PLANT A TREE - A GREAT ECO-FRIENDLY GIFT FOR ANY OCCASION!

What types of trees do EcoSwitch plant?

We plant a variety of trees including Mango, Apple or Indigenous Trees (such as the Mvule tree) to help offset CO2 emissions and assist local communities.

Indigenous trees are vital to communities and you can learn about the Mvule tree here. Fruit trees are particularly helpful to local communities because they retain water and each tree can produce £75 or $125 of fruit produce per year.

All trees are grown in the nursery between June-December each year, before being planted in the monsoon season between January and March.

How you can support the Tree planting programme?

To support the tree planting programme, please select a tree you wish to plant below. If you are buying 10 or more trees for someone's birthday or Christmas present, we will plant 2 extra trees for you and you can request for us to forward you an e-mail or paper certificate in the notes section of the checkout.

	Mango Tree(s) @ £5.00 (inc VAT) each
	Apple Tree(s) @ £5.00 (inc VAT) each
	Indigenous Tree (s) @ £5.00 (inc VAT) each

What is the United Nations Billion Tree Campaign all about?

All trees planted by EcoSwitch are registered with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). UNEP have launched a 'Billion Tree Campaign' in an effort to soak up escalating CO2 levels around the world. Trees are still known to be the most effective means of absorbing CO2 in the atmosphere; a gas linked by Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC) scientists to the phenomenon of Global Warming and Climate Change.

What are the sceptics saying?

Whilst sceptics say that Tree Planting does nothing to address the human beings consumption and reliance on Fossil Fuels, Nasa and the Kyoto Protocol accept that the average tree planted will absorb 1 ton of CO2 in its lifetime. Trees are still often overlooked as a Carbon Offset solution, but they are the most natural and cost effective means of absorbing CO2. They also offer a host of other benefits to communities.

What do the United Nations want you to do?

The United Nations have therefore called upon each of the 7 Billion people on the planet to plant a minimum of 1 tree. 4.1 Billion have been planted so far. The number you should plant really depends upon what the total CO2 emissions are of your country, divided by the population. This computes a 'tons of CO2' figure per person, which then identifies the number of trees that need to be planted by each individual. A Tree calculator will shortly be available but in the meantime, if you are from Britain, each individual needs to plant 12 trees; each individual from the US needs to plant 18 trees.

What do EcoSwitch want you to do?

EcoSwitch are encouraging each individual to firstly switch to a greener energy tariff if you haven't already done so and we'll plant a tree for free for you (to get the ball rolling). All trees planted by EcoSwitch are registered with the United Nations tree planting programme. Once you have switched, if you are interested in planting more, based upon the amount specified in the Tree Calculator, you can purchase them below and they only cost £5.00 each in Africa compared to typical prices of £10-£15 in Europe and North America. You get more trees for your money abroad and we plant them in the Tropics (Uganda) because trees there are known to absorb up to 3 times more CO2 compared to those planted in Northern Hemispheres. It is important to plant as many trees as possible and get as much return in CO2 absorption.

Our Ugandan Nursery and tree planting operation

The Ugandan nursery is overseen by Theresa Komugisha Kabombora who holds an MSc in Seed Technology from Edinburgh University. She is based in Entebbe, Uganda.

Posted under Articles, Climate, Gardening & Outdoors

The Riverfood legacy is rooted back to 1951 on the dawn of a new marriage and a family enterprise in the making. Guy Watson, founder of the box scheme at Riverford, warmingly reminisces over the memory of his parent's brothers and sisters enjoying a shared enthusiasm for their farming family's ideals and a passion for good, earthy, rooted food. This year, nearly sixty years on from when it all started, Riverford Organic Veg won 'Best Organic Retailer' at the Natural and Organic Awards 2009, and here at EcoSwitch, we're sure they'll keep on working at this great growing success.

Organic farming at Riverfood has been in full force for a little over 22 years, but it is their commitment to the soil that sets them aside from other like-minded land lovers. Now, most organic farms can be defined as such by simply avoiding synthetic pesticides and fertilisers. However, Riverside combine biodynamic techniques with a good knowledge of British soil to get the very best from their crops, and instead of simply avoiding the unnatural, they are doing their bit to minimise their impact on the environment and encourage a healthy surrounding ecology too:

'We do everything we can to reduce our carbon footprint. Some of the actions we take are unglamorous but important.' They continue, 'We use crop rotation and timed ploughing to control pest problems. We re-use packing as many times as possible. Instead of using slug pellets in our polytunnels and strawberry fields, we have a team of ducks, beetles and nematodes to do the job for us.'

