Posts by John

With pancake day approaching fast I wanted to try my hand at making the most ethical pancake I could.

I’d read that it was possible to make perfectly good pancakes without eggs or even milk! So I thought I’d give it a try.  What follows is a vegan pancake recipe which, it’s fair to say raised a few eyebrows around the office.

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comedian Elvis McGonagall will be there

To celebrate the art of coffee growing, Cafédirect, one of the biggest names in Fairtrade, is staging the first ever TasteFair – nine days of eco-lifestyle events to stimulate the senses during Fairtrade Fortnight at Whole Foods Market, Kensington High Street, London.

TasteFair will run from 21st February – 1st March and will feature an impressive line-up of some of the UK’s best-known ‘eco’ celebrities and experts including Wayne Hemingway and Oliver Heath. There will also be food tastings, music evenings, story time readings, coffee classes and a specially created photographic exhibition tracing the incredible journey of coffee.

Read the rest of Cafédirect to stage the first ever TasteFair »

I’ve been avoiding the news of late. I realised I needed to take a serious time out from it last week when I caught myself day dreaming of launching a cheap and nourishing breakfast cereal which I’d call ‘Credit Crunch’.

Last night though, I thought I’d risk a glimpse – perhaps the sacking of Luiz Filipe Scolari by Chelsea (and let’s not forget Portsmouth’s dismissal of Tony Adams too) might provide a little colour in the monochrome news diet.

I have to say I was flabbergasted, not by (or perhaps that should be not only by) Scolari’s reported pay out, but by a report from Northern Ireland.  Predictably it involved two words, each starting with C – but this time they represented a different global threat – Climate Change.

It would seem that Environment Minister, Sammy Wilson has banned government television adverts in Northern Ireland warning of the effects of climate change.

The DUP man said he was not prepared to allow “insidious New Labour propaganda” about the impact of climate change which would have been screened on UTV.

Read the rest of Am I alone? »

Today is Groundhog Day, the annual holiday celebrated in the United States and Canada on which, it is said, if a groundhog emerges from its burrow and fails to see its shadow because the weather is cloudy, winter will soon end. If on the other hand, it is sunny and the groundhog sees its shadow, the groundhog will supposedly retreat into its burrow, and winter will continue for six more weeks.  Judging by the evidence outside my window I’m guessing that it beat a hasty retreat!

This side of the pond mention of ‘Groundhog  Day’ most likely conjures the memory of the 1993 comedy film starring Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell.  In the film, Murray plays Phil Connors, an egocentric TV weatherman who, during his most hated assignment covering the annual Groundhog Day event in Punxsutawney, finds himself repeating the same day over and over again.

Perhaps it’s a testament to the quality of the film, that despite February 2nd not been recognised as either a weather predictor or public holiday in the UK, the phrase “Groundhog Day” has entered common use in our vocabulary to describe an unpleasant situation that continually repeats, or at least seems to, until one finds a way to work through it.
Making my way (extremely slowly) through blizzard conditions to the office I found myself feeling very disgruntled by a billboard advertising  Easter eggs. 

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please sir can I have some more?

Maybe it’s just me, perhaps I’m somewhat unusual in this respect, but I tend to be a little sceptical of simple ideas. I really should qualify that, I’m lacking in confidence when they are my simple ideas.  With an almost alarming regularity I find it easier to convince myself that it won’t work rather than trying it and seeing what happens.  Not so this week when I took the plunge and initiated the Ethical-SOUPer Store challenge.

My basic idea was to try and beat the credit crunch by sharing an ethical lunch.

Lately I’ve found myself thinking about how much money and time I spend on lunch.  Possibly it’s the current media deluge on all matters financial, or the fact that every day I pass a poster for Delia’s Frugal Food.  Maybe it’s that it’s so cold to venture out and wait in a queue, and in my case always get stuck behind that person. Let’s face it in the name of ‘convenience’ (the irony of this term assaults me as I type it) we can pay an inflated price for food which just doesn’t come close to that which we know we’re capable of making for ourselves.  So I talked myself out of talking myself out of it and sent a message to all of our staff to see if I could persuade 4 others to join me in each taking a day of the week and making soup for each other. (Amazingly within 10 minutes I had four co-conspirators).

