It's London Fashion Week, and there are a growing number of designers promoting sustainable and ethical style. Have a look at estethica and visit the Ethical Fashion Forum to see a schedule of events for the week, including Tuesday's grand finale of the Make Your Mark in Fashion competition. Over 300 entrants have been whittled down to three teams of finalists, who will showcase their sustainable collections on a catwalk at The Hospital Club in Covent Garden. The finalists include Berrie designing for Enamore, R.A.J.E for THTC and Mia designing for Junky Styling.

In America last week, I was gripped by the election coverage, and the TV ads for the Pickens Plan, the brainchild of eccentric billionaire T Boone Pickens. He's an unlikely environmentalist (with an unlikely name), but an experienced oil man who's seen the light – that oil is not an endless or renewable resource. “I’ve been an oilman my whole life, but this is one emergency we can’t drill our way out of.” Tell that to the politicians in Congress, who in an election year seem terrified to put any curbs on American drilling on American shores, even though any help for strapped motorists would be years down the line (not to mention potential environmental hazards). Pickens claims there's a huge financial incentive (as well as an ecological one) for reducing America's reliance on oil, as the US currently spends approx $700 billion a year on foreign oil, which he projects will rise to approx $10 trillion within a decade.

 

The Pickens Plan solution: building wind farms along the 'Wind Belt', in central US from Texas to the Canadian border. The power would be used to generate electricity, freeing up a large portion of natural gas now used for electricity to be used for transport energy. Natural gas is cleaner (NGV vehicles cause up to 95 percent less pollution than gasoline/petrol or diesel cars and trucks) and many cars are already equipped to run on it.

 

Many Americans, and much American advertising, hints or even boasts that American ingenuity will solve the climate crisis (main point: without Americans having to change behaviour or reduce consumption). T Boone doesn't want to wait for any 'magic bullet'. Instead he is keen to get act immediately on the technologies which already exist. He's not perfect, but if people want real change, it's down to people from the left and right recognising that climate change exists and that human behaviour is a major contributing factor and supporting significant ways to address the problem.

 

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The editor of The Green Baby Spot just got in touch, so I've taken a look at the site and I must say, I'm quite impressed. The blog is fairly new, but looks to become a good resource for green, organic and eco-friendly products for babies and young children.

 

There's lots of info on the benefits of organic and eco-friendly products, and don't miss The Green Baby Shopping Guide. There's also a recognition of the budget crunch, with the Thrifty Green Thursday section (discounts and sales at eco and ethical sites), not to mention the free Friday giveaways.

 

At Ethics Girls ladies can indulge in a guilt-free shopping spree, with its organic, Fairtrade, recycled and chemical-free products. Take a gander at the trendy jeans and dresses, No Sweat trainers and luxurious natural body care. You'll also find books and music, gadgets, even cleaning products for house and home. 

The site's not just about conscientious consumption: there's plenty of green news, a deeper look at green issues and an online magazine (with giveaways) examining what's hot in the green world. Ethics Girls is becoming a co-operative, so by the end of the year it will be owned by its members: consumers, employees and suppliers. Email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it for details.

Love-OM.com (Love Organic Milk) is a site working to persuade us to choose organic milk. Why? Organic milk is kinder to your bod, kinder to the planet (studies have shown organic milk production uses less energy and encourages biodiversity) and kinder to cows (organic cows roam and graze as often as weather permits and only  get antibiotics if they're sick).

 

The  OM! site is from the Federation of Organic Milk Groups (FOMG), farmers including Calon Wen, a co-operative owned by over 20 families in Wales and the first dairy in the UK to achieve the Soil Association Ethical Trade Symbol.

Calon Wen has also introduced Eco Paks to address the issue of the 130,000 tonnes of plastic waste the UK milk industry creates each year. If you can't find Calon Wen milk near you, find out if your local veg box schemes also deliver organic milk (ours does, but in a pesky Tetra-Pak that our irritating council doesn't collect for kerbside recycling). Or see if you're in a delivery area for a company like Dairy Crest. Old-fashioned glass bottles are making a comback: they can be used up to 20 times before they need to be recycled. Dairy Crest also uses electric vehicles. Some old ideas are looking pretty clever after all.
 

