Who says a greeting card can’t double as a gift? Especially when it pops-up and sprouts a mini living garden! Postcardens are designed and produced in Britain by A Studio for Design — a team of artists who created these evolutionary greetings to make the experience of receiving a card “more playful, curious and interactive,” encouraging the recipient to “bond, live and grow the greeting on day by day basis.” What a perfect message to deliver to green kids to help them develop a green thumb! Learn how easy it is to plant and produce your own mini garden from… Read More »

You might be doubtful that your choice of briefs can be a catalyst for global change, but consider the statistics. The UK underwear market was valued at £4.1bn in 2009. Most of that money is spent on multinational-produced pants. Some are constructed from a mixture of oil-based synthetics, including nylon (which results in emissions of nitrous oxide, a poisonous greenhouse gas). Received wisdom tells us that cotton, the main underwear fibre, is the type of natural material we need in these delicate regions. Received wisdom is wrong. Although cotton covers less than 1% of the earth’s landmass, it soaks up… Read More »

A plan on how Ireland can become a global leader in sustainable energy will be unveiled this morning by Sustainable Energy Ireland. Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Eamon Ryan will attend the event, which will outline a five-year strategy on how Ireland can fully exploit clean, low-carbon technologies and enterprise. A report completed last year suggested 80,000 jobs could be created in Ireland’s emerging green economy – a strategy the Government said would be implemented. However the Labour Party says that while the Government ‘talks a good game’, it has simply failed to deliver. via: rte.ie Link to… Read More »

In the last few years particularly, I have found myself easily spending €50 to €70 per week on my daily lunch. If you eat your lunch out every day, you might not realise just how much it is costing you. A soup, sandwich and a drink doesn’t give much change from €10! I very much doubt I would spend that same amount if I pepared these lunches at home! If you take this saving and calculate what you could put away over a 5 year period, it equates to quite a tidy sum!! Perhaps the Take your Lunch to Work campaign can take over… Read More »

People are drifting into a lethal slumber on climate change. More of the same won’t wake them up.

The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food is inviting farmers’ markets to sign up to the Code of Good Practice for Farmers’ Markets. Markets operating to the Good Practice standard receive a certificate and banner which they can display to inform the public that they source a substantial proportion, ideally 50%, of local produce from the county or neighbouring counties. They also agree to accommodate seasonal and local garden/allotment produce and to comply with food safety/labelling rules and criteria on good governance.  34 markets were awarded the good practice banner in 2009. Applications may be made up until 31 March…. Read More »

No, GreenMe are not advocating a slovenly lifestyle, just encouraging you to take it outside!! Cancelling your gym membership will not only save you money, it will also lower your carbon footprint!! Link to this post!

The hulking Hummers you see ruling the road will soon be a thing of the past. General Motors has announced that it will stop production on its popular line of SUVs after an attempted sale of the brand to a Chinese company fell through. According to the Associated Press, Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery had to back out of the deal because it wasn’t able to obtain manufacturing clearance by the February 28 cut-off. “We are disappointed that the deal with Tengzhong could not be completed,” said GM Vice President of Planning and Alliances John Smith. “GM will now work… Read More »

The Environmental Protection Agency has secured a High Court injunction preventing the operators of a controversial landfill near Naas in Co Kildare from accepting further deposits. The EPA had argued the landfill was causing environmental pollution through the emission of serious odours, which had led to more than 300 complaints from the public in a matter of months. The Kerdiffstown landfill near Naas is operated by Neiphin Trading – a company associated with the major firm A1 Waste. Advertisement EPA inspectors found strong odours, from landfill gas and composting activities, were emanating from two sites on the facility. One local… Read More »

‘THE BIG SWAP’ is the theme for Fairtrade Fortnight 2010, which will also highlight the continued growth in Fairtrade sales and support in Ireland. “The Big Swap is all about encouraging people to swap some of their usual purchases – tea, coffee, chocolate and bananas for example – for a Fairtrade Certified product,” says Peter Gaynor, Executive Director, Fairtrade Mark Ireland. “Thousands of Irish consumers have already made the big swap; regularly switching some of their spending to Fairtrade products and in doing so making a real difference to the lives of producers indeveloping countries.” Link to this post!

