Last week we featured Jo Wood's splendid Mrs Paisley's Lashings, a 'pop up restaurant' project which encourages people to eat in a more eco-conscious way . This time we're highlighting another environmental project she's involved with in conjunction with her daughter Leah (pictured right) called Global Cool.
Together they have shot a video to raise awareness of the benefits of turning your central heating down to 18 degrees - including saving money, saving your skin and also helping to save the environment.
Apparently heating within the home accounts for 30 per cent of the average Brit's carbon footprint, which is even more than cars produce at 26.1 per cent. Figures show that for every one degree you turn your heating down, you could save up to £40 a year and go from burning 20 calories an hour to 80 calories an hour - all while you're sleeping.
Other celebrities who have shot video include EastEnders' Adam Crossdale and models Laura Bailey and Stella Tennant. You can see their videos here:
Global Cool's Facebook fans can also win a new winter wardrobe in association with ASOS.com - simply upload a picture of yourself wearing your most stylish winter knits, get your friends to vote for you, and you could win £500 worth of vouchers! Go to www.facebook.com/globalcool
See below for video of Jo and Leah Wood, highlighting Global Cool campaign:
The other day we wrote about Surfers Against Sewage and their latest eco clothing range to highlight how polluted some of our waters have become.
This week sees the launch of their brand new range of environmentally friendly fundraising Christmas cards. Featuring marine litter collected from Cornish beaches frozen into an ice sculpture of a barrelling wave, they're printed on 100% recycled card using vegetable inks to lessen the environmental impact of their production.
The A6 size cards come in packs of 10 and cost £3.50 to non-members and £3.15 to SAS members.
Marine litter is a persistent and long lasting danger to surfers, swimmers, beach users, wildlife and habitats all around the UK's coastlines, but an effective Marine Litter Strategy could help protect our oceans and waves. To help put this in place sign SAS's online petition at www.sas.org.uk.
It seems there's a week for everything, including one for footpainting. Supporting the initiative is eco-kids website, FootprintFriends.com , which is calling on young people to get more involved with environmental issues by painting their feet.
It wants to send one million feet to Copenhagen and is inviting youngsters to upload photos of their painted feet for use in a 'book of dreams' creative project.This will be presented to world leaders at the upcoming climate change conference in the Danish capital.
Karen Ford, founder of Footprint Friends, says that children should be encouraged to engage with green issues:
"Our campaign looks to engage young people in a fun but memorable way, helping to make them aware of the world around us," she said. National Foot Painting Week is running across the UK from October 5th to 9th.
Former Secretary-General of the United Nations and Nobel Peace Prize Recipient Kofi Annan has launched a six month Tck Tck Tck awareness campaign to highlight the impact climate change is having on the lives of people around the world.
The soundtrack to this campaign, a cover of Midnight Oil's Beds are Burning (much better than the dirgy original in my opinion) is set to be released tomorrow. And, ahead the launch, free music streaming service we7 is offering an exclusive listen.
What do adults do when try as they might, they can't come up with a solution to a seemingly intractable problem? A popular solution is seeking an answer through the mouths of babes, and when the issue is as pressing and as controversial as the environment, why not seek the ideas of those untainted by the million and one problems and prejudices that plague adult pundits?
That's what Persil figured, and they've enlisted Phillippa Forrester to help prise out those planet-saving solutions. In this video, you can see just a few of the bright ideas they've already managed to glean from young minds up and down the country.
If you didn't know yet, today is the first ever Green Britain Day. Started to try and get Britain greener by the 2012 Olympics, there will be events around our fair country to raise awareness of environmental issues and to convince us to make a change.
It all kicks off with a concert at The Eden Project headlined by Paul Weller, and featuring Brit award winning Florence and the Machine. For more information on tickets visit the Eden Project website.
Music experts will tell you that the finest guitars are made using exotic wood, such as rosewood, ebony and mahogany. But as usual, voracious human appetite is taking its toll on the timber of the world and while guitar makers' part in the devastation of deforestation is relatively small - they are starting to feel the strain.
But one group of Finnish instrument makers claims to have found a harmonious solution in the "flaxwood tree"; a piece of mythical fauna said to grow in the northern woods around Joensuu in Eastern Finland, where vast misty forests abound and the locals' hearts are "full of music". But the tree has one major drawback...