It is this very same charming attitude to farming that drives the honesty behind this brand of organic retailer. They deliver up and down the country and have sister farms throughout the UK - so don't worry about an unnecessary carbon footprint; you can source your fruit and veg locally. The contents of their box scheme will vary depending on where you live and what's wholesome, in full flavour, and best for the season. Interested? Just have a look on their website (link below) and see what they are packing this week.

And if it's not only vegetables you're after, they also offer a selection of meat deliveries, fruit, and salad boxes. From then, log onto their website and decide what it is that best suits you; whether you'd like weekly, fortnightly or monthly deliveries (one-off's are available too) it is entirley your choice. Once this has been decided, simply pop your postcode in their address finder and you'll be given the name of your local minder who (lives locally) will oversee that all's well.

Not only is the Riverford box scheme convenient, simple to use, and wholesome, it is also personal, which is a feeling that cannot be faked. Once you are set up, and welcomed into the extended family, all you have to do now is wait for your delivery, and enjoy cooking with Riverford Organic Vegetables and a long lived tradition of good, sustainable farming.

Source: Riverford Organic Veg

Posted under Articles, Gardening & Outdoors, House & Home, Lifestyle & Fashion

Stella Artois, the beer company responsible for the 'Reassuringly Expensive' adverts that managed to use the higher than average price of their lager to actually encourage consumer take-up, have unrolled a new campaign aimed at boosting sales of its beer.

Belonging to the super-brewery Anheuser-Busch InBev, Stella have spent years and lots of money creating an image for itself of tasteful luxury and ironic wit through its advertising campaigns and branding activities. Despite this focus on the drink's higher than average cost, it has still managed to remain a regular staple of British pubs.

This new advertising campaign has two main themes to it- the first is recycling, and the second is planting hedges (an enterprise backed by the broadcaster, environmental campaigner and 'adventurer' Ben Fogle). The first side of this new advertising programme ('Recyclage Deluxe') consists of bill-board adverts shot in black and cream duo-tone photography, done in a French new-wave style and featuring stylish yet dryly absurd consumer objects that suggest the use of recycled Stella packaging in the manufacture of luxury goods- a vintage Citroen car with a massive Stella can rising out smoothly in one piece from its bonnet, for instance, reminiscent of the nuclear fusion reactor that powered the Delorian in the Back to the Future films. The written messages: Stella Artois bottles are made from 75% recycled glass. Stella Artois cans use ('on average') 50% recycled aluminium. And Stella Artois cardboard is made from 100% recycled paper (that's the corrugated packs in supermarkets and the paper used in packaging- all of this only the paper or card used at 'point of sale'). None of these claims appear to be particularly astounding or instantly, primitively impressive, and are all couched in conditions and terms on the accompanying website.

Stella measures its Carbon Dioxide emissions in hectolitres- there's 100 litres in a hectolitre unit, or 26.418 US gallons. They aim to reduce their energy use by 10% per hectolitre by 2010- again, not a particularly mind-blowing figure. But fair play to 'em. Stella also want to reduce their water usage to 3.75 hectolitres per hectolitre of beer produced (the United Nations suggest that best practice in beer production is 5 hectolitres of water per hectolitre of beer produced- Stella are proud to be aiming below this figure). InBev are also part of the 'Carbon Disclosure Project'. To Stella, 'reducing, recycling and proper waste disposal are a key part of our global business strategy. At Stella Artois, we're trying to lead by example through our Recyclage-Deluxe campaign but also by doing our best within our own operations to ensure we’re producing as little waste as possible and recycling what waste we do produce.' Very precise action plan there.. Not. And then: 'Aluminium’s a tricky substance. We love it because it’s lightweight (keeping down the environmental effect of transport), because it can be recycled an infinite number of times, and is tough enough to protect your Stella Artois from brewery to fridge until you can pour it in a Chalice glass to enjoy.' Great marketing nudges in there, but very little meat. And one doubts whether aluminium was really chosen as the material for their cans because of its lighter footprint when transported- or whether this was a twist that was worked out only now.

