Groovy Green

I found a really great blog called Groovy Green. Check out this blog. It's got some really good stuff on it including a posting on the 4 day work week. The 5 day work week is only 70 years old! Anyway, not only would this be great in terms quality of life but it could help save the environment as well! Sounds good to me!

It's got great articles, but more importantly, it aims helps gives book reviews, product review, product suggestions along with great education.

Interesting with effortless ideas for saving the planet! I like it!

http://groovygreen.com/

At the Risk of Sounding Controversial...

I wrote this blog the day after seeing a play about the Holocaust. I was so upset about this thought I had while watching the play that I wrote a blog entry about it on my phone while on a train ride to Wiltshire the next day. I didn't post it because I thought I'd sound like a raving mad man. I opened it and read it and decided to post it. It's not dispassionate and it might be controversial or a turn off but I stand behind it.

Written: 03/05/2007

A Disturbing Connection

I went and saw THE INVESTIGATION last night. The original script was "written" by Peter Weiss and staged in 1963. It's transcripts taken from the Frankfurt trials which was a trial just like the Nuremburg trials. The play was produced just a year after the trial. The original play is 5 hours long! This production was done by a Rwandan theatre company who are, obviously dealing with their own genocide. It was cut down to 90 minutes. The production was powerful simply because of the text and the people involved but was actually poorly acted and staged. I know the script well because I was involved in a series of stagings of it last year.

One of the maddening things about the testimony is that no one will take responsibility for what was happening. "I was following orders", "I didn't make the decisions", "I was just doing my job" and all the common reasons were endless. Meanwhile these people were collectively engaged in the destruction of their own society, the world around them and, of course, the extermination of millions of people.

I've become slightly obsessed with environmental issues lately and it occurred to me there’s a direct link between the kind of thinking that enabled the Nazis and the kind of thinking that is increasingly enabling the destruction of our societies and our planet. This planet is becoming more inhospitable to humans and other species living on it. Collectively humans (but especially those in developed nations) are directly responsible and the message has been broadcast for decades. Most maddeningly, however, the majority of the population does little to change things.

As for economic concerns I propose this: The environment IS the economy. Look around your room right now and find something not made from natural resources. Next time you go outside find something not made from natural resources. Multiply everything you see by your neighbourhood, then by your city a, then by your country and then by all the cities in the world. That's a lot of stuff that’s come out of the planet.

It's running out. It's getting harder to find resources, food and energy.

Do something. Make small changes. They'll have big effects. The encouraging thing is that the solutions already exist. They fall into categories that include Sustainable, Ethical, Environmental, Green, Eco, and Fair Trade. I'm excited and fired up because I've found it's easier than you think (or maybe I thought).

Just do something.

Switch to Green Power - The Biggest Step You Can Take is Probably the Easiest

Change this

to THIS

Fight Climate Change With Your Energy Bill!

Sorting out how to switch to green power in the UK is actually easy as some of the biggest suppliers have zero C02 emission energy. In Canada it's a little trickier but not much.

This is such an obvious way to reduce C02 emissions it's hard to believe more people aren't doing it. I read in the newspaper in London that British Gas and Electricity had created a 100% green energy option but had only had a few hundred customers sign up this year. I scratched my head and wondered how much they'd publicised this option. Probably very little. I put this down to the simple fact that most people don't know the option exists. If they do they assume it will be more expensive, complicated or unreliable. It might be a bit of a pain to switch your energy supplier folks but do it once and go carbon neutral forever!

Green Suppliers in Britain Ethiscore rating (out of 20)

Ecotricity New Energy Plus [E]	14.5
GE 100 electricity tariff [E]	14.5
Ecotricity electricity	13.5
GE 10 Electricity tariff	13.5
N.Ireland Eco Energy green tariff [E]	13.5
RSPB/Scottish & Southern electricity [E]	12.5
EDF Electricity green tariff	8.5
Scottish Power Green/H2O electricity	8.5
Powergen 'Go Green' dual fuel tariff	8
Juice green energy tariff	5.5

Use Which? (see link under orgainsations) to calculate your tariff.

Green Energy Suppliers in Canada

As mentioned it's a little trickier in Canada as there are less green suppliers and you may actually end up paying a bit more. You won't have to do get another hook up or install anything with any of these companies. You just sign up with them and get your power from the grid as per usual. Your power won't be interrupted during the switch.

