Eco News from our listed companies, plus green/ethical news & views from around the globe - July 10
A Sensitive Subject
The last decade has seen a dramatic rise in sensitised skin and allergic reactions. This is mainly due to pollution, environmental factors and altered immunity. Most skin responses to cosmetics are a result of skin sensitisation. This happens when the ingredients penetrate the skin too quickly and the skin’s natural barrier function is impaired. Once the product is removed from the skin the reaction will subside.
In most instances of skin allergy, the skin can become itchy, inflamed, red and sore. Many main stream products made with harsh chemical ingredients and synthetic compounds will exaggerate these symptoms, so it is good to search for products with organic and natural ingredients which will help the skin function correctly and not just provide a short term fix.
Quite often you can be happily using a high street product and then, out of the blue, will start to have skin sensitivity. This could be down to a change in ingredients in the product or it could be a result of the body reacting to a combination of products being used.
Three Reasons to go Natural
We find one of the biggest reasons people turn to organic and natural products is because they have sensitive skin and are finding high street products over-fragranced and too harsh. With organic and natural products there are no harsh chemicals, no artificial fragrances, quite simply the ingredients are all chosen to be effective, gentle and help the skin work naturally.
Organic and natural brands are very transparent in their communications and include a comprehensive list of ingredients on the product, so that you can see clearly what it is made of. If you do have allergies to a certain ingredient, it is very easy to check this.
It is also the case that an individual can be allergic to a completely organic ingredient (for example, people can be sensitive to some of the Essential Oils) so it is important to be able to see at a glance what is in the product you are using.
Everybody is Different
It is also important to remember that each of us are individual and hence our skin requirements are also very specific. Just because the product is natural and organic and has worked for someone else, doesn’t mean it will work for you, so it is important to try and test the product first and find the best product for you. At Lucy Rose you can receive one-to-one advice either over the ‘phone or via email, and just to be on the safe side, there is a free sample service so that you can try first.
Sarah Heenan, natural beauty therapist and founder of online organic beauty boutique.
Bringing green ideas to life for third year at The Kent County Show
Kent based events organiser, The EcoVillage, go from strength to strength as they prepare for their third year at The Kent County Show this July. The Kent County Show runs from 16th – 18th July at The Kent County Showground, Detling, nr Maidstone.
The EcoVillage is a series of ‘events within an event’ where we use large mainstream events to promote green businesses, products and organisations to a wider audience.
The more people are encouraged to buy products and services from these businesses, the better it is for producers, workers and for our communities. If we ensure that our choices minimise our environmental impact then we give future generations greater choice also.
This year’s area will be bigger and better than ever. It will feature around 70 exhibitors within almost 7000 sq m of space. Exhibitors at The EcoVillage will range from solar energy to organic clothing, from investments and banking to wildlife days out, food to cosmetics and much more.
Featured within The EcoVillage this year are Riverford Organic, sponsors of The EcoVillage Picnic Area who will be bringing their Riverford Cooks Campaign, demonstrating simple hints and tips for beginner cooks as well as serving up seasonal taster snacks. Riverford will also be displaying their full range of affordable organic fruit and veg, freshly picked on their farm and delivered to your door.
Our traditionally styled Picnic Area, situated in front of the Kent Beekeepers Marquee is a lovely place to relax and take a break from the hustle and bustle of the Show. While you are there, why not try some fair trade, organically produced coffee from Carnival Coffee, or delicious organic, locally produced bhajis and pakoras from Mother Bhumi, who is well known at events all over Kent.
The Kidz Organic Baby Change and Feed Area was a great success in 2009, we are pleased to include this area within Market Marquee, which now includes a Baby Feed Area as well as a changing area with two eco changing stations. Also includes a green nappy disposal service provided by EcoSan.
Exhibitors include Munchy Seeds, Ecover, Port Lympne, Protect Kent, EcoSwitch, EDF Energy, Energy Saving Trust, Neals Yards Remedies, Kent Wildlife Trust, Goody Good Stuff, Recognise Magzine, Eternal Energy and Wildthing Wildlife Consultants.
Victoria Whitlock, Director of The EcoVillage, said: “We are extremely happy to be at The Kent County Show for the third year running. Despite tough economic times, it shows that environmental issues are very important to people and we can show that there are ways to protect the environment without spending huge amounts of money.”
A single-seat solar-powered plane has landed in Switzerland having flown at an altitude of 8,700m for twenty-six hours – the longest and highest flight recorded by a solar-powered aircraft.
Highly efficient electric motors and batteries allowed pilot Andre Borschberg to keep the four-engine Solar Impulse aircraft aloft throughout the hours of darkness.