The other side to the campaign is the 'Hedge Fund', where InBev (Stella's Belgian owner) have pledged to plant a piece of hedge in the British countryside for every case of Stella bought in the UK- this piece of hedge will grow to be three times the size of the case of beer (again, the explanation of this on the promotional website is far from clear, but that, I accept, is their concern). The adverts pun on the phrase and make reference to the financial world, featuring photographs of men and women in suits sizing up a hedge, which is placed on a desk, with a tape-measure- the tagline running 'Once upon a time a hedge fund was just that'.

Stella take a lot of credit for this hedge-building enterprise, but their language doesn’t give due credit to their partners in this enterprise: ‘we plan to fund over 365,000 hedge saplings and 8,650 trees saplings, to be planted in the British countryside. And they’ll be carefully looked after by volunteers, to keep them spruce and bursting with wildlife.’ This work is, of course, not undertaken by Stella/InBev volunteers, but by their partner in the enterprise- the Tree Council. The Tree Council could legitimately be said to be the real heroes here. The UK's 'lead charity for trees', the organisation promotes trees through community action programmes, a national tree warden scheme, the distribution of annual planting grants, and publications, including the magazine 'Tree News' (available at branches of Borders and WHSmiths, amongst other stockists). Stella also claim that they will ‘grow hedges, wherever they are most needed’. This is possibly false, as one doubts whether Stella will be out there, looking for places where hedges are desperately needed. Stella is, after all, a beer company. Most probably they will hope that the Tree Council plant hedges where they are needed- Stella are silent partners. Besides, the hedges being planted indirectly through Stella are proportional to the amount of cases of beer that are sold. This is a limited and sales-related planting exercise. Some money is donated to the Tree Council- Stella don’t do anything but donate.
This could of course be taken as a pedantic attack on Stella’s scheme which is nevertheless positive in its nature- the move to fund the plantation of hedges is of course a good one, but what has just passed has been an brief exegesis on the perhaps misleading, self-promotional marketing language used by Stella Artois in their campaign.

Stella Artois must, of course, for their survival, market themselves savvily and keep their infiltration amongst drinking establishments, retailers and the consumer psyche intact. They certainly have the right backing- InBev, following an aggressive take-over of Anheuser-Busch (who make Budweiser), are now the world's largest brewer. They are indeed a giant of the brewing world, and one of their first moves upon merging was to announce the closure of the historic Stagg Brewery in Mortlake, on the bank of the Thames in West London (ceasing operation in 2010). But this is beside the point. As long as you buy this beer, hedges will be planted, restoring the somewhat dilapidated hedgerow system of the British Isles, responsible for housing wildlife (including rare species, like Horseshoe bats and dormice) and keeping the soil together, preventing erosion and halting water-borne run-off.

Stella have moved their sleek advertising machine down a new detour- taking some of the edge off of their effective pseudo-luxurious campaign, in my opinion- and they want you to buy their beer. Perhaps consumers are environmental now, they think. And so their new advertising is split: split between carefree, throwaway, excessive, wasteful spending, and the recurrence of objects and material, the sustenance of long-lived singular forms. Stella Artois are hedging their bets.

Posted under Companies, Corporate, Gardening & Outdoors, Lifestyle & Fashion

The Barbican Art Gallery- Radical Nature
Art and Architecture for a Changing Planet 1969-2009

Forty acres of baffling axis: seven floors of future-heritage; it must be the Barbican Estate, London. In a quiet foyer of the Barbican's dedicated Arts Centre, staircases spiral and elevators hover. The Arts Centre can shift itself against the grain of gravity, or else impose its own depth charge. Within this colossal transfer-unit (moving us through planes, trajectory, space), the Radical Nature exhibition is nestled.

The sense of mutated elevation continues inside the exhibition- trees grow from the walls, grasslands float on wheeled trucks. Upon entering the exhibition one instantly walks into the territory of a guardian-wolf, its eyes and nose raised; what seems to be merely a fashionable piece of taxidermy, standing on a two-wheeled trailer (it seems as if the animal might be driven away at any moment to a new freak-show) has more significance than that: Mark Dion’s tightly-packed corpse (situated in sniffing distance from the gift shop) warns us visitors away from the cataloguing and commodification of nature, urging a native caution in regards to the roots and branches on display. The exo-cadaver of the wolf (not nature at all, but a sculpture slid inside a hide) possesses a realistic sadness; it knows better than us the dangers of holding on for too long to a lifeform that needs to die.

