Zero Carbon is to some people a consummation devoutly to be wished and for others such stuff which dreams are made on. For me, it is a foolish fallacy that stands in the way of real climate change action.

In the UK the Centre for Alternative Technology has provided a blue print to enable the United Kingdom to become “zero carbon” by 2030. I have not studied the report but its substance has been reported and I can comment on the Zero Carbon route that the Centre points out for us. (more…)

Ever get a pang of the green eyed monster when you then of the services and variety that is on offer in the States?  Normally not buy into the convenient, disposable lifetyle that seems to dominate US life, but I have to admit that sometimes get it very right.

A perfect example of that is the genius, innovative  company namely, thredUP.  threUp is a new online kids clothing exchange which allows America’s busiest and greenest families to conveniently exchange kids clothing online. (more…)

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 a Postcarden, and watch the time lapse video of how this sweet patch of green blossoms after the jump!

via: http://www.inhabitots.com/2010/03/18/postcarden-pop-up-greeting-cards-transform-into-mini-living-gardens/

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 25% of all pesticides and herbicides. A single pair of cotton pants uses 10ml of pesticides. (more…)

It’s an exceptionally inconvenient truth. Only one American in three believes that human beings are responsible for climate change: a polling result 10% down on where opinion rested the year before.  Worse, the number of Americans who believe that climate change is a hoax or a scientific conspiracy – not doubting,   just damned blank certain – has doubled since 2008.  Add in those who assert that the changes, if any, are of “no significant concern”, and you’ve got 30% of the US denying, scoffing and just walking on by.  Are the issues clearer, the people more committed, here on this side of the Atlantic?  Call for the latest evidence from Ipsos Mori – and find that the proportion of  UK adults who believe that global warming is “definitely” a reality has plummeted from 44% to 31% in the last 12 months.  And although no study of this nature has been completed in Ireland (to my knowlege), figures like these, on both sides of the Atlantic, are getting more sceptical week by week.   (more…)

One of the stories that crept under my personal radar a couple of week ago related to aircraft engines. Aircrafts account of 2% of the greenhouse gas emissions. The impact of this figure is thought to be higher because the emissions are expelled at height, where they can do the most absorption of light energy. Further aircraft expel vapour trials which are thought to have an effect on the amount of light reaching the surface of the planet by dimming it. (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, urged us not to worry: everything will be sorted out “in Mexico one year from now.”(1) Is Mexico the diplomatic equivalent of the Pacific garbage patch: the place where failed negotiations go to die? (more…)

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 didn’t go abroad for holidays. (more…)

We know the greenest option for a business card: scratch the info off a card already handed to you, replace it with your own, and recirculate it.  Nothing greener than reuse!   But…it isn’t exactly professional looking. Could a POKEN also be a green solution? It ditches paper and shares social network information digitally just by “high fouring” someone who also has a POKEN.  Everything from email to Twitter and Facebook information can be transferred with a touch. (more…)

As the economy gradually recovers from the past year’s big slump, changes are expected in consumer behavior: according to a recent survey, in 2010 UK and American shoppers are to pay much more attention to transparency and ethical responsibility in their food and beverage purchases.

A survey by market research organization Mintel reveals that, despite a widespread growing confidence and adaptation to overcome the previous restraints, consumers will be adapting to the new economy, moving away from excessive spending toward moderation and higher attention to ethical sourcing and sustainability. (more…)