Product Red is an ethical initiative encouraging consumers to join in the fight against HIV and Aids by supporting The Global Fund.  The brand was launched by Bono back in January, together with partners American Express, Gap, Armani and Converse - not your typical ethical campaigners, I grant you.

Each company produces a 'Red' (not necessary of that colour) product from which profits will go direct to The Global Fund. American Express' 'Red' credit card has no annual fee and at least 1% of your spend will go to the fund.  50% of the profits of the Gap 'Red' merchandise will be donated, including a t-shirt priced at £14.50 made from African cotton, manufactured in Africa.  The pictured Emporio Armani glasses, as worn by Bono, are available from April 2006 and Converse have created a unique Chuck Taylor All Star boot from a traditional African mudcloth design.

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?

Bookstores hold a certain aura for me: all that knowledge - and cheap holiday reads - within four walls. But the prices! Since I discovered the Green Metropolis, my bank account is much happier. GM recycles second hand books by selling paperbacks for £3.75 including postage (hardbacks cost more, and postage is not included). Plus you can sell your own books for £3.00 each - the cash gets credited to your account, and you can buy more books, and then sell them back...what a lovely cycle. And we're not talking some old musty books. There are loads of recent releases, authors like Dan Brown, Dennis Lehane, Maeve Binchy, Penny Vincenzi, cookbooks, gardening, philosophy, the lot! As if the book recycling wasn't enough, GM donates 5p from every sale to the Woodland Trust and allows you to donate to the WT from your account, too.  Now I'm off to hunt down that new Nigella book. [written by Elana]

If you're reading this from the US, please feel free to yawn away - you probably read about the credit card- and note-holding Jimi many moons before David Cameron's ascension. For anyone slumming it in the UK, however, this is your first chance to buy the 100 per cent recycled plastic wallet. We have Howies to thank for bringing the green style icon to these shores, although it's rather cheekily selling it for £15 - twice the $15 US price. Stocking filler, anyone?

More proof, as if you needed it, that there's gold to be made out of green. Following news on the cash to made from ethical investment funds such as Aberdeen and F&C's Stewardship, the Belfast Telegraph's regular IFA chap says such funds are 'a sound investment'. Malcolm Johnston's reasoning is pretty simple. In his words, a 'positive attitude to ethics and the environment signals a company's intelligence, efficiency and long term sustainability.' It's certainly worth considering as an alternative to another sack of tat this Christmas; take a look at Smile Invest's very good site if you want to get your head around ethical investing. Triodos Renewables (pictured) is also worth a peek.

Let's say you have a current bank account with the ethically-minded Smile, shares invested with Triodos to help wind turbines and a Greenpeace credit card for making big splurges. If you ticked all the above you would surely qualify as ethical money royalty. You would, but chances are you'd still be carrying your filthy lucre in a wallet made in China from chemical-filled leather. Which - in a slightly long-winded manner - is where this recycled leather wallet enters. Made from old leather belts in London, Paris and Los Angeles, it's a choice Xmas present which comes in four versions for ethical money princes and princesses. The cheapest is £87.50; they're available at Nigel's Ecostore (formerly the Insight Ecostore).

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For ethical cash, go to Aberdeen

So said John Scott and Partners in last week's Guardian. According to the firm of independent financial advisers - damn, I love money talk - the best ethical place to invest your cash is in Aberdeen Asset Management's Ethical World fund. John and his mates recommend it on the grounds that it's shown some of the most impressive growth of any ethical fund and is best for the planet. It's rated 'dark green' which mean your money won't be invested in tobacco cos, environmentally dodgy outfits and anyone with a bad human rights' record. So why's Ethical World making so much cash? Mainly because it's primarily invested in tech companies such as Canon and Samsung (pictured) that are doing well and also have strong eco policies. To sign up, click over to Aberdeen's website. For a greener and more local investment - albeit without John's thumbs-up - put some money into UK wind turbines with Triodos Renewables. Its share issue ends on 14th October.

Sod the ethical benefits of banking with Smile. If you go for its £90-a-year Smilemore premium current account you receive a whole stack of eco goodies and deals that it reckons could save you £350 a year. Here's the how: you get £25 off your eleccie bill when signing up with green power outfit Ecotricity (its new Dagenham turbine is in the photo) plus the equivalent of £150 in annual worldwide travel insurance from Norwich Union and £38's worth of roadside assistance from Green Flag. Yep, I make that £213 too. Minus £90, however, you're still 'saving' £123. The banking side isn't bad, either - there's an interest-free overdraft to £250 and the interest rate is 3.3%, which trashes the high street and most of the net banks. The ethical side isn't bad either - unlike everyone but Triodos and the Co-Op, Smile guarantees your money won't end up being invested in arms companies, contributors to climate change or anyone with a dodgy human rights' record. I should also point out that I've been banking with Smile for over a year - the site is superb and the customer service is very good. Find out more for yourself over at Smile's website.

I'm no ALF member, but even I think an ethical investment fund shouldn't invest in companies that do animal testing. Odd, then, that the Henderson Ethical Fund - which includes First Group, the transport company doing Fuel Cell buses (pictured) - relaxed its ethical screening last week and now invests in animal-testing health outfits. Still, there are plenty of alternatives. Aegon's is generally considered to be pretty sound on ethics, has been going since 1989 and is doing OK at the moment. Star performer for your green cash, though is currently F&C's Stewardship Income fund which, as you can see from the graph on this page, is going up, up, up. Fingers crossed, now all the political parties - to one degree or another - are committed to renewables, green law and Kyoto, you should be onto a winner if you don't mind investing for the long term. [found via The Telegraph]

Here's proof of the save cash and save the planet mantra, if ever I saw it. The Co-Op's just relaunched its posh upgrade account, Privilege, and is offering a £35 discount on your electricity bill when you open an account - provided you're happy switching to green supplier Ecotricity. You also get several other 'ethical benefits', including 25% off a sub to Ethical Consumer mag, 20% off Hug organic clothing and the chance to buy some discounted plants. There are a whole load of money benefits, too, not least free travel insurance and a £100 interest-free overdraft. All this doesn't come for free, mind: you have to pay £6.50 a month for the  - ahem - privilege.

If you feel like the weekend newspapers are packed with page after page of downshifting case studies, you're not alone - I'm convinced someone's going around and pasting the same 'escaped-London-moved-to-rural-France' story into all the papers I buy. But I digress. It's National Downshifting Week next week (23-29 April). It's being bigged up by Tracey  Smith (pictured) who packed it all in for - you guessed it - a life in rural France. The Week's website suggests trying organic food, recycling clothes and composting amongst other decent ideas. Tracey also offers this obvious but easily overlooked nugget: "the less money you have to earn to maintain your lifestyle then the less time you have to work". Sounds very much like the thrust of Tom Hodgkinson's next book, How to be Free. Amen to the "less work" bit.

As an email from Smile reminds me, it's the start of the new tax year. In other words, a very good time to get serious and put lots of cash in one of its ethically-certified stocks 'n' shares ISAs. The ethical part of the equation is that it'll only invest your pennies into caring companies that don't have anything to do with the dirty business of dodgy regimes, arms and messing up the environment. Also worth a look for ethical interest-making accounts: Co-Operative Bank (PROUD SPONSORS OF THE BILL, no less), Triodos and the GAEIA Partnership. The Guardian also has an interesting (and recent) piece on ethical investments over here.