Out of the wolf’s glass sight, and away from its cautionary message, we walk on to more fertile sections. On the left, chicken wire pens of British crop specimens, a re-staging of 1972’s Full Farm (the show delves as far back as 1969). In the centre of the gallery, a bubble-chain: a series of plastic pods floating with the assistance of wires and hooks, forming the plan of Air-Port-City, Tomas Saraceno’s situationist utopia: a visionary architectural model of a flying cell of conjoined cities and transport terminals, ‘similar in status to airplanes in flight, which are bound by international law rather than the rules of one country’. The un-realistic construction of the piece, from transparent plastic sacks, adds another level of interpretation to the model, another shift from the ‘real’; its position inside the Barbican, a realised utopian complex, another.

A room on the left holds plans for symbiotic buildings by the Parisian architectural firm R&Sie(n). Amongst the thin veins of data, blueprints and schema that climb and spread over the white gallery walls- mirroring the viral shoots and nodes of the creeping life that their architecture ‘clones’- rests a snapshot of a mutating architectural mission- unstable and necessary. Amongst the patterns (it seems wrong to call them blueprints) flow mutations of repetitive elements, organic graphs eating into themselves, cloning, hybridising, grafting, perpetual. From the unstable substitutions, the genetic cartographies and territorial alterations, the ‘plans’ of ‘structures’ stutter smoothly out of the blueprints to become something else; the buildings themselves, mirroring the topography of their sites, are colonised and made invisible by invasive plants. Truly impressive.

In a dim room a recycled plywood/MDF bench faces a projection of two films by Robert Smithson. Spiral Jetty, barely heard through the musty fuzz of the audio, nevertheless impresses with its Jurassic maps and hovering camera angles. Spiral Jetty itself is a monumental earthwork on the Great Salt Lake in Utah, USA, constructed with black basalt rocks and earth in 1970- a 1,500 foot long coil that stretches from the land out into the water of the lake. Spiral Jetty is best viewed from above, and an image search on the web will uncover certain photographs that appear to show a blue-green sun (the rounded edge of land) spouting a sun-storm of white flame (the jetty) into red space (the translucent lake).

A grass hillock rests on the gallery floor nearby- as if the peak of a hillside had been surgically sliced and implanted here. Hans Haacke’s ‘real-time system’ Grass Grows, dating from 1969, is alive and fresh, one of the pieces of the exhibition which is nature, regardless of its surroundings. The mound seems to be pushing up through the floor, making the viewer cast their eyes around the Barbican space and view the apparently solid and grounded floor with new eyes. The piece creates a sense of reassertive nature, or else highlights our un-natural level of height, here in the Barbican centre, as in the multi-levels of the surrounding city also.

The next ‘exhibit’ is one of the boldest and most real/unreal. The deep-brown trunks of tropical trees- again, real specimens- grow slowly in height and girth under a sustaining field of artificial light. The thing about this authentic 16-metre-square rainforest segment, however, is that it grows on its side- the forest ‘carpet’ is a base-board situated at 45 degrees to the gallery floor, through which the trees are inserted, their roots immersed in nutrients behind. A square of whispering, weeping forest drapes a leafy canopy gracefully downward through the air, brushing the floor. Suggestive of hurricane detritus or jungle warfare after-effects, Fallen Forest (2006) gives the viewer a one-on-one experience with nature that many will have never had. Actual rainforest, in the flesh; the stuff that everyone talks about so much and that most people vaguely accept as somehow key to the existence of the world, is encountered through a simple physical distortion; a first-experience that, possibly, questions the first-contact with nature that most people experience, occurring through the medium of HD Satellite television and Ipod LCD imagery, or even the banal language of postcard pictures; the Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, &c. In a more obvious way, the forest segment is a brought-forth commodity; a ‘bought-back’ forest; shipped timber; or waste from rainforest destruction, the primal form of office paper. The forest seems to grow towards us in attack-mode, facing us like a mute rhinoceros, defensive and instinctively expressive. The great thing about this and other pieces is that the natural forms do much of their own talking, and their presence is the most convincing argument.

Elsewhere on the ground floor, a room of mirrors echoes and reverberates a square of lush inflorescence into a shaky and mis-printed infinity. Another criticism of artificiality and reproduction, and of false space. An outdoor garden on one of the Barbican balconies gives us our first taste of fresh air.

Upstairs there is less greenery, and more architectural, photographic and performance work. Here one has the strange vantage point of seeing Fallen Forest from above- on the ground, we could walk its length and feel that we had climbed to the top of a rainforest; up here we can fly around the side of the forest, reaching the canopy only by a strange circuit on the upstairs mezzanines. None of this surveying of the forest is done in natural or easy movements.

