Archive for September, 2008

Foggy autumn morning by James Jordan

The 22nd of September is the Autumn equinox, which means that the nights are now longer than the days. Here are some of our favourite things to see and do now that the nights are drawing in…

Read the rest of Autumn at Ethical Superstore »

Avoid this! Walk to work. Or go by bike!

That’s right, today’s the day to leave your car in the garage and hop onto your bike, suss out public transport in your area, or stretch those legs in order to get to school, college or work.

Read the rest of Go Green – It’s World Carfree Day »

Footprints by Andy_5322

We’ve all heard the phrase ‘Carbon Footprint’, and I’m pretty sure most of us will know that it would be a good thing for our planet if we could each reduce our individual footprint.

But what does that involve? How does one go about reducing something that is difficult to ascertain?

Well, having read a great article on the Times Online by eco columnist Donnachadh McCarthy, I’m pleased to see that we now have a National Carbon Footprint Day. So, on October 2^nd every year we will now be prompted to take readings of our ‘Eco High 5’s’ to calculate your carbon footprint with a view to reducing it year on year.

Head on over to the official National Carbon Footprint Day website to pledge your support and find out more. . .

(Image: Andy_5322)

A plane. Yesterday.

How Ethical’s post on Worn Again designers recycled bags posed the question of what exactly we should be doing with old and disused aeroplanes; a concern which became even more poignant with the recent collapse of the holiday company XL, following swiftly in Zoom’s vapour trail.

Read the rest of A Jumbo Recycling Effort »

See photo credit at the bottom of this post.

With London Fashion Week kicking off today, the beautiful, the big, the brash and the bold will be amassing in the capital, ready to strut their stuff.

Read the rest of Ethical fashion, fashionable ethics… »

OLD AEROPLANE SEATS, USED MILITARY MATERIALS AND DISCARDED GLASTONBURY TENTS…

You’d be excused for thinking that these would be the kind of items you’d see in a Junk Shop or even at the dump, however the innovative thinkers at Worn Again have snatched up this array of random items, combined them with even more wacky bits of waste, and seen them as an opportunity!

Read the rest of Worn Again – Recycled Fashion »

As part of our Organic Fortnight Special (6-21 September), Sophie Grigson talks to Ethical Superstore about her solution to cooking organically in times of the credit-crunch, why she loves Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and her long-term devotion to organics.

Ethical Superstore: What first switched you on to organic food?
Sophie Grigson: I’ve always had an interest in organic farming systems but it became more relevant when I had children. You have a huge responsibility to do the best and it made sense to give my children food that was as pure and untainted by chemicals as possible. But as I got to know more, the biggest motivation became protecting our countryside – my children don’t see the diversity of birds and flowers that I saw as a child – and conserving our global environment.

Read the rest of Ethical Superstore meets Sophie Grigson »

With the schools starting up again this week and September well and truly under way, it’s time for us all to start thinking about Autumn. For those amongst us who love Autumnal colours and the crunch of fallen leaves this is all very well, but what about the rest of us who need to stock up our memories of summer for the dark days to come…?

Image via Flickr: Anataman

The BBC tells us that this August has been the gloomiest on record since UK records began, which makes it the least summery summer for at least 242 years – there hasn’t been an August with less sunbathing on the cards since the reign of George III – if not earlier!

If this kind of news doesn’t lead to thoughts about thoughts about climate change then I don’t know what will. DEFRA describes climate change as the ‘greatest environmental challenge facing the world today”, and although we don’t appear to be seeing the direct effects of global warming in the mercury of our thermometers, with Arctic ice melt becoming an increasingly serious issue, there are other problems in the offing.

So it’s time to for everyone to start taking notice of their carbon footprint: buy eco-friendly, use energy efficient gadgets and pay carbon offsets if and when you can.

To big up this year’s Organic Fortnight (6-21 September), Director of the Soil Association, Patrick Holden, talks to Ethical Superstore about Prince Charles, “the Lidl effect” and whether Britain can go ‘organic only’.

Prince Charles recently spoke out about GMOs – is he a good ambassador for the organic movement?
Patrick Holden: All over the world he is regarded as a global leader for sustainable agriculture. He is deeply committed to do everything he can to support a different approach to the current system – one that uses huge amounts of fossil fuels and quite simply won’t work in 10 or 20 years time. He is aware of that and I think he shows great courage in speaking up about issues such as GMOs, at the risk of controversy and I admire him for that. So yes, I think he is a great ambassador for the movement and long may it remain so.

Read the rest of Organic Fortnight with Patrick Holden »