NUI Galway (NUIG) and the University of Limerick (UL) yesterday unveiled details of how they plan to work closely together in what was touted as an unprecedented collaboration in Irish higher education, due to the sheer scale of the venture. The significance of the new strategic alliance was underscored by the presence of Taoiseach Brian Cowen at the announcement in Dublin yesterday, along with Tanaiste Mary Coughlan and Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe. Mr Cowen described it as a “key building block” for the country’s ‘smart economy’ project and promised it would make a major contribution to economic and social development…. Read More »

This is what the failure of the climate talks means. The last time global negotiations collapsed like this was in Doha in 2001.  After the trade talks fell apart, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) assured the delegates that there was nothing to fear: they would move to Mexico, where a deal would be done. The negotiations ran into the sand of the Mexican resort of Cancun, never to re-emerge. After eight years of dithering, nothing has been agreed. When the climate talks in Copenhagen ended in failure just last December, Yvo de Boer, the man in charge of the process,… Read More »

Like most parties, it tends to start with drinks, nibbles and casual conversation, until the guests suddenly start swapping clothes. Invented before the credit crunch but becoming more popular as a free substitute for shopping and entertainment, welcome to swishing. “Swishing dos” are parties where people swap second-hand clothes, following a few commonly agreed rules along the following lines: Pick a date and venue, invite friends, prepare some food, let people browse the clothes they have brought while enjoying a glass of wine; at a previously agreed time, count down to the “Swish,” and start swapping. Link to this post!

An energy saving scheme in Northern Ireland has cut business bills by more than £200,000, it has been claimed. Efficient lighting, refrigeration and heat recovery devices were used to slash costs, energy company Energia said. First launched in 2005, Belfast International Airport and Curley’s supermarkets are among companies embracing the new technology. Energia chief operating officer Tom Gillen said: “There is now a great opportunity for businesses to cut their overheads significantly through the use of grants which will cover at least 20% of the investment.” The energy efficiency scheme for commercial premises was introduced by the Northern Ireland energy… Read More »

The development of the first ecological community in the west of Ireland will be discussed at a public meeting hosted by the Galway Sustainable Community Project in the Westside Library this Tuesday. This will be the first in a series of public meetings which will be designed to encourage interactive discussion and invite new people to get involved in the project. The Galway Sustainable Community Project is a group of people based in Galway city whose vision is to create a small, purpose-built, settlement in the west of Ireland where residents will produce some of their own food and energy… Read More »

THE ‘High Nelly’ bike is back — and this time no pedal power is required. A family-owned company is attempting to beat the recession and add a 21st-century touch to the world-famous bike by powering it with a battery. The bike, manufactured by GoEco in Cappamore, Co Limerick, is the first electric bike manufactured in the country and already orders have been placed for the new product from the UK and continental Europe. Link to this post!

WHEN it comes to adopting green parenting practices, being environmentally aware is not the same thing as being environmentally friendly, says green parent and ‘ mumpreneur’ Claire Lancaster, founder of Dandelion Lounge, a personalised stationery service with a focus on families. ” If you asked my mum raising a family in the Seventies if she was ‘environmentally friendly’ she wouldn’t have been able to answer the question, simply because the term would have meant nothing to her,” says Lancaster. But in the Seventies, her mother opted for reusable terry-towelling nappies, walked everywhere, purchased from a local farm and greengrocers and… Read More »

he High Court has been told that one million tonnes of waste have been lodged at a landfill site near Naas in Co Kildare. The amount of waste is in breach of the site’s waste licence and the court heard that the situation is now ‘critical’. The statement was made by Nuala Butler, Senior Counsel for the Environmental Protection Agency. Link to this post!

Irish company Ocean Energy, which designs turbines capable of converting wave power into electricity, has signed a major development deal with a US multinational. Ocean Energy‘s CEO John McCarthy said the agreement with Dresser-Rand would significantly develop wave energy in Ireland and should lead to the creation of thousands of jobs. Link to this post!

NUI Galway’s Green Week was launched today (Monday, 1 February) at a talk by RTE’s Environment Correspondent, Paul Cunningham on ’Copenhagen and Beyond’. Now in its third year, Green Week will take place on campus from 1-7 February. The Green Week programme features many environmental themed events such as Ecolympics, Leave your Car at Home Day and Wear Green Day. Link to this post!