Read the rest of Eat well, stress less with Ethical-SOUP-erStore »

tie them anywhere, keep for longer than a single day

With so many ‘World Days’ littering the calendar it’s increasingly easy to lose focus on some of the really important ones.

Whilst you may be forgiven for not being in tune with World Television Day (21^st November), nodding off during World Sleep Day (March 21^st) or resisting the urge to confuse everyone you chat to on International Talk like a Pirate Day (September 19^th) let’s give some serious attention to World AIDS day.

The number of people living with HIV continues to rise in every part of our world – including in the UK. There are now an estimated 35 million people living with HIV worldwide and 80,000 people living with HIV in the UK. For the last 15 years the red ribbon has been the international symbol of HIV. Wearing a red ribbon is a great way to raise awareness about HIV as well as to break down stigma and prejudice, so make sure you wear one with pride this World AIDS Day.

There is more that we can do. As well as showing our support with the red ribbon today we can choose, as consumers, to place our spending behind products and organisations which make a difference too. Recently at Ethical Superstore we began to stock products from Global Ethics – the creators of two pioneering and innovative charity-funding ventures; One Water and One Condoms
They help communities in Africa who don’t have clean water supplies or are suffering due to the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

All profits from the One Condoms are used to fund HIV projects in Africa. The profits are used to fund Voluntary Counselling & Testing outreach clinics – teams of nurses and counsellors are taken out to rural communities to help educate and raise awareness of HIV and HIV-related issues as well as testing for HIV.

I’m sure there are many other ways to show practical support too. I’m not proposing that we start a campaign for a ‘World Day of thinking more carefully about the impact of what we buy’ but it is an idea we should try, often.

The wetter the better?

I recently challenged myself to ‘Go One Better’  – to conduct an examination of my lifestyle and identify simple improvements which I could make, and more importantly stick to, which will make a difference.  I began with a commitment to eliminate at least one regular car journey and replace it by cycling.  Given the title of this post you could be forgiven for thinking that I’m going to attempt a cheerful defence of pedalling in the rain, not so.
With all going well with the cycling it was time to turn my attention to other things.  Once you start to think about ‘going one better ‘the problem is not so much what to tackle, but where to start.  I decided to start by examining my daily routine, working from morning onwards.
To say I’m not a morning person doesn’t even come close.  According to my family I don’t wake up – I defrost.  Putting myself in the microwave isn’t an option (though it’s a tempting proposition for family I suspect) so I tend to thaw out in the shower.  I’d always resented the hammering on the bathroom door and pleas for speed, evidence of their tendency toward exaggeration.  ‘You always take forever’ being conclusive proof of their impatience, as I was never in longer than a couple of minutes.
I’m probably not alone in the belief that showering is guilt free

Read the rest of Going One Wetter! »

and the winner is...

The trouble with arguing with myself is whilst I often win, I almost certainly lose too.
This morning’s argument was simple, bike or car.
The bike has much to recommend it; I’d arrive at work more alert and energised.  I’d have saved on the cost of fuel, both in terms of cash and environmental impact.  I’d have been able to smile at the folk at the bus stop without worrying about looking smug.  My heart would thank me in the coming years and I’d hopefully reduce the amount of fabric I’d someday be forced to consume.
The car however offers protection from the elements (and potentially from other, less conscientious, road users) and, until recently at least, some entertainment too.  I say until recently not because the car radio has malfunctioned, or been stolen, but simply because I’ve lost the will to tune in.  The constant cycle of credit crunch assessment rotated with outrage over licence payers’ money squandered on a poor excuse for comedy leaves me cold.

Read the rest of Go One Better! »

via

No matter what kind of music you listen to, it makes your mood better.

That’s a pretty bold claim but it is supported by a study from Penn State University, Altoona.

The researchers -Valerie N. Stratton, PhD (teaches psychology), and Annette H. Zalanowski, (teaches Music) studied their students’ moods in response to music.

The students kept two-week music-listening diaries and reported their moods before and after each musical episode. The results appear in a 2003 issue of Psychology and Education: An Interdisciplinary Journal. 2003; vol 40: pp 1-11.

