bemoreeco

- Do you enjoy modern living but are aware of climate change?
- Are you keen to reduce your footprint but need inspiration?
- Do you wonder what kind of world future generations are inheriting?

UK AWARE 09 in Olympia, London on Friday 17 & Saturday 18 April 09 shows you how easy greener living can be, how it will improve your quality of life and how much money it can save you.

UK AWARE is the UK’s only green lifestyle exhibition for people who want to learn how to reduce their carbon emissions.

Their exhibitors will be showcasing hundreds of products and services ranging from cars to computers, from fashion to food and from travel to advice services.

Their extensive range of FREE and interactive expert speakers panels will enlighten, engage and inspire you. They invite you to come and talk face to face with people who know the answers to your questions and can give you simple solutions.

Attractions include

• FREE world class speakers panels with over 40 expert speakers
• 100+ amazing exhibitors showcasing 1000’s of sexy green products and services
• The Green Machines Expo
• Clothes swapping party
• Morsbags
• The Green Screen Cinema
• Footprint Friends Eco family action
• Green Marketplace
• Chillout lounge
• UK AWARE is not your typical exhibition. 

Click here to receive your offer code and page link.

The top two players in the online market for ”ethical shopping”, Natural Collection and Ethical Superstore, have merged to become “a force for good”.

The firms predict their combined sales of organic grub, green gadgets, fair trade fashion and more will total £8m for the 2009-10 financial year. “This will steer a good path through the challenging retail environment,” says Ethical Superstore, which I’m interpreting as business-speak for “there’s a recession on, so we decided to stop spending marketing cash competing with one another”.

For now, they’ll continue under the same names, but ultimately the merged shop is likely to be called Ethical Superstore, selling an “own-brand” range of products under the Natural Collection brand.

The move makes sense in many ways. Ethical Superstore sells food, Natural Collection doesn’t. Natural Collection does fashion, Ethical Superstore doesn’t. When the companies say “together we are stronger”, you can see what they mean.

Source & Full Article – The Guardian

One for the Kids!

It took me my son’s science project on recycling to realize that we can really do something constructive out of the waste we generate from our kitchen. Before you turn up your noses and crank about the “Rotting Veggie Odors + Recycling”, let me explain the pros of the Terraviva Domestic Composter. This is a device that sits neatly on your counter top, as stylish as any other appliance that you own. It simply makes a mish-mash of all the veggie waste into something palatable for the plants.

Organic stuff like your peels and leftovers added to the composter decomposes with the help of aerobic microorganisms. These organisms just speed up the degradation process via electromechanical processes and make sure there is no stink. You will need to hook it up to a power source for around 20 minutes a day, and once its tanked up, it just keeps doing its thing. It has the capacity to process 12 liters or 7 kgs of waste at a time.
Those with kitchen gardens are really going to like this thing.

Designer: Ravel Casela

Buying organic makes sense for the health of the earth, farm workers and your family … But if you’re pinching pennies (and who isn’t these days?), choose from this list to avoid pesticide residue.

So these are the 15

1. Onion - Less pest threat = less pesticides.
2. Avocado – Think skins = less pesticide build up.
3. Sweet Corn – Unlikely to end up with any pesticides on kernels.
4. Pineapple – Tough skin protects form pesticide residue.
5. Mango – Flesh protected by thick skin.
6. Asparagus -  Less pest threat = less pesticides.
7. Sweet Peas - Sweet peas are among the least likely vegetables to have pesticide residue.
8. Kiwi – The peel provides a barrier from pesticides, but wash before cutting.
9. Cabbage - Less pest threat = less pesticides.
10. Aubergine/Eggplant - Think skins = less pesticide build up.
11. Papaya - Pesticide residue stays on papaya skin, but be sure to give them a wash before slicing open.
12. Watermelon - With that rind, watermelon has a natural defense against the onslaught of any chemical.
13. Broccoli - Conventional broccoli doesn’t retain so many pesticides because the crop faces fewer pest threats, which means less spraying.
14. Tomato – Not sure why!
15. Sweet Potato - Not only are sweet potatoes unlikely to be contaminated with pesticides

Source & Full Article – The Daily Green

Tesla has always said that they wanted to bring the beauty, power, styling and environmental footprint of the Tesla Roadster to sub-100k sedan. They’ve been planning the Tesla Model-S for ages, and while we were supposed to have to wait for a few more hours to see the first pictures of this beauty, they’ve officially been leaked.