Here's the thing though: In Ontario power is subsidised by tax dollars. When you hear that price has been "capped" it means that once the cost goes above certain level then tax dollars pay the extra amount. So your energy may be capped at 5.5 cents per kilowatt hour but taxes dollars are, in effect, subsidising energy usage. By switching to a green provider you're freeing up tax dollars for other things like health care and social services. The government should also be lobbied to move subsidies from C02 producing sources to green sources.

Here are some Green Power suppliers for you in Canada.

ONTARIO:

Bullfrog - Great option. N
Electricity Choices - Great calculator to show cost vs. C02 saved

Alberta:

Enmax - 100% wind power

I'll be updating this with more information shortly. If you have any companies to recommend please do so!

Energy Saving Trust - Not as Boring as it Sounds

http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/

This is a great site with all kinds of practical and easy to implement suggestions. The site is obviously British but the energy tips are applicable to all. Great site.

Click on the "What can I do Today?" tab for a great list of tips and easy interactive demonstrations. Check the links on the left for:
*I love the "How Effecient is Your Home?" link. It pulls up a graphic of a house that you click on and it shows you areas where you lose heat, energy and tells you how much money and CO2 you would save by making a change.
*The REALLY simple stuff is under "Cheap and Simple Tips."
*There's a list of the "Top Energy Saving Measures."

Check out all the great information on your impact on climate, environmental products, home improvements, and even how to generate your own renewable energy (and get grants for it!).

Have I mentioned that most of these measures will SAVE you money. Once again...with sustainability everyone's a winner.

Transisition Towns

I just realized this doesn't fall under the label "effortless" but it's a fantastic initiative. If it doesn't fall under "effortless environmentalism" then it surely falls under "Good News for a Change" Transition Towns is a charity that assists towns in transforming into sustainable communities.

Here's their explanation from their website:

What is a Transition Town (or village / city / forest / island)?

A Transition Initiative is a community that is unleashing its own latent collective genius to look Peak Oil and Climate Change squarely in the eye and to discover and implement ways to address this BIG question:

"for all those aspects of life that this community needs in order to sustain

itself and thrive, how do we significantly increase resilience (to mitigate

the effects of Peak Oil) and drastically reduce carbon emissions (to

mitigate the effects of Climate Change)?"

The resulting coordinated range of projects across all these areas of life leads to a collectively designed energy descent pathway.

The community also recognises two crucial points:

• that we used immense amounts of creativity, ingenuity and adaptability on the way up the energy upslope, and that there's no reason for us not to do the same on the downslope
• if we collectively plan and act early enough there's every likelihood that we can create a way of living that's significantly more connected, more vibrant and more in touch with our environment than the oil-addicted treadmill that we find ourselves on today.

They've created 20 towns in the UK, Ireland and Australia. Great resource and support for towns that want to change.

Ethical Consumer Magazine and Website

www.ethicalconsumer.org

The parent company of Ethiscore - which I previously talked about on this blog - are a fantastic organisation that researches companies business practices. They research the operations of companies then recommend them based on their actions AND quality and price.

As they say on their website:

20 years of independent research into the social and environmental records of companies.

Discover the truth about the brands and products we buy, from baby food to broadband, washing machines to wine.

Learn about alternative products from more ethical companies, what to avoid and what are the Best Buys.

Once again you can find quality products, good value, and ethical conduct. Everyone wins again!

Due to the fact that no funding comes from advertising there is a yearly fee to subscribe.

Ethiscore

www.ethiscore.org

A friend of mine advised me to avoid overuse of the term "ethical" on this blog if I wanted to reach more than just those who had already converted to the environmental cause. The environmental cynic would supposedly be turned off by talking about ethical companies as shopping ethically is, I assume, so hard to do. After all most companies out source to third world nations for labour, engage in harmful pollution, and put the bottom line ahead of everything else.

I used to agree, however, I'm finding out there's a lot of great changes going on out there and a lot of opportunity to use companies that are more ethical and environmentally friendly. The more consumers change their spending habits the more companies will change their ways.

Which brings me to Ethiscore.

Here's a great organisation that researches and ranks companies based on their ethical conduct. It researches companies practices in the following areas.

