We’re beavering away here at Ethical Superstore HQ, preparing for the Summer and searching for loads of new eco products to list. Check out our festivals favourites to see what we’ve found.
One particular brand we found is Nilaqua, who have tackled the question of how to stay clean when there’s not much water about. People don’t often think about the environmental impact water has at festivals. In addition to the diesel fumes/transport pollution of using tankers, the water has to be heated (usually with gas burners or generators) you have to dig holes in the ground for waste, you need chemicals to purify and prevent disease, then you have to collect the grey water and tanker it away again. Overall, festival showers are a large cost and detriment to the environment.
Nilaqua is kind and gentle to the skin and contains no parabens or alcohol. Simply apply the liquid directly to the hair or body, massage to lift dirt and grease, then remove by thoroughly towel drying! These alcohol free goodies are not only far better for the environment than washing with water but they save queuing, give you a bit of privacy and of course they leave you sparkling!
We have Waterless Body Wash and Shampoo in handy 200ml or handbag (or man-bag!) sized 65ml bottles. Both are great for refreshing after a day moshing and removing the inevitable mud-pack treatment that is synonymous with British summer festivals to leave you ready to rock another day. There’s also a convenient Hand Sanitiser to keep your hands clean germ-free on the go!
Check out this video and see how easily Nilaqua cleans with absolutely no water involved.
Wednesday, 19th September 2012 – Stadium of Light, Sunderland
Our Friends at Daisy Green Media and Events have partnered with Climate North East to host The Big Eco show – a large-scale event taking place on 19 September at the Stadium of Light in Sunderland.
North East England is the most dynamic and exciting entrepreneurial region in the UK, and undoubtedly is leading the way on identifying and exploiting the extensive opportunities that tackling and responding to climate change presents.
This large-scale event will bring together some of these fantastic businesses and showcase the wide range of activity taking place across the region celebrating our ambitious, diverse and thriving business community who are contributing to our growing low-carbon and climate resilient economy.
The weather has been absolutely atrocious for weeks now. If, like me, you are planning a last minute holiday somewhere a little warmer (and far less wet) you’ll be dragging out your suitcase and checking out last year’s holiday togs.
Buying clothes made to last, is a great way to maintain a more ethical wardrobe, but a couple of new purchases specifically for my jollies, always gets me a little excited!
Spring is here and the warmth of the sun is creeping into the nests of hedgehogs across the country and waking them up from a long hibernation!
They will be in desperate need of food and water as soon as they emerge, as they urgently need to replenish lost fat reserves in time for the breeding season. Offering meat based pet food and fresh water will help at the same time as encouraging them into your garden. This is especially important this year following promises of early heat waves! Please take care when tidying up the garden after winter, many hedgehogs suffer terrible injuries every year from strimmers, garden forks, mowers, etc.
Fay Vass, Chief Executive of the British Hedgehog Preservation Society offers this advice. “If you see a hedgehog staggering as if he is drunk, or ‘sunbathing’ please be aware that he is actually very ill as both of these signs point to him being hypothermic. He should be picked up using gardening gloves and taken indoors in a high sided cardboard box. Pop a wrapped hot water bottle in with him as well as an old towel for him to hide under. Offer meat based pet food and fresh water and make sure the hot water bottle stays warm. Then call the Society on 01584 890 801 for further advice and the number of a local rehabilitator.”
The British Hedgehog Preservation Society has produced a leaflet called ‘Gardening “with” Hedgehogs’ for those wishing to help prickly garden visitors. Membership of BHPS costs just £7.50 per year for one person. For your free leaflet, or membership information, see www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk or send an A5 sae to BHPS Gardening, Hedgehog House, Dhustone, Ludlow, SY8 3PL.
To view all products on Ethical Superstore relating to hedgehogs, click here.
I love the summer holidays. It offers a little time to relax and unwind. It allows a little more time to spend with the kids. How we love those long blissful days of chilling out and engaging in fun activities. At least that’s the theory.
National Trust Pond Dipping Kit
Sometimes the actual experience is a little different. Not enough time to squeeze everything in and yet the kids seem bored before the day has even started. Everyone wants to do something different. And no one wants to do anything that doesn’t cost a fortune. It hardly feels like the “joys of family life” that I signed up for.
So once Harry Potter has been watched and the actual two weeks away has been taken – then what? Some days we will reach for the trusty National Trust membership card and take a trip to North East England jewels like Gibside or the Souter Lighthouse but I am hoping that this year the words “National Trust” will come to mean more than a quick dash round a stately home followed by spending a small fortune in the cafe and gift shop!
The new National Trust range we have just listed may well prove an entertaining distraction on some of the days those which look like a blank canvas -rather than those that look similar to the train timetable at Clapham Junction!
Each National Trust kit comes in a sturdy box with all you need to begin engaging with the particular aspect of outdoors that it focuses on. My personal favourite is the National Trust Bug Hunting Kit which offers everything from the specimen pots through to your very own pooter for collecting the bugs. I think it was reading Gerald Durrell’s “My family and other animals” that inspired me to get down on my hands and knees to study the little creatures that live all around us. The wonder of a centipede as the wave of movement ripples down its body. The amazing colour of the butterfly or dragonfly as it gets carried on the wind from leaf to leaf. The amazing world of ants all working together. So for the price of afternoon tea for the family we can set out on a bug hunting, pond dipping, bark rubbing, flower pressing or rock pool splashing adventure.
We’d love to know what ethical adventures your planning this summer – let us know by commenting to this post below.
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