Philippe Rahm’s indoor installation Pulmonary Space is a baggy form with arms that lead to wind instruments; when blown, the bag inflates at different points. A video of a György Ligeti piece being played ‘into’ it (Ten Pieces for Wind Quartet, 1968) is shown behind the saggy form, along with a chunk of printed theory concerning Hegel, idealism, and physicality.

The 1970s design group Ant Farm are represented by Dolphin Embassy (1974-1978), a funny/serious project (documented with video, designs and promotional material) to promote interspecies communication with dolphins, including a sea-top embassy. An interview between a human ambassador and a dolphin, to see how the dolphins feel about all this, says it all. Ant Farm are particularly admirable for their forward-thinking sense of the ridiculous whilst acknowledging the profound and the important; this is one of the valuable exhibits which question the natural art movement in a major way. Artists such as the British Bruce Mclean made similar jabs at land art in the 1960s whilst still creating ‘profound’ works; Pulmonary Space also questions the possibility of ‘connecting’ in any real way with nature, denouncing philosophical idealism (and romanticism) and claiming physical materiality as its successor.

Next, a construction material. Wolf Hilbertz’s original process of ocean-based mineral accretion promised a natural, regenerative material that was stronger than Portland cement. In the mid-1970s he trademarked Biorock® and drafted his model of Autopia, a spiral shaped island accreted underwater- basically a frame that develops hard ‘muscle’ in the form of a mineral bulk attaching and surrounding itself to it. A scale model of this island is displayed along with sections of life-size Biorock®, in its barnacle- and skeletal-like manifestation.

Elsewhere, Joseph Beuys’ ‘healing and regenerative’ work Honeypump at the Workplace (1977) is on display- two tons of honey being pumped through two ship’s motors lubricated with margarine. Apparently ‘the honey embodied energy as well as the nutritional value of a natural substance produced by an ideal collaborative community’.

Luke Howler’s Bogman Palmjaguar (2007) is a dirty-misty land/mind-scape documentary film about the mental state of the ancient bogland of Flow Country in North East Scotland, as well as its inhabitant, Bogman Bluequartz Palmjaguar, diagnosed as schizophrenic by the local authorities. Definitely worth watching, the film's projection in a very dark room, in-between the gallery walls, makes one feel that the bogland doesn’t exist in this world, just as this viewing room doesn’t seem to.

Lara Almarcegui has kindly printed booklets for visitors to take away and peruse; ‘Guide to the Wastelands of the Lea Valley’ gives us basic photographs and magazine-style histories of East London’s Lea Valley canal ruins, an area popular with artists and given significance by the impending London Olympics, but covered more definitively and in more splendid detail by the writer Iain Sinclair.

Elsewhere Tue Greenfort showcases his camera-traps, urban ghost-catchers disguised with plastic bags and soda-cups which contain a disposable camera with flash, triggered when a fox nibbles and tugs at the frankfurter attached by string. Photographs are displayed of the surprised foxes, caught in the act- another suggestion of animals as being elsewhere, like the wolf-skin; only mindless vegetable matter can be caught and taken into this gallery, where they rear towards the artificial ceiling from their unnatural bed of air. Greenfort’s Wardian Case (Alustar-Sonatural) (2007/9) is also here- a flatpack green house containing mass-produced orchids.

Radical Nature is a good collection, notable for its international scope and its focus upon the uncontrollable, even as it it cuts, moves and stimulates nature. The lack of indulgence in artists such as Richard Long and Andy Goldsworthy is a good indicator of the exhibition’s focus on dialogue, warning and interrogation; the inclusion of popular artists like these might have added an extra aesthetic appeal to the show, but, as it stands, the exhibition is distinguished by a respect, admiration and awe of nature, in which the place of humans is ambiguous. The visitor sees snapshots, moments, surprises- the glanced portions invoke nature as a wider force despite their disparateness. The autonomy of nature is the centrepiece here, and our place within it is merely as another mutation, a growth. The name says it all- this isn’t a show about shining beauty, but the radical intersection of nature and human projects.

Note- the gallery guide is printed by ‘an energy efficient stencil duplicator’, with soy inks, on 100% recycled paper, and is printed in batches to avoid large-scale waste. The gallery is open daily from 11am-8pm (Wednesday 6pm, Thursday 10pm). Tickets are £8 for adults and £6 online/concessions. Radical Nature runs until 18th October.

The Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London EC2Y 8DS

Nearest tube- Barbican/Moorgate.

www.barbican.org.uk/radical_nature

Posted under Eco Reviews, EcoWarriors, Events, Gardening & Outdoors, Lifestyle & Fashion

British summertime has come unusually early in 2009; the sun is out, the wind is low, and we've only seen a minimal amount of rain, so the doom-mongers have had little to whine about.  Weather reports have stated an expectation for the glorious weather to last, so the best of Indian summers seems likely.

Naturally, the early sun means that the British love of the barbecue is smouldering, and, whilst it lasts, many-a-meal will be spent out in the garden, enjoying food and drink in the unusual luck of this early summer's pleasant climate.

Unfortunately for the eco-conscious, though, barbecues, with a base in coal, can produce unnecessary levels of carbon, and with a longer summer, this fact could be amplified.

Cooking with a Conscience

In order to assuage such fears, a number of companies are offering eco-friendly alternatives to conventional products, so that the eco-conscious barbecue connoisseur can sleep soundly.

One particularly successful produce is the Wildwood Sustainable Charcoal, which provides a genuine alternative to the standard coal-based products. In fact, according to one of its stockists, it's a winner all round:

"Enjoy an environmentally friendly and carbon neutral barbeque using this sustainable, UK charcoal. Made in Sussex, unlike imported charcoal, this stuff gets hot, quickly (in about 15 mins) so you can cook your organic burgers without the wait. In fact it's much easier to light than imported briquettes: you don't need firelighters - you use the bag to help light it, so there are no bad fumes. You'll also need less charcoal."

With practical and ethical benefits, it’s a must for inclusion in a genuinely eco-friendly barbecue suite; as the chief component in any barbecue, it's important that any emissions at all are worth every penny.

The Problem with Coal-Based Barbecues

Generally speaking, coal has caused big problems for climate change. And the BBC has outlined the real negatives of continuing to use coal-based barbecue products:

Over 90% of the charcoal we burn on our barbecues comes from non-UK forests, many of which are not replaced when they're cut down. Deforestation has had such a significant impact on climate change that barbecuing with non-sustainable charcoal is calculated to emit five times more CO₂ than cooking with gas.

With these figures in mind shouldn’t we all switch to a more eco-friendly charcoal instead of using those based from coal? Wildwood Sustainable Charcoal is one of the best examples of the alternatives, but many more are now coming onto the market.

Other Ideas for Green-Friendly Barbecuing

Slightly less seriously, there are a number of ways to keep the environment in mind. Paper plates, as much as they remind us of childhood parties, are no good unless they can be recycled, and if not, other plates should be used. There are some great wind-up radios on the market, plus aprons made of recyclable products.

But, most intuitively, look for anything that can be powered using solar power. After all, a good barbecue always relies on a good amount of sun.

Posted under Articles, Gardening & Outdoors

UNITED STATES

Understanding the true cost of food (and anything else, for that matter) is measured not in the coins and bills you hand over at the cash register, but by considering health costs and benefits, community welfare, and environmental impact.For example, in every way but the literal one, we are eating oil. It is no secret that our Just In Time and overly optimised retail infrastructure extends to our food supply chain. We are, at least in developed countries, extremely sensitive to disruptions of that system of logistics. But to call it 'eating oil' is a way of saying that oil is crucial to every step of the journey, from the factories that refine the seeds, through the sowing, tending and harvest of   our produce, to the processing and packaging and delivery to the supermarket shelves. With everything else crumbling before our eyes, it is easy to start shifting uneasily in our seats just by thinking about this. A large city is, has to be, a very well-oiled piece of machinery. A large city is only two meals from chaos. One plus one equals two in this case as well.

It is therefore heartening that the White house now boast a 'Victory' garden. Last Friday, the first lady and 26 Washington schoolchildren began digging a 1,100-square-foot organic kitchen garden on the South Lawn. Michelle Obama said, 'my girls like vegetables more if they taste good, especially if they're involved in planting it and picking it, they were willing to give it a try.'*

To be sure, organic and local food often costs more when you compare shopping bills, but in the end healthier food means healthier people. Healthy people are more productive and have lower health care costs. Meanwhile,esticides and fertilisers contaminating ground water supply, and transporting food to market is using CO2-spewing fuel. In theory and with in-the-long-run goggles on, cheap food does not cost us less as at all. Treehugger.com, perhaps the American eco-site par excellence, made some calculations. The cost for seeds, mulch, and other supplies was only $200. Using Roger Doiran's calculations, they estimated thaat the 1,100 square foot garden will produce roughly 573 pounds (approx. 250kgs) of food, a value of about $1,375 but depending on what will grow. And, of course how well. Noone said it was not going to be a lot of work either.*

