On yer bike! It's Bike Week, 16-24 June. This 'celebration of cycling' includes more than 1,500 local bike events and
rides. Cycling is more popular than ever. If AA Gill can come out of the
cycling closet – and still remain best buds with Jeremy Clarkson – cycling is
definitely on the up, though we’re still miles behind other European countries.
Perhaps Bike Week will inspire you to use two wheels instead of
four for short journeys – or even for your commute to work. Here are
some links for info:  * Cycle-Route.com features paths in
England, Scotland and Wales (and Canada) *Sustrans provides thorough cycling info for the entire country.
*Join the London Bikeathon,
Sunday 15 July to raise money for Leukaemia Research. Choose between
Scenic, City and Challenge rides, 13, 26 or 52 miles respectively.
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 Wake Up and Smell the Coffee. Black Gold opened last weekend (8 th
June), so this morning there might not be such long queues at the multinational
coffee shops. This evocative – and provocative – film investigates the coffee
industry, which is worth over $80 billion (the world's second most lucrative, after
oil). That money certainly isn’t trickling down to the farmers and workers, some
of whom earn less than 50 cents per day – while you’re paying around £2 for
your java.
Like Blood Diamond, this film hopes to wake up – and shake up – the
western world's comfortable consumers and transform us into
conscientious consumers, or even, perhaps to stop us from consuming so bloody
much altogether. Consumers do have power, especially in numbers, so instead of believing the
slick multinational marketing campaigns, find out for yourself the truth
behind the slogans and
put your money where your conscience is. Click here for UK and Ireland
screening info.
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Recycle More |
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If the prospect of bi-weekly bin collection has you down in
the dumps, take a look at Recycle-more.co.uk and
put your bin on a diet. Each year UK households throw away almost 30 million
tonnes of waste. Recycle instead to save resources and energy –
recycling just one aluminium drink can saves enough energy to power a telly for
three hours.
Recycling can be a minefield as different councils
accept different types of waste (especially plastics). Recycle-more
helps you make sense of recycling symbols and gives top tips for
reducing waste at home and at
work. There's a waste diary where you can record your rubbish. It's rather like calorie counting – taking note
of your overconsumption helps you stop bin binging. There’s even a
link
where you
can purge the junk mail.
Don’t miss the link to recycledproducts.org.uk – where
you’ll find an A-Z listing of companies who are creating treasures
from our
trash. Support these businesses and you ‘close the loop’, increasing
demand for
recycled  material and
giving companies and councils incentive to recycle
properly instead of trying to sneak the stuff into Chinese landfill.
Now I
need help putting my recycling bins on a diet, as bi-weekly collection
will apply to recyclables too. If you're guilty of overindulgence and
don't want to be confronted with two-weeks' worth of newspapers and
wine bottles, just type in your postcode to find nearby
recycling centres where you can (responsibly) dispose of the evidence.
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Love London: Love your Planet. Love London
is sponsored by The London21 Sustainability Network (london21.org),
which aims to show that individuals can be persuaded to act, and
that collective action can make a difference. London
Sustainability Weeks (3-17 June) will help promote a better and more
sustainable London,
with over 200 events in the capital, including celebrations for World
Environment Day (5 th June). Take a look at the London Green Map to find out what’s on: parties, organic food fairs, film festivals, cycle
rides, workshops and even an eco pub quiz. The celebrations kick off on 3 rd
June with the Camden Green Fair and Bikefest,
London’s biggest free green event, with music, food and an eco fashion show  (green is the new black, dontcha know). Bookmark the site so you
don't miss out on events in your area.
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 Going green is going up in the 'What's Hot' lists. Whatever
your opinion about that sort of thing, it's a fact in today's world that
celebrity sells and famous faces can bring attention  to important issues.
"Celebrities have the power to really make a difference, to set an
example for their fans and promote green living,” says Rayne Vezir, owner of Bebeco.co.uk. Rayne
believes celebrity mums could do their bit to protect the planet by
choosing organic, natural or Fairtrade baby gear and cloth nappies. In fact,
she is planning to send some free cloth nappies to mums-to-be Charlotte Church,
Myleen Klass, Katie Price and Emma Bunton.  Bebeco sells gorgeous eco-friendly cots and cradles,
natural mattresses, organic sheets and cute organic cotton clothing. Snap up
slings for cuddling while carrying and pampering products for pregnancy, plus a
wide selection of cloth nappies, including Tots Bots, made from GM-free terry
or soft bamboo and made in Scotland. Find out more about Bebeco’s ‘Nappucinos’
where cloth nappy experts can help you decide which system is best for you.
They may even be able to do a home visit.
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Compost Awareness Week |
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Compost Awareness Week
does what it says on the bin. From 6-12 May, you can learn more about
how composting is good for the environment – and for your garden. Once
you learn how easy it can be, you'll have no excuses for
throwing the peelings out with the rubbish – and no need to buy
expensive (and possibly eco-unfriendly) compost from DIY shops. Enter
your postcode to find out if your council is offering discounts on
compost bins. You can also find out more at The Compost Association, WRAP and Recycle Now.
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One Less Plastic Bag |
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 If you
didn't get your hands on an Anya Hindmarch bag (right) –
or you did, but you're now too embarrassed to carry it (whether for
shame at your cut-throat consumerism or  worries about the bag's eco and
ethical cred) fear not. Here's a non-plastic bag that seems to have its
green ducks in a row – and you won't have to queue at dawn or line the
pockets of Ebay shysters to get it.
Onelessplasticbag (oneless.co.uk) is made from reclaimed sari fabric collected through 'Donate a Sari' campaigns run by ethical designer Sari UK.
Each bag  is made in Britain by homeworkers (using fair trade
principles) and folds neatly into its own pocket so you've no excuse to
leave home without it. Each design is unique, and the price (from
£8-12) proves that sweatshops aren't required for sweet deals. Oneless is a project of Krata,
a strategic consultancy working to develop
sustainable products for everyday life. Stockists.
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 Global Cool ( global-cool.com)
wants to "wake up the world about
the important issue of Global Warming.” With glamorous celebs such as
Leonardo DiCaprio and Sienna Miller on board, it would be easy to
dismiss this site
as just a bunch of pretty faces. Not so fast. It's a registered charity
and one of
only four offset agencies approved by DEFRA. The team hopes
its entertaining educational programmes will
inspire people to act. And if that means calling in a few favours
from the glitterati, so be it. All the folks working with Global Cool
must be on a personal carbon reduction
journey – no hip lip service please.
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Who Killed the Electric Car? |
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Director
Chris Paine – who actually owned an EV1 for five years until GM
confiscated it – feels passionately about his subject. He examines the
role of the car manufacturers, the oil companies and
the US government in keeping emissions-free cars off the market – and off the road. Now on DVD.
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Our consumer culture is unsustainable. The Primark Riot was just
an in-your-face example of the everyday hurly-burly of shop till you
drop. Yet
shopping as a leisure activity is the privilege of a
select few – the disposable income of Westerners depends entirely on
the 'disposable'
lives
of people in the developing world. Let's face it – bargains exist
because the sums don't add up: the workers don't get a decent wage, and
the price doesn't reflect the
ecological cost of transport. As an antidote visit waronwant.org.
“Bargain retailers are only able to sell at rock bottom prices in the
UK
because women workers in Bangladesh are being exploited,” says Louise
Richards,
Chief Exec. These
women are paid peanuts (often £8
a month). The better-paid
workers get 5p an hour for 80 hours a week. Think
twice the next time you're tempted by a bargain that seems 'too good to be true'. It probably is – at least for some.
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Website of the week 