“Not only did our sample of students report more positive emotions after listening to music, but their already positive emotions were intensified by listening to music,” Stratton .

Genre isn’t a factor, it didn’t matter whether the students listened to rock/pop, soft rock/easy listening, oldies, classical, or new-age music. Context also didn’t seem to matter as whether the music was played during an activity – such as dressing or driving – or whether it was played while socialising.

With such a wide range of aural therapy available to me, why then can’t I find a suitable soundtrack to get me ready for the weekend? 

Is it because, as Morrisey put it ‘the music that they constantly play it says nothing to me about my life.’ (Panic, The Smiths)

Considering that climate change is probably the biggest threat we as the human race face, and it’s hard to escape the logic that it’s our way of conducting our lives that is exacerbating the problem, it’s pretty astounding that there just aren’t more artists out there that are championing issues and provoking us to change our ways. Or are there?

Whilst trying to decide it struck me that the track names which scrolled through my i-tunes library did, in title at least, offer some promise.

So here are my top 5 tunes to inspire us…

1. (the answer my friend is) Blowin’ in the wind – Bob Dylan
2. (I would walk) 500 Miles – The Proclaimers
3. Pure Shores – All Saints
4. Get off My Cloud – The Rolling Stones
5. Chasing Cars – Snow Patrol

I’m sure there are plenty more out there.  I’d love to hear yours!

Perhaps there’s potential to produce a chart of warning tunes too? 

The Smith’s classic ‘There is a Light that Never goes Out’ could serve as a stark reminder…

Find out more about the Trevor Baylis wind-up bike lights.

This product reminded me vividly of a creative writing assignment back in school. The title intrigued me and, for once, I couldn’t wait to get stuck into it! (Which as my parents would confirm was not far short of miraculous.) However having set the scene, and began weaving the fabric of a, if I do say so myself, devastating plot, for some reason which now escapes me I ran out of either momentum or time and abruptly ended the fledgling classic with the classic ‘then i woke up and it had all been a dream…’

I commute everyday by bike and have on more than one occasion been caught short with my lamp batteries giving up the fight before journeys end. So owning some lights which will always be ready to ride after a few minutes’ winding is definitely appealing. Using the lamps is dead simple. Unfold the light’s crank from underneath, and then wind it up vigorously. These lights claim to give 90 minutes’ light for one minute’s winding — but that’s 90 minutes of the power-saving one LED mode, which is just too dim for the road. For the full-power three LED mode, I dismounted and re-wound after 20 minutes – not that the lamp had totally disappeared but I wasn’t happy with the level of illumination provided. A 3 LED flashing mode is also an option.

Where this product falls into ‘it had all been a dream’ crummy territory is the mounts for the lights – these are awful! You have to wind them tight, which just doesn’t work well – I inadvertently snapped one of the mounts (front) and I was being pretty careful with it. The back bracket I had to resort to mounting on the angled part of the frame as I couldn’t get it around my seat post securely. Installation’s is a one-time thing , so if your blessed with patience and dexterity you might not find this an issue. It’s worth noting that the way the lights slide on and off their mounts is somewhat fiddly (well it is in the dark when you’ve removed them for an additional wind) but once in place they are pretty stable.

NB No mounting instructions were included in the packaging, which incidentally, I was disappointed to note didn’t mention Trevor Baylis anywhere, AND was a somewhat un-environmentally friendly looking plastic blister pack…

In the final analysis the lights themselves are simple and relatively effective (though unlikely to tempt moths to swarm you), and competitively priced – and would be a welcome addition to any frame as a secondary / emergency set. However, for me at least, the design and ‘quirky’ functionality of the mounts undermines this product. I really wanted to score this item higher but just can’t bring myself to.

Trevor Baylis bike lamps are available to buy from Ethical Superstore, but don’t say we didn’t warn you.

Trevor Baylis Bike Lights – Ethical Superstore

What we’re hoping for in version 2.0:

• Improved bracket design
• Rubberised design to absorb the knocks
• Brighter optics
• Optional wearable bracket so that you can mount the lamp onto a rucksack or jacket
• Instructions

Also available as a twin pack – includes front and rear torches with quick release clamps. Trevor Baylis Micro-Bike Torch Front & Rear Twin Pack.