Environment (Environmental Reporting, Nuclear Power, Climate Change, Pollution & Toxics, Habitats & Resources)

People (Human Rights, Workers' Rights, Supply Chain Policy, Irresponsible Marketing, Armaments)

Animals (Animal Testing, Factory Farming, Other Animal Rights)

Politics (Political Activity, Boycott Call, Genetic Engineering, Anti-Social Finance, Company Ethos)

Product Sustainability (Organic, Fairtrade, Positive Environmental Features, Other Sustainability)

So now you can find out which companies are the most ethical and take it from there. My plan is to look at companies ethical and environmental policies and then look at price and service. If the price is way too high then I just won't use them. If there service is not good then I won't use it either. I'm certain I'll end up using a company that has better ethical and environmental practices than if I hadn't looked into it though.

As mentioned earlier on this blog I signed up for a Smile bank account based on the fact they have a great ethical policy, great rates, lower fees and great customer service. According to Ethiscore.org they rate a 7 out of 20 which is surprisingly low. The highest bank was Norwich & Peterborough internet banking and they rated just 13.5 out of 20. I could hang my head and give up or I could note that Lloyds TSB (my former bank) ranks a shocking 2.5 out of 20. In fact most of the big banks rank 4.5 or under. Go to http://www.ethiscore.org/ to see the rankings.

Ethiscore is a consumer funded organisation so there is a fee to join. 15 pounds gets you a years subscription.

Abel and Cole

http://www.abel-cole.co.uk

Organic produce delivered to your door. This highly ethical company also has unbelievable customer service.




They have a large selection of items beyond fruit and vegetables. They also have organic meat, beer, wine, environmentally safe cleaning products, recipes, and a plethora of other great stuff.

They have a mandate to source as much as they can locally and even plan their delivery routes based on the most efficient routes so as to reduce CO2.

They've won customer service awards and have scored 14th on the list of best companies to work for in the UK.

The Farmers Choice Initiative
They also have a charitable initiative wherein they generate funding for schools and support local farmers. Here's some info from their site. I hope to set this up with my school shortly.

• The Farmer's Choice has been designed to raise maximum funds for minimum effort (sounds "effortless" to me)
  
  
• Selling just 50 bags per week will raise around £3,000 per year for your school and takes just one person under an hour per week
  
  
• 25% of what parents and teachers spend on their fresh organic produce goes straight to the school
  
  
• Not only are you helping your school, you are also helping local British growers, as we give them 40% of the bag price

Great company, great services, helps the environment, helps education... did I mention great company? I like them.

Ethical Superstore

An online store with a HUGE range of products. One of the best things I noticed as I was surfing the site was a solar powered charger for electronic devices like phones and ipods. Great idea on so many levels.

First it's obviously portable so you can make sure your phone/ipod doesn't run out of juice.

Secondly why not use it at home and save on electricity? There's a huge issue coming up about products on standby and products that chargers that continue to suck electricity despite the battery being fully charged. In fact, California has just passed the "Vampire Slayer Act" (seriously!) to combat this kind of thing.

What's Standby?

Anything that displays a clock or any other information when you turn it off is still using electricity. Many TVs and computers don't fully power down when turned off.
Estimates of energy used from products on standby range from 10% - 30% of your energy bill!!!

The only knock I have on The Ethical Superstore is they seem to be expensive.

Anita Roddick - Founder of The Body Shop

The mandate of this blog is to keep things short sweet and simple - not to post articles but I couldn't resist this. I pulled this quote off a post on The Lazy Environmentalist. Anita Roddick who founded The Body Shop and died September 10 of this year summed up what the ethos of this blog perfectly.

The Body Shop has been under fire for not following through on their environmental commitments but I found out that after Roddick took the company public she was eventually fired by the board of her own company when the environmental policies that made the company so inspirational and successful got in the way of maximum profit.

Anyway here's the quote.

Tragically, she died yesterday aged just 64 from a brain hemorhage. A truly remarkable activist, environmental campaigner and ethical entrepreneur, here are some of her own inspirational words...

I believe in businesses where you engage in creative thinking, and where you form some of your deepest relationships. If it isn't about the production of the human spirit, we are in big trouble. I didn't go to business school, didn't care about financial stuff and the stock market. I want to work for a company that contributes to and is part of the community. I want something not just to invest in. I want something to believe in. If I can't do something for the public good, what the hell am I doing? Consumers have not been told effectively enough that they have huge power and that purchasing and shopping involve a moral choice. If I had learned more about business ahead of time, I would have been shaped into believing that it was only about finances and quality management.