The pioneering flight follows seven years of research and development and takes the Solar Impulse team one step closer towards its goal of a non-stop circumnavigation of the globe.
A spokesperson for the Environmental Transport Association (ETA) said: “The successful Solar Impulse flight is a milestone in aviation history for although it seems unlikely that this technology will find an application in passenger aircraft it highlights the need for greener transport.”
It also challenges the assumption that emissions-free perpetual flight is impossible.
The Solar Impulse has a wing span of 61m, which is comparable with a commercial airliner, but at 1,500kg the solar-powered plane weighs the same as a family car.
Bertrand Piccard, a Swiss adventurer who made history in 1999 by flying around the world non-stop in a balloon and the man behind Solar Impulse, plans to use the electric plane to cross the Atlantic in 2012.
350.org have teamed up with 10:10 to launch a new campaign aimed at getting world leaders to get personally involved with the 10:10:10 movement. Each one has a roof over their heads–in India at the Rashtrapati Bhavan; in Mexico they call it Los Pinos, and in Washington DC it’s the White House.
Those roofs need solar panels–and they are hoping they’ll go up on October 10, just as around the world people are taking practical action in their own communities.
Those solar panels won’t be enough solve climate change, obviously. But they’ll send a strong symbolic message about what the future demands-and maybe our leaders will see how easy it is to start down a greener path.
If they hammer in a solar panel, perhaps they’ll feel more committed to hammering out some clean energy legislation.
So while you’re rounding up your neighbors for your own 10:10:10 action, invite the person in charge of your nation to join you on that day. Remind them that one answer to our greatest crisis is directly above their heads. Tell them to roll up their sleeves and get to work!
President Mohammed Nasheed of the Maldives has confirmed he’ll be up on his roof on 10/10/10, installing a solar array. Could Cameron be next?
EcoChic Collection celebrates ethical jewellery for Brides to Be
With the wedding season in full swing, EcoChic Boutique’s ethical jewellery collection is celebrating beauty on the inside, as well as the outside. To the joyous smiles of loved ones, couples up and down the country are cementing their love with the wedding band. EcoChic Boutique offers a contemporary range of fair trade jewellery for brides, grooms and wedding guests.
Deborah, Creative Director of EcoChic Collection said,” Not everyone is aware of the destruction behind gold and precious stone mining. We want to educate the consumer as well as inspire, which is why we created our ethical jewellery range, collaborating with the worlds most inspired ethical jewellery designers. Jewellery is beautiful, but you have to question just how beautiful it really is, by asking where it came from.”
The story behind the world’s mining of precious metals and gemstones is not as pretty as the jewellery it creates. If it is not ethically produced or Fair Trade, jewellery production can cause wide scale exploitation to miners as well as the surrounding environment.
“Toxic chemicals such as mercury and cyanide are used in large quantities to help extract gold from the ground and these can leach into the local water and soil. The scars from open pit mining are so extensive they can be seen from space. It’s incredibly destructive to the environment”, says Deborah.
Socially, the mining of gold and precious stones also has repercussions on local communities. Miners can experience as long as four months spent working underground in horrendous and cramped conditions in return for a meagre wage, barely sufficient to meet basic living costs. With no safety equipment, prolonged exposure to chemicals causes many health problems. Global Witness has reported that up to a million child labourers are used in the jewellery industry.
Deborah says “Our aim is to limit the damage and social injustice that can lie in the wake of something as beautiful and pure as a wedding band. This is why we are so passionate about ethical jewellery and making people aware that they do have this choice to buy jewellery made by co-operatively run gold mines where producers are paid fair wages. We applaud this marriage of ethics and aesthetics.”
With the launch of the Fair Trade Gold Standard earlier this year, the framework for an ethical and robust jewellery supply chain now exists.
Cream of the County hand & nail lotion just launched from Natural Empathy
Celebrate England with a brand new, beautiful, luxurious lotion for hands and nails from Natural Empathy. Their new “gallopingly good” Cream of the County lotion combines pure English-grown cold-pressed rape seed oil with a special blend of organic essential oils to moisturise and condition summer hands.
Natural Empathy, recently heralded by the Mail on Sunday YOU magazine as one of Britain’s top ten emerging British brands, is passionate about keeping it British – formulating and manufacturing all their products as locally and sustainably as possible, with a sharp focus on provenance.
Cream of the County is quintessentially English – evoking memories of summer cricket afternoons, horse trials, tea and strawberries on the lawn and the rolling green of the English countryside.
