In a consumer society, it's easy to feel distanced from where your belongings come from. But what would happen on a world trip to discover the origins of your everyday possessions? This book tells the story of one man's attempt to answer that question.
In Confessions of an Eco Sinner, science writer Fred Pearce travels from the market at the end of his own street to the ends of the earth to investigate his ecological and social footprint and discover the real story behind where his belongings have come from. And that's everything from the cotton in his shirt to the prawns in his curry.
The journey takes him to African rainforests, central Asian deserts to Bangladeshi sweatshops and Chinese computer factories. But it's not all doom and gloom: Pearce says that the experience left him with 'some optimism about humanity and the huge potential we have to run our world better'. £17.99 at WH Smiths
Whether you're looking to buy a valentine's card or seeking inspiration for a design of your own, you'll find there are plenty of unique eco-friendly designs to choose from. Here are a few of my favourites; all hand-made and using recycled materials.
Above: Two of a set by MadeByGirl. Fun and colourful, all designs are printed on 100% recycled card, accompanied by earth-friendly envelopes.
Follow the jump for the rest of our favourite designs...
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Could this be what'll happen if we keep chucking rubbish in rivers?
The art installation by Eduardo Srur 'washed up' on the banks of Sao Paulo's most polluted river yesterday; a visual reminder to warn people of the dangers of pollution from non-biodegradable stuff like plastic bottles.
You certainly wouldn't want to paddle in the Tiete river, which has been in serious need of a clean since the 1960s when it used to be home to many species of fish. Now, however, the only species you're likely to encounter are bottles, and in case Srur hadn't made his point already with this one, there'll soon be a fleet of 30 giant bottles floating upstream.
Be sure to pick up a copy of Sunday's Observer Food Monthly, which has taken on a distinctly green flavour. They'll be running down a list of 'top 40 eco foodies', some of whom will be high profile types, but the list will also include some unsung heroes who've done their bit for making the culinary arts a bit greener.
They'll also be featuring a selection of fairtrade recipes, with lots of mouthwatering ideas for feel-good meals. And a handy 'nutrition guide' will identify the best and the worst everyday supermarket staples, from cereals to crisps, pizzas to pasta sauces. So get your bags for life at the ready, and prepare for a weekend of sustainable shopping, cooking and face-stuffing.
Want to make your spring cleaning go a bit further than dust removal this year? Donnachadh McCarthy is the UK's leading authority on 'eco auditing' and aims to help you carry out a green overhaul of your home or office with this handy new book.
In Easy Eco Auditing you'll learn how to overcome bad habits like not using too much water and keeping an eye on how much you throw away. You'll learn about how to make your shopping choices greener and how to avoid polluting transport. You'll even learn a little bit about how to generate your own energy -- without a degree in physics.
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Ever wondered what two million plastic bottles looks like? That, incidentally, is the amount that Americans throw away every five minutes, and is also what you're looking at in the picture above.
This photograph is just one of many shocking visual renditions of the statistics we try to ignore shown on artist Chris Jordan's website. Other works include a dizzying 410,000 paper cups, equal to the number of disposal hot-beverage paper cups used in the US every fifteen minutes, 426,000 cell phones, equal to the number of cell phones retired in the US every day and 1.14 million brown paper supermarket bags, the number used in the US every hour.
The pictures, at actual size, are so enormous there's no way they'd fit on a screen, but you can zoom in to see the detail, bringing the extent of the waste even closer to home. Seeing them in person, I think, would just blow me away.
I've got to admit defeat at some point soon and come to terms with the fact that I will never be able to keep tabs on every single recycled or 'eco' bag that comes into existence. So I am more than glad to defer to the expertise of the aptly-named 'Recycled Cindy' on this matter, who runs the blog My Recycled Bags.
In the blog, she regularly features her own recycled bag creations along with step-by-step instructions on how to make them. She takes all sorts of raw materials to make the bags, including old denim jeans, crocheted polythene and even video tape ribbon (pictured). Ever wanted to know how to crochet a granny square out of old bags? Cindy will show you how. As well as the familiar tote-style shoppers, you'll find patterns for bags of all sorts here: clutch bags, lunch sacks, make-up bags and just loads more really inventive recycling ideas.
If that all sounds a bit too crafty for you, you can also buy Cindy's products here.
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