If you are an activist, you bring the activism of your life into your business, or if you love creative art, you can bring that in. If you do things well, do them better. Be daring, be first, be different, be just. If you think you're too small to have an impact, try going to bed with a mosquito. Look at the Quakers - they were excellent business people that never lied, never stole; they cared for their employees and the community which gave them the wealth. They never took more money out than they put back in.

Nobody talks of entrepreneurship as survival, but that's exactly what it is and what nurtures creative thinking. One of the interesting things is once we started to get smarter and understand the issues more, and when we realized that we were going to be a real voice, then we ventured out with an extraordinary social justice agenda.

The Body Shop Foundation is run by our staff and supports social activism and environmental activism. We don't tend to support big agencies. There is no scientific answer for success. You can't define it. You've simply got to live it and do it.

Vigilante consumers are working with human rights groups, environmental groups - the grass roots movement - and are definitely challenging corporations. We have been creating a whole range of publications for developing the activist. All knowledge should be shaped into action and we have been proselytizing that for many years. We turned all the shops into action stations to educate the public on certain issues such as human rights. We were all social activists, and the activism sort of transferred itself into a new environmental movement.

When you run an entrepreneurial business, you have hurry sickness - you don't look back, you advance and consolidate. But it is such fun.

Years ago nobody was elected on the economic ticket. It was either the education platform, or it was health or it was other issues. It is only recently that economic values have superceded every other human value.

It's a bummer.

If I Had to Recommend One Film and One Book...

The Film:

An Inconvenient Truth

An Inconvenient Truth changed my entire perspective on Global Warming and the environment. I've transformed somehow from a city boy who cares a toss for trees to one who is seriously concerned and determined to get active on the environment. I'm not a nature loving person at all. I'm concerned for the state of the planet and the very real possibility it may become uninhabitable to humans and most other species in the near future. I'm sure the cockroaches will be fine but the rest of us are in trouble. So to that end check out:

www.aninconvienenttruth.co.uk

There will be those who want to split hairs and dispute minor facts in the movie but he's right and the big picture is accurate. In my opinion this is the most important movie ever made.

The Book:
Good News For a Change by David Suzuki and Holly Dressel

This book is incredible. I'm sure there are thousands if not millions of people out there who are concerned about Global Warming and environmental issues but are overwhelmed by the number of problems they are presented with that lack solutions. This book gives hope and inspires by talking about real issues that have been solve and how this has been done. If these strategies work in one place they can work anywhere. It stresses what Gore says at the end of An Inconvient Truth. The answers are out there. They already exist. We just need to implment them. An absolute must read.

USwitch

Another price comparison site that's fantastic. The difference with this one is you can actually sort products by their "green" factor. I'm currently using it to switch my electricity and gas to the best and most economical green energy.

Which?

Which is a consumer organization which compares products and recommends BEST BUYS based on many factors. They include bang for the buck and they do all kinds of environmental assessments and battle for consumer rights.

They do all kinds of testing...I just wish I had the job of the guy on the left there.

They have no affiliation with any company and accept no advertising so there is a fee to be a member but it's well worth it as the support saves you money. They have campaigns which result in increased consumer and employee rights as well.

Great organization.

David Suzuki.com

David Suzuki is Canada's foremost Environmentalist.

His site offers 10 easy things you can do to help fix the environment and they're all easy, practical, and beneficial to your pocket book as well as the environment. One of the suggestions was go one day a week without eating meat. I read this several years ago and did it off and on. This tiny first step lead to me becoming a Vegetarian about 7 weeks ago.

Anyway check out the 10 things you can do list. Forget going veggie. The rest of the stuff is easy man and I mean EASY!

http://www.davidsuzuki.org/Climate_Change/What_You_Can_Do/at_home.asp

These steps can be taken in any country - not just Canada.

Give Or Take

I've discovered a company called Give or Take.com which is really great. I've been looking around and there are a whole bunch of sites offering cash back on purchases through their sites. Basically they take a percentage of the commission that they are paid and give it back to you as a cash back on your purchase. You can then claim the cash or put it towards other purchases.