 

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This new site is stocked with handy implements to green up your home, including water- and energy-saving devices. There are goodies I've never seen before, such as the chimney balloon (from £19.99). This clever device is the ultimate in low-tech. It's definitely a case of function over form, but as it will be hidden inside your flue, who cares? Inflate it and it works like double glazing for your fireplace in winter, saving you a packet on heating bills. If you light a fire without remembering to deflate it, don't panic – it will just melt harmlessly.

 

Speaking of harmless, if I were naming a shaver, I'd try to avoid the word 'piranha', but sources tell me the Piranha Dynamo Shaver won't gobble up your skin in a frenzied, bloodthirsty attack. Just  £24.99, this electric razor and trimmer can be recharged by winding the handle. Add this to your morning routine to beef up those biceps (just make sure you alternate arms to avoid the lopsided look).

 

Take a closer look at My Greener Home for some very nice products., including cloth nappies,  easy-to-use compost bins and water butts. I've met the owners and they're nice people too. On his blog, Edwin relates his unsuccessful fight for planning permission for rooftop solar panels. Our government talks the green talk but doesn't seem to want its citizens to walk the walk. If you have any advice for Edwin, get in touch – or just email him to order some great green gizmos for your home and garden.

Greenwashers beware: you're primed for a snark attack. EarthFirst.com promises to "cut through the eco-fluff" with a biting view on eco issues, from green and not-so-green slebs (including Jennifer Lopez and her 'we only wear each outfit once" twins) to coverage of more serious issues such as the 2000-Watt Society. 

 

The 2000-Watt Society vision started with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in 1998. The 'goal' is to have every person in the developed world cut their energy use to no more than 2000 watts (ie. 17,520 kilowatt-hours per year, the approximate world average). At the moment, western Europeans use 6000 watts, US citizens 12,000. The goal isn't to lower the standard of living, but to improve energy-efficiency, increase renewable energy, incorporate new technologies for low-energy transport and make buildings low-energy (or even zero-energy).

 

Based in the US, EarthFirst offers interesting (and cheeky) insights into green news and activism in America, along with political and economic topics such as the decline in SUV sales (finally!)

 

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This week's website is one for the North Americans. There are more serious issues on the eco agenda, but if you (like me) are a slave to cute, you'll love Ecojot's notebooks, journals, agendas and file folders. Based in Canada, Ecojot has good green cred, using 100% post-consumer waste. Carolyn Gavin and her team are dedicated to local, sweat-shop free production – and to cute and colourful designs.

 

Its mill uses (landfill-fuelled) Biogas, and a portion of the profits go to Evergreen, a non-profit Canadian organisation that seeks to improve connections between city dwellers and the natural world.

 

We all thought the future would be paper-free, but though our electronic gizmos need little of the white stuff, they do slurp up a lot of energy. Sometimes nothing beats a good old-fashioned, hand-written love note / to-do list / memo, and if you're using paper it might as well come from leftovers. That might put the lumberjacks out of work, but it will certainly help keep your green halo glowing. Creating markets for recycled materials closes the loop and means our waste is more likely to stay local (instead of being shipped to China for processing). 

 

And just look at those colours!

 

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Even if your heart's in the right place, being an ethical consumer can be time-consuming. Instead of popping into a shop to browse, you have to trawl through individual catalogues and websites. Instead, enjoy hassle-free shopping at Fashion-Conscience.com, the leading ethical style site. You'll find NY label Doucette Duvall (whose dresses lit up the silver screen in Sex And The City) and new and exclusive designs from Battalion (organic and sustainable fabrics), Elroy (organic, bamboo fabrics) , g98 (recycled pine fibre underwear) and many more. All clothes are either organic, fair trade, sustainable, recycled, or helping support communities and packaging is recycled and biodegradable. Take a peek at the new Autumn Winter Collection, online soon.

 

It's all good news, so why doesn't this model look a bit more chipper? I suspect hunger pangs – someone escort this gal to the sandwich trolley, quick!

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