Michelle Obama's seemingly simple move is seen by many as a political statement akin to Eleanor Roosevelt's 1943 victory garden. The US president has many victories yet to claim and whereas Eleanor's husband was already winning the war by then. If you will excuse some 'putting things in perspective' here; but we have not yet won at Stalingrad, Midway and El Alamein. Right now we are more, in the great scheme of things, at Pearl Harbour, watching the fleet being bombed to pieces. But this presidency is not about wars. Not between nations or people. If a war at all, than  it should be against a way of life of waste, greed and consumption. There will need to be many more victory gardens. Bring in the Cycling Gardeners and we get four things in one go. Exercise, Zero Emissions and Homegrown vegetables.

'

* Article 'Michelle Obama to create an organic 'victory' garden at the White House' by Megan Mulligan in the Guardian on the 20th of March 2009, read it here.

** Blogpost 'Dear Obamas: Congrats on the veggie garden' by Meaghan O'Neill on Treehugger.com on the 20th March 2009, read it here.

Posted under Environmental News, Gardening & Outdoors

Apart from the obvious health benefits, the humble bike - along with the ever-increasing add-ons now available - has become the vehicle of choice for many commuters and travellers. For The Cycling Gardeners it is more than that!

As the cost of fuel yo-yos from week to week and environmental reports continue to confirm that humans are leaving a bigger and more damaging footprint on the earth than perhaps they should, many small businesses are reaping the benefits of using alternative ways of operating. As just one example, The Cycling Gardeners have established strong business models that operate within well-defined ethical guidelines. With fuel and oil-dependency in mind, they run their small businesses using the very-renewable pedal power! As most people these days will be well aware, there are a huge number of trailers available for push-bikes - from the brightly coloured kiddy-carriers that weave in and out of slowed-down morning traffic, to the more rugged outdoor types, that provide ample space for weekends away in the hills. The Cycling Gardeners have adapted their trailers to serve as tool-transporting, compost-carrying vehicles that put strain on the calves and hamstrings, and not the local environment.

But why is this important?

As science, politics and popular opinion all move closer to the collective realisation and acceptance of the very big environmental questions facing us all, we need to find the alternatives; to do the same things, to do new things - but in different ways.

Why not look into ways of ditching your business car, for a business bike? Start a new revolution!

You can find Norwich's Cycling Gardener on film and a link here for Brighton's. More ideas for trailers can be found at Carry Freedom

Posted under Cars & Transport, Climate, Corporate, EcoWarriors, Environmental News, Gardening & Outdoors, Gas & Electricity, How To's & Guides, Renewable Energy

Another wet winter in the UK. Welcome to England. So what’s new why not use it. Flushing toilets with rainwater is just one logical line of thought that is not followed up.

During a heavy rainfall on a typical home in the UK, the surpringsly large figure of 700 gallons of water can drip from your home to the ground. This amount of water is enough to run 20 baths or 60 showers alone. Larger buildings with a larger spanning roof can result in even more water being wasted -or cleverly put to use. It can amount to as much as several thousand gallons at one time. But not only is it being wasted, this rainwater also enters the drains where it also encounters various toxic materials and other pollutants, causing further harm to the environment or overloading water treatment plants. And in the many parts of the world where water is becoming an ever more decreasing resource, it makes sense to look into the benefits that rain barrels can offer you as well as the environment.

For this reason, rain barrels serve an important purpose; to collect and store all the rainwater that would have been wasted, allowing you to put it to good use. Rain barrels can be as simple as large containers that the water from your roof and various other parts of your property can run into. In a good spell of rainfall these barrels can collect more than 200 gallons of water. It goes without saying that these barrels do fill up rather quickly and the water can then be used for things such as a source for watering your lawn or garden, or even washing your car or windows. This will not only reduce the amount of water being wasted. The options for rain barrels range from commercially available barrels to barrels made out of materials that can be found in and around the home, or in a garden store such as Homebase.