Give or Take gives you the option to put some, none, or all of your cash back reward towards charities. They also give 100% of their commissions back and not just a percentage.

I've sent an enquiry asking them how they are funded if they give all their commissions away but they're recommended by The Gaurdian, have won some awards, and are getting some good press. I'll keep you posted on the reply to my question.

Ethical Mobile Companies

I was recently in the market for a mobile phone and I decided to do some research on which mobile companies were the most ethical. The companies I researched were: Virgin, Orange, O2, Vodaphone, and T-mobile - which are the biggest in the UK.

And the winner is: 02.
See www.http://www.02.com/cr/resource2006/energy_and_co2.asp

Here are the rankings:

1. 02
2. Virgin
3. Vodafone
4. Tie: Orange and T-mobile



Reasons for Rankings

The criteria I used was simple:

1. First and foremost the policy should be easy to find, clearly worded. I spent A LOT of time looking for these things. Most customers will not look at all unless it's clearly visible on the page.
2. The policy should be clearly worded and easy to understand for the average person.
4. The policy should be specific. ie. " "Will reduce carbon emissions by 40% by 2011" as Vodafone states and not something vague like "effectively manage natural resource impact." After all, what on earth does that mean?
5. I should believe the company is actually following through on it's commitments.

O2

1. No hiding their intentions here.
2. Their corporate responsibility is clearly visible on their main site at www.02.com - in fact it was the reason I started looking at the other companies and comparing them to 02.
3. Their ethical policy is front and centre on their page and appears to be front and centre in their business operations.
4. They are part of the Carbon Trust (www.carbontrust.co.uk) which is a private company set up by the government set to help companies reduce their carbon footprint.
5. They have actual reports on their carbon emissions and plans to reduce them.

VIRGIN

1. The policy was a bit more difficult to find but all you have to do is click on "about us" and you can download a pdf that is interactive, easy to understand and informative.
2. The believability factor is enhanced by Virgin's great publicity department. I've very aware that they're giving billions to aid in Africa. A quick search on the internet and I found this information:

- Pledged an estimated $3 billion for research to find eco-friendly fuels.
- Announced the development of Virgin Fuel, which is alleged to be clean-burning.
- In 2006 Branson pleged to invest all profit from his Virgin Group airline and train businesses over the next decade -- an estimated $3 billion -- to fight global warming and promote alternative energy.

Vodafone

1. Front and centre on www.vodafone.com is the corporate responsibility policy.
2. Clear goals set and good environmental policy.
3. The only drawback is the site tends to be overly wordy and a bit business speaky which might deter many customers from looking into it.
4. Vodafone is the the company that is most often found in the portfolios of ethical investors. They must know something!

Orange and T-mobile

1. Both have ethical policys but both were a bit more difficult to find.
2. T-mobile has specific goals that are immediately accessible and well laid out. Orange actually seems to be doing good things but they're vague and finding specifics required a lot of digging.
3. I have no idea how much either of these companies are actually following through on their commitments.

So which phone company did I sign up with. Just to prove that I am, in fact human, the sad truth is T-mobile. Being new to the UK I actually hadn't heard of them when I started researching. I walked into a store and they were SO far ahead in terms of pricing and the phone I would get I couldn't believe it. Since then their customer service has been OUTSTANDING. I've had a few problems and called them up to get fast service, friendly and helpful people and my issues resolved. I was going to go with 02 originally but the price of T-mobile blew them out of the water. They do seem to have a good ethical policy I just hope they're actually following through on it.

Canadians Rejoice! Ethical Banking is Available to You!

I didn't think there was anything similar to Smile in Canada but a brief search has pulled one up!

Citizens Bank is an ethical online bank with similar ethical goals to smile. They've also committed to go Carbon Neutral by 2010 which I don't think Smile has.

I called Citizens Bank and spoke to a lovely customer service agent named Rahima (hope I spelled that right!). I asked a few questions about the information on their website and found out:

1. A $1000.00 overdraft is standard with all accounts (presuming you have at least decent credit I assume).
2. $8 a month gives you unlimited debit card purchases and transactions, free cheques, unlimited monthly payments.
3. If you keep $1000.00 in your account there is no monthly fee.
4. They pay higher interest than most banks and charge lower interest on loans as they're branchless.

