We have teamed up with the charity Healthy Planet to continue our work in making people more aware of our impacts on the environment and what we can do to make it a greener and healthier place to live.

What is the Healthy Planet Organisation?

A registered charity set-up in 2008, their innovative projects inform children and adults alike about the issues that concern both the health and wealth of the planet and the individual.  Founded by Shaylesh Patel, who, as a father of two, was concerned about the following:

1.         The health of the planet and the environment was in question and

2.         For the first time in history our children were predicted to have a shorter life-span than their parents.

This motivated him to set-up a charity to address these two pressing issues, and Healthy Planet was born.   Its vision is a world where every person and organization can make a difference locally and globally to the health and welfare of the planet and its people.  Even the smallest of actions , if put together can make a big difference.

Healthy Planet has three main projects:

1. Healthy Planet Empty Spaces

The Empty Spaces initiative acts as a link between commercial landlords and under-represented charities which need a base.  Working in partnership with commercial landlords that have empty units, Healthy Planet invites like-minded organisations to collaborate with them and occupy one of the spaces, rent free, thus making a difference to their local communities.

Since all of the organisations that use these spaces share the same ethos this network makes a real difference by informing, inspiring and enabling people to make the planet healthier.  By bringing these empty spaces back into use it improves the local area and the quality of life – the high street is enhanced and can stop further environmental and economic decay.

2. Healthy Planet Books for Free

This initiative rescues unwanted and unsellable books that would otherwise be pulped or go to landfill.  These books are given away for free throughout communities via ‘Books for Free’ stores nationwide. This is a valuable community service,  giving people access to books who might not otherwise have the means to obtain them, as well as giving local people a unique volunteering opportunity.  All of the stores are run by volunteers.  Any donations for books in-store are used to help towards the running costs of funding volunteers who work for free.  Any excess is used by Healthy Planet to fund other initiatives such as giving grants to green charities and supporting conservation projects.  Healthy Planet receives no government funding.

By doing this, the amount of waste that would otherwise go to landfill each year is reduced, and a valuable resource is recycled.  People are also encouraged to donate their own unwanted books.  As of July 2011 55 tonnes of books had been saved.  Pulping one tonne of books equates to nearly 7000 kwh, enough to power a TV for 24 years!

3. Healthy Planet Adopt a Plot

Using the latest web technology, through Healthy Planet, people can adopt a plot of land in a protected area and engage in its conservation from their own homes.  By visiting the Healthy Planet website  people can chose a local or global conservation project to support and donate online.  At least 90% of the donation is spent on the project.

So, if you would like further information on any of these amazing projects you can contact Healthy Planet direct by through their website, or by contacting their Head Office on 0203 405 2485.