Aloha, fellow ecologists. This week's Carnival is coming to you from Hippy Shopper, where I'm the brand-new editor - and instead of a baptism by fire, we have a baptism by green! But let me pause for a minute to thank Ella Rabaiotti, who suffered through training me with grace and charm, but alas, has now gone over to the now doubly enviable CityHippy. Good luck, Ella! Now, on with the show! People have sent in a lovely batch of posts and the lovely and talented Al from CityHippy - cofounder of the traveling eco-blog along with TriplePundit - has provided some spiffy handholding as necessary. Thanks Al - and thanks to Gerry Pugliese, GrrlScientist, Nick Aster, Riversider, Aaron Newton, Camden Lady, Jemilah Magnusson, Enrique, Scott Smith, Melissa Mansfield, Laura Klein, Harlan Weikle, Liz Hincks and Jeff McIntire-Strasburg for providing such great material, and Greg from Save the Ribble for the lovely photo of a wetland that needs not to become a riverworks. Read on for more on the Ribble and a fat, luscious heap of carnival goodness!
CharityBuzz is hosting the Third Annual Chevy Chase Earth Day Auction, involving all kinds of celebrity lunches, signed posters, a trip to Miraval Resort, a San Francisco Health Foods trip, a retreat to Mohonk Mountain and a year's supply of Steaz soda. (Or you can just get everything you need from Tony Danza.)
I love digital photography - the endless reuse of materials, not needing to make prints that may or may not be good, the frolicksome sense of freedom - but I can see the appeal of World Pinhole Photography Day, (as mentioned on flickr blog). It's a good idea to step back from increasingly sophisticated and controlling technology to hand-made, home-made, a little gadget that expresses natural beauty and basic science, resulting in a creative work that's all your own.
Responsible Shopper is a brand-new site from Co-op America, the same group that operates the National Green Pages. Its purpose? It gives people the information they need to vote with their dollars when they shop – and to email companies to tell them to clean up their acts. Is DaimlerChrysler ethical? What is Amazon.com's attitude toward unions? Is Vivendi Universal really that bad? Check Responsible Shopper's profiles.
Earlier this year Tesco announced that it was going to support the expanding biofuel sector; the supermarket giant Tesco has now pledged to spend £100 million on its 'environment fund'. Is this the 'green' light for us to feel less guilty about filling our trolley's at Tesco, who has also announced record profits of £2.21 billion? Not really I'm afraid. Friends of the Earth has given a cautious welcome to Tesco's plans to improve its energy efficiency, stating Tesco needs to source more of its food from the UK instead of buying from all over the world. But what about Tesco's plans to build the "world's greenest store" in the Norfolk market town of Aylsham?
Passionate about ethical consumerism? Then Hippy Shopper needs you. We're looking for enthusiastic contributors to Britain's biggest and best green consumer blog. And the good news is we'll even pay you a little bit too. If you're interested just e-mail the publisher Chris Price with details of your background to info@shinymedia.com. We're not necessarily looking for someone with bags of journalistic experience, just a nose for a good story and a good grounding in blogging and the web generally.
It doesn't seem that long since I was answering this plea to write for Hippyshopper. Telling folks all about the latest green and fairtrade products gives me a real buzz (really!) and I'd love to hear from people with a similar passion for ethical consumerism. For now, there's no cash involved - the renumeration is simply the joy of the wordsmith and the prestige of being read on a site that gets more than a thousand hits every day. Plus you're doing your bit for the planet by showing readers the better alternative.
The global cosmetics giant Loreal have today agreed to take over ethical high street retailer, The Body Shop. In a deal worth around £130 million to The Body Shop's founder, Anita Roddick, its hard to get past the fact that money makes the world go round. Ethical businesses are no stranger to takeovers; UniLever bought Ben & Jerry's, McDonald's acquired Pret A Manger and Cadburys Schwepps recently tookover Green & Black's. So what are we to make of this latest takeover?
For all of you who are missing the campaigning from Make Poverty History, check out The Big Ask - Friends of the Earth's new campaign asking the Government to commit to reducing carbon emissions by 3% every year. The campaign is accompanied by a great downloadable ad that should be coming to a cinema near you soon. [Phil]
Related Post: Radiohead's boy wonder to play green gig
Whyorganic, a Soil Association website, are requesting urgent action to protect the integrity of organic food. The European Commission has just come out with a proposal to amend the regulation that governs organic farming and food in the EU. Whyorganic are opposed to the proposal which is a major threat to organic food. Their key concern is GM contamination. For more details and to show your support for their campaign go to Whyorganic. [Ella]
Attention all sports fans. The Googly, Shiny Media's latest sports blog, has just gone public. Being the clever souls that we are, we've launched it just in time for England's first Test against India so you can find out all about just how badly it's going for England already.
Edited by Will Luke, creator of The Corridor of Uncertainty cricket blog, with regular contributions from sports writer extraordinaire, Gideon Haigh, The Googly is just the place for a bit of cricket chat during your break for lunch or tea.
This is Shiny Media's second foray into the world of sports bloggery, the first one being our rugby blog, Scrumbag. So if you're that way inclined, you can now get your daily fix of sporting news, reviews and gossip in handy bitesize chunks.
Just a quick note to let you all know that Shiny Media have asked me to take over as editor for the mo. Regular reader's at Hippyshopper will hopefully look forward to more post's in a similar style. I'll do my best to uncover the coolest eco-products and most sound ethical brands around. Lookout this week for lights and furniture made from recycled materials and how to become involved in a new eco-village project. I'm also planning on looking behind the high street brands to rate their environmental and ethical policies [see earlier post on Laura Ashley]. Watch this space! [Ella]
This is just a brief note to say that today I'm passing the (ethical, recycled) reigns of the Hippyshopper editorship over to Katie Lee until Shiny find a permanent replacement. I'm leaving due to work commitments and also to set up my own, personal ethical lifestyle blog, www.thegreenguy.co.uk. If you've worked with me on Hippy, I'll be contacting you shortly. All that remains for me is to thank you all, wish good luck to the site's new editor and ask you to send any ethical products and life tips to adam AT thegreenguy.co.uk. [written by Adam Vaughan]
If the answer is yes then I recommend that you check out the New Consumer Fair Trade Experience this March. Held over two days (11th & 12th) during Fairtrade Fortnight at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall this event looks set to broaden many a horizon. Experience music, great kids stuff, plenty of stalls with fashion, crafts, foods and the like. Plus you can actually meet some real Fair Trade farmers and producers and find out what it really means to them when you buy their stuff. Entry is £1 and all kids go free! More info available from Tani @ Tania@newconsumer.org [written by Cityhippy]
Vote for your favourite ethical retailer and campaigner of the year in The Observer Ethical Awards 2006 in association with Ecover. Retail candidates include Natural Collection and Ecotopia or you can nominate you own. Choose from campaigner's such as Jamie Oliver, the Make Poverty History Campaign and Sian Berry of the UK Alliance Against Urban 4x4's. Other categories include building of the year, young campaigner of the year and innovation of the year. Voters can win Ecover goodies or a weekend for two in Brussels. If you are a regular reader at Hippyshopper then chances are you'll have read reviews on many of the retailers and innovations - so refresh you memory in our archives. Plus if you've got an ethical DIY home project to boast about then enter the DIY award for a chance to win cash to spend on green/eco materials. The closing date is the 27th March. [Ella - Source: The Observer 12/02/2006]
From: Green graffiti - It's all in the mossage