The Model S will (if Tesla is able to get it’s finances together and make them) be an all-electric vehicle with a more than 100-mile range. While Tesla’s Roadster is meant to be impractical (just like all two-seater sports cars) the Model-S reaches out to the luxury segment. The car will have to be comfortable, practical and beautiful to make it with luxury buyers. 

Source & images – EcoGeek

On the morning of March 26th, on the ‘dry’ Lake Ivanpah, The ‘Greenbird’ driven by British engineer, Richard Jenkins smashed the world land speed record for wind powered vehicles.

The Greenbird clocked 126.1 mph (202.9 km/h) , eclipsing the old, American held, record of 116 mph , set by Bob Schumacher in the Iron Duck in March 1999 at the same location.

As we get more news we will update you.

It would be greener and cheaper for many motorists to keep their car for as long as it is reliable rather than trade it for a new car, according the Environmental Transport Association (ETA).

Manufacturers make great virtue of the environmental credentials of their vehicles, but by the time the average new car leaves the showroom and before its key has been turned in the ignition, its design, manufacture and marketing may have accounted for 6 tonnes of CO2 emissions.

A spokesperson for the ETA said: “Swapping a thirsty and polluting older car for a lighter, more fuel-efficient model can make environmental sense if you are doing a high mileage, but if you do relatively few miles it makes sense to keep your car for as long as it is reliable. The greater your annual mileage, the greater the potential environmental saving from changing to a more fuel-efficient model.”

Extend the life of your car
Changing a car frequently has a financial as well as environmental cost; drivers who buy a car new and then trade it in at three years incur a cost of as much as 50% in depreciation. A good car warranty from a reputable company can make your driving greener by extending the useful life of your car.

The hidden environmental costs of driving
Although progress continues to be made by car manufacturers in terms of the amount of energy and water they use and the amount of their waste that goes to landfill, these factors continue to have a significant impact on the ‘lifetime’ environmental impact of cars.

According to industry figures some 80–90% of a vehicle’s lifetime energy consumption takes place during its ‘in-use’ phase, but this is contradicted by the research, ‘Life-cycle energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions of world cars’, which comes to the conclusion that:

“The tank-to-wheel fuel consumption is only part of the story. Petroleum and fuel transport and production consume energy, as well as car manufacturing and scrapping and the maintenance and infrastructure. The total energy consumption of car use is on average 54.7% higher than the tank-to-wheel energy consumption alone.”

The lifetime driving distance of an average European car is 194 787 km. If the average car emits 160g of CO2 per km, this gives an in-use total of 31 tonnes of CO2. According to the research quoted above, this gives a figure for manufacturing, scrapping, maintenance and infrastructure of approximately 17 tonnes.

The figure of 6 tonnes before the average car leaves the showroom mentioned at the top of the page represents a conservative estimate based on the figures above.

Source - ETA

A universal on-pack recycling label has been launched this month by leading retailers. For the first time, it will provide customers with standardised information on whether packaging can be recycled.  The single, industry-supported, label replaces the potentially confusing range of symbols previously used. 

The scheme will be operated by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) through a company called the On-pack recycling label. The new on-pack recycling label will have three categories depending on how likely it is that a customer’s local authority will accept specific packaging materials for recycling: Widely recycled; Check local recycling; Not currently recycled. 

BRC director general, Stephen Robertson, said: “Retailers have taken the lead in developing this new recycling label because they recognise their relationship with customers means they are uniquely placed to help people do the right thing.” 

Source & Image – Recycle Now

This is another video which really enjoyed in the office.