Monday, November 29, 2010
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Ethical Shopping - building up a feel good list for Christmas
FAIR TRADE
-Oxfam Fair Trade shop (also online at www.oxfamireland.org/fairtrade-shop/)
The Oxfaf Fair Trade shop in South King Street (Dublin) - also in Galway, Belfast and Cork- is always a good source of original gift ideas with the fair trade stamp. It is particularly useful when buying for home (decoration items and all sorts of nice things, such as tea sets, photo frames, cushions...) and also friends with new babies (fairly priced organic cotton clothes and toys), but they also have music, bags and some selection of edible treats.
Good source of knitwear, jewellery and other general gift ideas such as purses and bags for the ladies. A few items made of recycled materials too (tick the green credentials box too!)
GREEN
Go to the Gift Guide section and click By Department. Select Best sellers and you'll find a pretty interesting mix of green trinkets and gadgets (the solar powered ipod dock is a pretty cool one). The option to search by price is very handy. There is also a clothes section and fair trade.
Science Gallery
The Science Gallery in Pearse Street has some cool eco gadgets for sale at their gallery shop (online store at www.sciencegallery.com/shop) , including the super useful sports bottle with water filter. The solar powered disco ball could make some people very happy this Christmas...
Cultivate
The Cultivate Centre in Temple Bar usually has a good selection of gift ideas, although its site http://www.cultivate.ie/ only has a very limited online store which is not representative of the fantastic stuff you might find at the actual shop.
FASHION
So charity shops used to be in but after years of struggling to find decent clothes suitable to my age! I have almost given up (at least on the small town ones)- swap shops and vintage specialists are a much better alternative.
For brand new stuff, here are some links to ethical fashion shops and brands (thanks Claire for most of the names!).
A very comprehensive list of retailers selling some ethical ranges or focusing entirely on sustainable fashion can be found at http://www.re-dress.ie/retail.html.
http://www.harvestmoonglobal.ie/ Irish alternative clothing online shop.
http://www.seasaltcornwall.co.uk/ has nice organic cotton clothing and facilities to buy online (it is also stocked by Contra Clothing in Gorey, Co. Wexford, if you are ever around this neck of the woods).
www.continentalclothing.com/ and http://www.earthpositive.com/
www.fromsomewhere.co.uk/ and Irish http://www.unicorndesign.net/ for designer-y clothes
www.peopletree.co.uk/ (stocked at Arnotts in Dublin)
www.kuyichi.com/ (they have a store at Opera lane in Cork city)
Monday, November 15, 2010
10 tips for a greener Christmas
They are very simple tips we can all keep in mind to reduce the amount of useless waste we generate at Christmas to a minimum and go easy on the planet. Most of them could actually be easily followed the rest of the year.
Top 10 tips:
1-The Christmas Tree.
Make the eco-friendly choice this Christmas and go for a real Christmas Tree. Although artificial trees will last longer they are made from plastic, transported huge distances to market and are not recyclable. Real trees absorb CO2 emissions during their life time and can also be recycled. Go to your local council’s website after Christmas for details on tree recycling and collection.
2-LED lights.
These lights consume only one sixtieth of the energy required by conventional lights and you can use them year after year. There is no filament in the bulbs of these lights to burn out saving all the hassle of figuring out which bulb to replace when the whole set goes out!
3-Christmas cards.
The amount of Christmas cards sent every year places a huge demand on natural resources not to mention the transport emissions from moving these cards through the post! Alternatives: send an e-card instead of a paper card; send cards made from recycled material or charity cards. If you receive cards this year, don’t forget to recycle them or better yet, cut them up to make gift tags for next year!
4-Wrapping.
Use recycled paper wrapping and tie them up with string. Avoid using foil or plastic wrapping, plastic ribbons and sellotape. And again, remember to recycle the wrapping paper from any presents you receive or try to reuse it!
5-Energy efficient gifts.
If you’re buying electrical equipment this Christmas be sure to check the energy label and only buy A rated appliances. Also be sure to recycle any old electrical appliances. Visit http://www.weeeireland.ie/ to find out how…
6-Avoid battery-operated toys or go for rechargeable batteries.
Batteries contain toxic chemicals and are very hard to recycle so this Christmas chose rechargeable batteries; these will save on waste and also save you money in the long run.
7-Food: local or organic - or both!
Source vegetables from your local farm or market and visit the local butcher for a locally sourced and organic turkey. Buying local reduces the emissions from transporting food and will boost the local economy….don’t forget your re-usable shopping bags!
8-Public Transport.
This will save on fuel, CO2 emissions and also means you can enjoy a mulled wine after a hard day’s shopping!
9-Christmas is a time of excess and we often find ourselves clearing out old clothes and toys at this time of year. Make sure to donate any unwanted clothes and toys to your local charity.
10-Finally, when all the celebrations are over and it comes to doing the clear up remember to recycle! Compost food waste and bring empty bottles to the bottle bank!
To estimate your carbon footprint, Emission Zero has a Carbon Calculator on their site: http://www.emissionzero.ie/index.php?p=calculator and lots of tips on how to lead a low carbon life, both at home, abroad, on the road and at work at: http://www.emissionzero.ie/index.php?p=carbonlife