bemoreeco

Men are hardly any faster than women, and power showers can use more water than baths, so without getting too steamed up, what are your showering habits?Let’s talk dirty. How dirty are you? How long does it take you to scrub yourself clean of a morning?

Research by a new “Shower Power” campaign launched yesterday – in a bid to save water by encouraging short showers – shows that contrary to lazy, popular and potentially misogynist belief, women only spend a mere 39 seconds longer in the shower than men. Despite the fact that many men like myself are clearly follicularly challenged and don’t need to wash our hair, we’re not much faster.

This is a bigger environmental issue than you might think – the way we choose to exfoliate and freshen up has potentially dramatic impacts on our daily water consumption. In the UK each of us currently use around 150 litres a day (let’s not even start on the embedded water, which adds over 3,000 further litres to our indirect daily quaffing) and the government wants individuals’ daily water consumption to be cut to 130 litres by 2030. The trouble is water consumption is actually increasing by about 1% a year.

So back to that survey to find the culprits. The vast majority of women (71%) apparently take showers of 10 minutes or less and a quarter of women (26%) manage to take showers of five minutes or less. This is only slightly below the number of men who do so (75% and 30% respectively). There are also intriguing differences on age, with time spent in the shower decreasing with increasing age. The 55s and over (mean shower time: 8 mins, 41 seconds) are five minutes faster than people aged 18 to 24 (mean shower time: 13 mins 26 seconds) with well over a third (39%) of people aged 55 or over even managing to shower in five minutes or less. Does this suggest a slap-dash approach to personal hygiene in the more mature, a no-nonsense efficient approach, or a deep seated eco-consciousness and concern about water conservation?

Of course, all this scrubbing and lathering doesn’t just use water – it uses energy too. Personal washing accounts for around 33% of the water used in the home and hot water is the second largest consumer of domestic energy after space heating. And rising bills are enough to make even the most bath-fond switch to showers. There have been some recent trends, such as the rise in shower-gel sales by Unilever, that confirm a money- and water-saving-inspired shift from bathing to showering. Apart from the distinct advantage of not having to scrub the tide-mark of scum from around the bath rim when you have a shower (or is that just me?), generally showers are better than baths as they use much less water. However, this comes with a couple of big fat caveats: what type of shower you have and how long you prance around in it.

A typical bath uses around 80 litres of water whereas the average electric shower sprays out about six litres a minute. So you’d have to be soaping yourself vigorously for over 13 minutes to use the same amount of water as that bath. But if you have a power shower that pumps out up to 15 litres per minute, in which case you have only 5 minutes of swift slathering before, from a water conservation perspective, you might as well have had that bath.

There are ways to make your shower even greener, of course, such as aerating shower heads that mix in extra air to mimic the effect of a power shower without the water consumption of a thirsty elephant. But when it comes to the biggest environmental impact of your morning wash, like so many things in life, timing is everything. The best way to understand how much water your morning sluice consumes is to get your hands on a shower timer and a water meter.

I’d be interested to hear how long you spend in the shower – and how successful you’ve been in cutting your water use, or your shower-hogging partner’s use. Has anyone gone so far as sharing daily showers? Let me know in the comments.

Men are hardly any faster than women, and power showers can use more water than baths, so without getting too steamed up, what are your showering habits?Let’s talk dirty. How dirty are you? How long does it take you to scrub yourself clean of a morning?

Research by a new “Shower Power” campaign launched yesterday – in a bid to save water by encouraging short showers – shows that contrary to lazy, popular and potentially misogynist belief, women only spend a mere 39 seconds longer in the shower than men.

This is a bigger environmental issue than you might think – the way we choose to exfoliate and freshen up has potentially dramatic impacts on our daily water consumption. In the UK each of us currently use around 150 litres a day (let’s not even start on the embedded water, which adds over 3,000 further litres to our indirect daily quaffing) and the government wants individuals’ daily water consumption to be cut to 130 litres by 2030. The trouble is water consumption is actually increasing by about 1% a year.