If you want the convenience and ease of built in connectors, or for linking up to other rain barrels, you may want to use commercially made barrels. Making these barrels out of materials found around the home can mean that your barrel is cheaper, but it can take some time to make and even more time to make it work. But regardless of which type of barrel you take to using, it is extremely important to place them wherever they will collect the maximum amount of rainwater. Certain smaller islands have no ground water and have relied on collected rainwater since they were inhabited in the first place.

Posted under Gardening & Outdoors, House & Home

I know what your thinking; "What has my lifestyle got to do with being eco-friendly?"

The answer; a lot.

The way that we live our lives can be altered so that we are living in an eco friendly way, for example, why drive to work when you can walk (if your place of work is close enough of course)?

A lot of people have outside lights either by their front door, in their back gardens or possibly in both, and a lot of these people have these lights on even when they are not outside, because “they look good”, which basically means that it is a 'fashion statement'. If you're not outside, turn the lights off, they are of no benefit to you.

Driving; a lot of people enjoy driving big cars, especially in the United States, but driving a small, energy efficient car is less polluting and not to mention cheaper. This benefits both your bank account and the environment.

It is estimated that 5 to 15 per cent of household electricity consumption worldwide, is wasted on stand-by mode. Over £150 million worth of electricity is wasted each year in the UK by simply keeping televisions and DVD players on stand-by. If we could eliminate this waste, we could close over one in 20 electricity power stations in the UK.

When you go shopping, like a lot of people, I’m guessing that you use new plastic bags every time that you go. But it is estimated that nearly 750 billion plastic bags are used worldwide every year. The vast majority of these end up in landfill sites. Buying a reusable one involves a small initial financial cost, but it eliminates that mountain of used plastic bags that accumulates in the back of our cupboards. Added to this, shops such as Marks & Spencers and Aldi charge you for the use of their plastic bags and Tesco take away club-card points for every bag that you use.

Drink tap water, not bottled. The difference in taste; not alot. As a whole, the human race like a drink with them on trips to the shopping centre or in the car, but if you use the same bottle, you could eliminate the waste of plastic in your household. But the number of people that drink water from bottles, added with the number of people that DON'T reuse the bottle, and just tend to throw the bottle away, is astronomically high. Recycle these bottles, either by reusing them yourself or putting them in the recycling bins. Or better yet, drink tap water and add ice to the drink.

When we cut the grass a lot of people throw the grass clippings in the bin. But if we throw the grass clippings on the grass, and leave them to decompose, it will improve your lawn AND prevent you from adding to the waste in our landfills.

Posted under Gardening & Outdoors, How To's & Guides, Lifestyle & Fashion

Wouldn't it be awfully nice to plant a tree in stead of cutting one down in an altruistic spirit of Christmas? To know that somewhere out there, a gesture of yours that actually means something is turned into action. The NGO's have been doing it for years after all and if I may indulge a little bit in self-righteousness, last Christmas my six nephews/nieces received 1000sqm each of rain forest. And that was it, no dolls, computer-games or plastic consumerism. Most of the recipients too small to understand the significance of such a gift did not seem to mind. I felt very proud and conscientious. Nothing to do with carbon offset it is true but still, a tree-hugging whim all the same. This year the alternative feel-good of inverse Christmas tree planting has reached impressive proportions with everyone, from Formula One to manufacturers of air-conditioners sowing forests to ease the bad conscience and showcase some green washing goodwill. Fair enough, it is probably better than nothing even if no-one seems to know exactly how much CO2 one tree actually soaks up. The only thing they (the newly green companies no matter what business they are in) usually want in exchange is your signature on some contract, be it for electricity or a brand new car. Sign-up now and save the world! So once again is up to you and me, the consumers, to do our bit. Since it is at least something it is perhaps not anything to get worked up about. But then we have something that is really endearing, it is when the top ten polluters do the same. From The Guardian today:

BP, one of the world's biggest producers of carbon-emitting products [...] reported that among 100 trees planted for Andara at Alladale on 15 September 2008, the company had "allotted one tree to BP to offset carbon emissions of 0.75 tons per tree”. It’s nice to know BP is doing its bit for the climate, after all. *

Well, it is always something right? Let us put it this way, if you plant a tree it makes up for a larger percentage of your carbon footprint than that of BP when they plant one.

Merry Christmas tree planting.

* Article 'Greenwash: Carbon offset trees are not just for Christmas' by Fred Pearce in The Guardian 18 December 2008, read it here.

Leif Ahnland leif ahnland

Posted under Climate, Corporate, Environmental News, Gardening & Outdoors, How To's & Guides, Wildlife