Deeply moisturising, the lotion is perfect for soothing gardeners’, horse lovers’ and all hard working hands. The William Morris themed packaging looks stunning on the bathroom or washroom shelf, giving any home that English country house feel.
This rich, rejuvenating lotion containing cold-pressed rape seed oil and aloe vera is enriched with organic essential oils jasmine, English lavender and chamomile, as well as bergamot, cabreuva, coriander, cedarwood, geranium, neroli, patchouli, myrrh, rose and galbanum, all chosen for their various restorative and calming properties.
The Natural Empathy range’s signature cold pressed extra virgin moisturising oil is grown exclusively in Northumberland. Britain’s superior answer to olive oil, rape seed oil is one of the most natural and healthy oils in existence – richer and more nutritive, easily absorbed and wonderfully softening.
This paraben free, cruelty free, synthetic free, natural beauty product is made lovingly in small batches and is suitable for even sensitive skin.
The Natural Empathy range is produced by the Stuckey family who live in Northumberland close to the Yellow Fields farm where the main and key ingredient, rape seed oil, is grown and pressed for the products.
The entire product range including skincare, haircare, bodycare, men’s range and eco candles is available online
Friends of the Earth’s Food Chain campaign has taken a massive step forward with the introduction of a new meat and dairy Bill in Parliament.
Robert Flello, Labour MP for Stoke-on-Trent South, was the second name pulled out of the hat in the annual Private Members’ Ballot on 10 June. Being selected so near the top of the ballot means he has a real chance of getting his Bill passed into law.
The Bill – based on the Sustainable Livestock Bill – will aim to reduce British meat and dairy factory farms’ dependence on animal feed grown in South America.
Wildlife and rainforests are destroyed so that these feeds – such as soy – can be grown. This destruction also accelerates climate change.
The proposed new law commits the Government to action to limit the wildlife and rainforest destruction caused by animal feeds. It will also help UK farmers to thrive and ensure they are not squeezed by big business farming.
Robert Flello said:’ I was shocked to find out just how much a Sunday roast can cost our planet under the factory farming system. I am determined to put this right by working with Friends of the Earth and other MPs across the House to lead the drive for planet-friendly farming that doesn’t destroy wildlife, rainforests and our climate. I hope the people of Stoke-on-Trent will join me in fixing the food chain once and for all.’
More than 30,000 people have contacted their MP to demand a fix to the broken food chain. And this widespread support is reflected in Parliament where more than 160 of current MPs have backed the campaign.
For the last few weeks Mr Flello’s constituents and those of all the MPs in the Ballot have been urging their MP to take up this Bill.
With such momentum behind it, this groundbreaking new Bill stands a great chance of becoming law and forcing real action to change the deal behind your meal.
But it’s not all over – our job now is to make sure the Bill becomes law.
The Redwood Wholefood Company, the multi-award winning ethical vegan food firm owned by charity and animal rights campaigner Heather Mills, has been awarded kosher certification for its range of 100% natural plant-based products.
Heather Mills said she was absolutely delighted that members of the Jewish community and her many Orthodox Jewish friends would now be able to enjoy Redwood’s animal-free foods. “We sought certification because we wanted our vegan foods to be available to everyone, whatever their faith,” she said.
Redwood, which was recently named the UK’s most ethical vegetarian foods supplier for the fifth year running, secured the certification from the Manchester Beth Din, one of the leading kosher certifying agencies in Europe.
It is believed to be one of the first times that a UK manufacturer of vegetarian and vegan products has undergone the kosher certification process, which took nearly a year to complete.
Among the many animal-free foods produced by Redwood are alternatives to meat in ‘beef’, ‘turkey’ and ‘chicken’ styles, fishless ‘fish’ and dairy-free ‘cheeses’. All are sold through supermarkets and health shops in the UK under the Cheatin’, Vegideli and Cheezly brand names. In the US, they are sold under the VBites name.
Everything in the range is made from 100% natural plant-based ingredients so free from animal ingredients and derivatives as well as cholesterol, artificial colours/preservatives, lactose, hydrogenated fats and GMOs.
“At Redwood, we produce what we believe is some of the best natural food in the world,” said Heather Mills. “Achieving kosher certification is an endorsement of the care and attention we give to the sourcing of ingredients and to the manufacturing of our products.”
In a recent consumer survey of adults who purchase kosher food, research group Mintel found that the main reason people buy kosher is for food quality (62%). The second most common reason is “general healthfulness” (51%) and the third is food safety (34%). In contrast, just 14% of respondents who say they buy kosher food do so because they follow kosher religious rules.
