It is just about that time – Christmas lights are being switched on in towns and cities ready for the festive season. Beautiful as they are (except the really tacky ones!), they raise a problem – how do you justify all that electricity in a world concerned about carbon footprints and power saving?
Last year Carnaby Street, in Central London,took a new approach and commissioned decorations which use surrounding street lighting for their ‘glitter’.
Giant paper chains covered in highly reflective holographic foils, use the existing street uplighters, to produce colour changing reflective effects. This way they don’t have to be plugged in and therefore do not use any extra electricity.
The holographic surfaces also function in sunlight so also provide an illuminated effect during the day saving even more power.
this year designer Paul Dart wanted to remind people of the magic and excitement of snow falling and demonstrate how dramatically snow can change our day-to-day experience of our surroundings.
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Each snowflake and snowman is lit by the existing Carnaby building up-lighters, making this an eco-friendly festive experience
Paul Dart, designer from James Glancy Designs, created this year's Carnaby Christmas Decorations.
Paul says, "The inspiration for this year's decorations came from the childhood fantasy of a white Christmas and the delight in creating snowmen from the first fall of snow.
"By filling Carnaby with thousands of snowflakes I want to remind people of the magic and excitement of snow falling and demonstrate how dramatically snow can change our day-to-day experience of our surroundings."
For more details visit Visit London
Eco-friendly Christmas Lights in Carnaby
Eco Halloween?
You can still have fun and be more eco friendly at Halloween.
The UK Energy Watch has put together a few timely tips to help you – simple steps which will not only reduce the things you throw in your bin but also help your finances!
For example, try to avoid throwaway costumes or ones which the kids grow out of before next year. Instead, make your own from old clothes or try charity shops.
If you go trick-or-treating, use a re-usable container for the treats such as a cloth bag, decorated lunch box or upside down hat.
If you are hosting a Halloween party, try to make your own party food or buy products with minimal packaging. For decorations, try making your own by recycling waste products (the children will love this anyway) or buy ones which can be re-used again in the future.
More ideas can be found at www.uk-energy-saving.com
Married to Carbon Reduction
Here is part of the article:
Never mind a white wedding - many couples now want to turn their big day green and Britain's £5.5 billion wedding industry is cashing in.. - it is served almost exclusively by small businesses.
The Green Union website pulls together dozens of such small suppliers, from marquee hire firms to cake makers. Another site Eco-Friendly Weddings offers links to such things as biodegradable tableware and recycled stationery.
Now couples are able to calculate the environmental footprint of their nuptials with the aim of creating a zeo-carbon event. The online calculator allows planners to input the number of guests, any flights and hotel stays involved, plus car hire and mileage estimates. It then tots up the carbon emissions generated and gives users the options of buying carbon offsets through the website.
Other companies are offering green honeymoons for thos who don't want to undo all the good work they have done on the big day. Go Differently offers alternative honeymoons where newlyweds can combine short-term volunteer activities in developing countries, presumable along more traditional romantic activities.
Unpackaged has got some great Easter Ideas
Today I received a newsletter from Unpackaged, a wonderful shop in London which would be worth a visit if you are in the area.
To reduce on packaging Catherine suggests the following:
Easter Eggs
A lovely selection of Montezuma’s Giant Organic Easter Eggs in three varieties: dark, milk and white chocolate, wrapped in just a very thin film. The wrapper is made from corn based starch that is sustainable and annually renewable and the Tag is made from sustainable box board certified by the FSC and printed with vegetable inks and a water based emulsion. They’ll probably go quite fast so do email if you would like us to reserve you one - £9.99 each [please state which type].
Papier Maché Eggs
For those who would rather make their own, there is a recipe here for making a papier maché egg [third recipe down]. So, make and decorate your own egg and bring it in to fill with our lovely selection of organic loose goodies: Montezuma truffles [dark chocolate and vanilla or salted caramel], chocolate buttons, fudge, sweets and/ or the odd healthy nut! If you bring your homemade egg [or a picture of it on your phone!], we’ll give you 10% off whatever you want to fill it with!
Easter
We also have wonderful Easter biscuits from the Lavender Bakery – chocolate and vanilla bunnies, eggs and chicks which you can also decorate at home.
Best wishes,Catherine
Catherine Conway
Unpackaged
at the old Lloyd's Dairy
42 Amwell Street
London
EC1R 1XT
t. 020 7713 8368
w. http://www.beunpackaged.com/
Opening Hours: Monday - Friday 10am - 7pm, Saturday 10am - 6pm
***Winner of the 2008 Green Innovation Award (Islington Council Giant Green Awards)
*** Runner Up in the Jupiter Big Idea category of the Observer Ethical Awards 2008.
Summer Gathering a Hit
If you were in the West Bridgford area of Nottingham on Saturday you will have seen just how successful the Summer Gathering was, despite the drizzle.
Hundreds of local people turned out to wander round the huge variety of community, sustainable, eco and green stalls. So why are we mentioning it here? Well, apart from being able to get a taste of ‘green’ and eco projects it is worth shouting about because it was organised by a single individual.
So many events are corporate or commercial, organised by masses of people. It makes it difficult to imagine that you could ever do-it-yourself. But you can.
