or not this resonates with you, it’s an engaging read about some very big ideas. GreenSpirit challenges us to see, think and feel in a whole new way about the world around us.