I'll do a rate comparison shortly.

If you switch your banking to these ethical companies and more and more people so the same do you think the big banks will notice? Do you think they'll change? Create a ripple effect!

Check out this great post on Sew Green. (The link to the Blog is also on my sidebar)

http://sewgreen.blogspot.com/2007/04/ethical-banking.html

Banking? Did you say ethical banking??

Sites:
www.smile.co.uk
www.thecooperativebank.co.uk

After a year of absolutely...what's the word...shit service from Lloyds TSB I decided to look for another bank. I went to an online bank called SMILE because my room mate said they have great service and give you a 500 pound overdraft for free. I discovered some really exciting stuff once I got on their website though!

They have an unbelievable ethical policy. This means when investing they won't invest in:
1. Companies or governments that fail to uphold human rights as well as companies with links to oppressive regimes.
2. Are involved in the arms trade
3. Use unfair trade practices
4. Use and develop genetically modified goods
5. Have the extraction of fossil fuels as their core business (read: oil companies).
6. Harm animals.

MORE IMPORTANTLY THOUGH THIS MEANS THEY INVEST IN:

1. Companies that support human rights and governments.
2. Use fair trade practices.
3. Provide renewable energy resources and are involved in recycling and waste reduction.
4. Use natural unmodified goods.
5. Find ways to test products without harming animals.

Smile is part of The Co-operative Bank so I went and checked out their website. Turns out their mortgage holders contributed 250,000 pounds to combat climate change.

So this company fits perfectly into the mandate of this blog. Simply by switching your mortgage to another company you can combat climate change. You can take money away from harmful companies and governments and support positive global impact by simply banking with another bank.

Now I know what you're thinking: "Surely the rates and service are terrible. I'll be paying more for the account, paying higher interest, and getting lower interest on my money. Fortunately the rates of interest they pay are higher than many banks, the fees are lower, and the service is better.

Smile boasts that 90% of their customers would recommend the bank to their friends.

Addendum

Excerpt from an article from The Ethical Investor

Ethics benefit bank
Ethics continue to be an important
influence on the profits enjoyed by The
Co-operative Bank. Over a third of the
bank’s £132 million profits in 2004 were
directly attributable to its ethical and
sustainability policies. The equivalent
figure in the previous year was 29%.
The bank arrives at these figures each
year by asking its customers what
value they attach to its ethical policies.
This year’s increase is largely the result
of ‘an increasing number of loan and
savings account customers joining and
staying for ethical reasons’.
Disclosure law comes into force

Freecycle

site: www.freecycle.org

I'm sorry...did you say free?

I've just discovered there's a huge network called "Freecycle" which, ostensibly, was set up to reduce the amount of waste that goes into landfills. It was started in Tuscon Arizona and has spread all across the world. It's simply a yahoo group in which people post messages with items they are giving away for free.

How it works:

1. Go to: www.freecycle.org
2. Type in your city or area.
3. Go to that areas group and join. (If you have a Yahoo account already then you can just log in)
4. Read messages, contact community members, pick up stuff.

There's no cost for the site.

I know what you're thinking! "Well obviously it's all junk that know one wants, it's old, it's broken, or something is wrong with it." You'd be amazed actually. We got a REFRIGERATOR that is not very old and in perfect condition!

Pros
1. Tons of free products!
2. It feels good. I swear!
3. Reduces landfill waste.
4. Saves resources. Did you know we're currently consuming at the rate of 4 planets? That's not good.
4. Find affordable goods.
5. Move unwanted goods with little to no hassle.

Cons:
1. It is obviously quite random so you may have to be patient if you're looking for something specific.
2. If you don't have a car it can be difficult to pick things up.
3. You're not sure what you're getting until you actually see it. It's free though so what's the real risk?
4. Areas with higher density populations will have more goods available.

The motivations for people's generosity are probably pretty complex but a lot of people probably do it for the environmental reasons. Others may just want to move things. Say you have a desk - as I did when I was moving from Toronto and you can't get rid of it. Put it on Freecycle and someone will come take it away. There's all kinds of stuff in your house I'm sure you'd be happy just to get rid of.

The only rule is your first post must be an offer. This doesn't mean you can't get stuff it just means you can't post a "Wanted" ad to request items until you offer something.


Let's stop this:








and get free stuff along the way!