The West Bridgford Summer Gathering was organised by one local individual (the EcoList’s Karina Wells) because she wanted to find a way of celebrating ‘the local community’ and offering visitors a chance to see that there are groups and individuals in the area doing some brilliant (and sustainable) things. Obviously, a lot of people helped out on the day, but this is a clear demonstration that you don’t have to wait for your local council to organise something like this - you can celebrate, inform and do-it-yourself.
Have a look at the website for a list of all the people who took part on Saturday and, if you are thinking of organising something like this yourself, get in touch with Karina (via the EcoList) for some tips and advice.
Happy first Birthday! It's Party Time - Can it be done with the environment in mind?
We hope that over the last year you have found our website useful and inspiring and that you will continue to sign up and spread the word to your friends and family.
Andy and I have enjoyed the researching of all the eco information available and learnt a lot in the process.
I feel it is time to celebrate in Eco Style without too much waste creation but still having fun. I have managed to do it during our New Year's Ceilidh and I am sure we can do it for our first birthday party!
At the New Years Party we used disposable ware as the guest list was over 100 people. If there only would have been a dozen or so people, we would have used normal crockery but I wanted to enjoy the party rather than washing up most of the early hours of the morning.
Having gone on the web I found a brilliant company who supplied me with biodegradable cutlery, crockery, glasses, plates and recycled napkins. The party turned out great. Fred's Folk, the ceilidh band got us all in the happy party mood. Plenty of food and refreshments and the 'aftermath' was not bad at all.
I had a compost bin at the ready so that after the party the cassava plates, left over food and napkins ended up in the compost bin and the rest was easily recycled. For 100 guests we did not even fill a black sack of waste that ended up in the grey bin.
The biodegradable ware became a talking point with the guests, they were interested and liked the feel of the corn starch cutlery. When it came to the tidying up, I can truly say that EVERY ONE made an effort to separate their waste in a responsible way. I spoke to a representative of the company, who told me that the cutlery could be washed (in the dishwasher if needed) up to 6 times before the quality was no longer acceptable. Although the goods were not cheap, using it 6 times before disposing of it, became a great deal.
For more information see: http://www.vegware.co.uk/products.html
The balloons were biodegradable too, they came from: http://www.bestballoons.co.uk/ having said that, putting up some bunting is as colourful and I believe better for the environment. It is colourful and can be used again and again, unlike balloons which won't last for more than a couple of days.
Instead of confetti we used dried rose petals that some of our friends collected over the year.
Drinks for our Eco List birthday party will be home made Elderflower cordial made from Elderflowers from the Shared Garden (http://www.sharedgarden.co.uk/) with sparkling water.
Sophie Grigson's elderflower cordial
20 heads of elderflower
1.8kg sugar
1.2 litres water
2 un-waxed lemons
75g citric acid
1. Shake elderflowers to get rid of insects and place in large bowl
2. Put sugar into pan with water. Bring to the boil, stirring until sugar has dissolved completely.
3. While sugar syrup is heating, pare zest of lemons off in wide strips and toss into the bowl with the elderflowers. Slice lemons, discard ends and add slices to the bowl. Pour over the boiling syrup and then stir in the citric acid. Cover with a cloth and leave at room temperature for 24 hours.
4. Next day strain cordial through a sieve lined with muslin (or a new j-cloth rinsed in boiling water) and pour into thoroughly cleaned glass or plastic bottles.
Cheers!
Much love from Andy and Karina
Eco weddings by Green Union
It is that time of year again when thousands of couples will be getting married, a time of planning and making many choices. For those who are environmentally conscious 
GreenUnion.co.uk could be just what they are looking for. They provide a comprehensive planning and resource guide offering stylish fair trade, green, organic, local and low impact alternatives.
Whether you're a novice recycler, an environmentalist, or somewhere in between, this site will help you make the choices that will go a long way towards preserving our planet. Search their list of carefully screened partners for products and services to plan a more sustainable celebration.
The cost of the average single wedding in the UK is now estimated at just over a shocking £19,000 and over 260,000 couples planning to marry in 2008 will spend a total of at least £4.6 billion on their weddings.
GreenUnion.co.uk encourage people to think about their plans in terms of true cost to both the environment and themselves, but when planning a green wedding many couples are frustrated by the difficulty of sourcing ethical suppliers and products that reflect their values.
By bringing innovative, unique and environmentally aware choices to you, they hope more weddings will tread lightly on the planet and serve as a great green start for newlyweds.
"GreenUnion is committed to offering brides, grooms, their families and friends a wide choice of products and services which help to create wonderful celebrations that won't cost the earth."
From cakes to carriages, and hats to honeymoons, their community of carefully screened partners offers everything you need for a unique, contemporary and meaningful wedding. For more information visit: www.greenunion.co.uk
Chocolate Valentine
And, continuing the theme – the Ethical Superstore has a whole page of chocolate gifts in case your Valentine has a sweet tooth and you fancy giving them something ethically tasty!
Items range from Fairtrade Mini Chocolate selection boxes to Organic Peanut Butter Truffle Hearts. There has to be something here that works for you, and them!!
www.ethicalsuperstore.com