So back to that survey to find the culprits. The vast majority of women (71%) apparently take showers of 10 minutes or less and a quarter of women (26%) manage to take showers of five minutes or less. This is only slightly below the number of men who do so (75% and 30% respectively). There are also intriguing differences on age, with time spent in the shower decreasing with increasing age. The 55s and over (mean shower time: 8 mins, 41 seconds) are five minutes faster than people aged 18 to 24 (mean shower time: 13 mins 26 seconds) with well over a third (39%) of people aged 55 or over even managing to shower in five minutes or less. Does this suggest a slap-dash approach to personal hygiene in the more mature, a no-nonsense efficient approach, or a deep seated eco-consciousness and concern about water conservation?

Of course, all this scrubbing and lathering doesn’t just use water – it uses energy too. Personal washing accounts for around 33% of the water used in the home and hot water is the second largest consumer of domestic energy after space heating. There have been some recent trends, such as the rise in shower-gel sales by Unilever, that confirm a money- and water-saving-inspired shift from bathing to showering. Generally speaking showers are better than baths as they use much less water. However, this comes with a couple of big fat caveats: what type of shower you have and how long you prance around in it.

A typical bath uses around 80 litres of water whereas the average electric shower sprays out about six litres a minute. So you’d have to be soaping yourself vigorously for over 13 minutes to use the same amount of water as that bath. But if you have a power shower that pumps out up to 15 litres per minute, in which case you have only 5 minutes of swift slathering before, from a water conservation perspective, you might as well have had that bath.

There are ways to make your shower even greener, of course, such as aerating shower heads that mix in extra air to mimic the effect of a power shower without the water consumption of a thirsty elephant. But when it comes to the biggest environmental impact of your morning wash, like so many things in life, timing is everything. The best way to understand how much water your morning sluice consumes is to get your hands on a shower timer and a water meter.

>>>Full Article: guardian.co.uk

As News & Views has posted previously, last Saturday marked the first International Day of Climate Action.

In celebration of this, the team have scored the web for the best pictures, events and features of the day.

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Best Videos

In the News

In Every Corner of the Globe

Best Pictures

International Day of Climate Action

Supermodels Strip For Climate Change

UK and Ireland’s favourite brands able to carry the FSC label by using Tetra Pak cartons

Tetra Pak, the world leader in food processing and packaging solutions, announced today that many of its UK and Irish customers will now be able to use the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) label across the nation’s favourite brands. The majority of Tetra Pak cartons in the UK and Ireland can now use paperboard sourced from FSC certified forests and other controlled sources, demonstrating the company’s ongoing commitment to responsible forest management.

This development is a first in Europe, where a major liquid food and drink packaging manufacturer is able to launch such a wide-scale roll out. It means iconic household milk, juice and liquid food brands will be able to sport the FSC logo across many, if not all, of their packs within the next 12 months. Brands such as Princes, Ribena, Rubicon, Moo and many retail own label products packed in Tetra Pak cartons will be included.

The move comes as part of the company’s ongoing drive to attain certified traceability from forest to consumer according to the highest available standard, FSC, and builds upon their successful launch of a FSC-certified Tetra Recart(tm) range for Sainsbury’s chopped tomatoes, in late 2007. This led to the subsequent move of the Sainsbury’s SO Organic pulses range into Tetra Recart(tm) as well. Earlier this year also saw Innocent launching FSC across all its kids smoothie packs in Tetra Wedge Aseptic(tm).

This development will see supply increase from 200 million FSC-certified packs available globally in 2008, to over 1.5 billion packs, in the UK & Ireland alone. All the European mills supplying Tetra Pak’s paperboard have FSC Chain of Custody certification in place, demonstrating traceability and acceptability of the board used.

Said Nils Björkman, Tetra Pak Executive Vice President Commercial Operations: “We have an ongoing commitment to the highest standards of forest management and are thrilled to be able to achieve the highest standard of certification for the majority of our UK and Irish cartons. We know a sustainable approach to business is of critical value to retailers, brands and consumers, and FSC certification demonstrates our commitment to manufacturing to the highest level of environmental performance.”

Said Julia Young, WWF-UK: “We applaud Tetra Pak’s comprehensive commitment to move their cartons to FSC sourced materials. This is a positive step to make sure that every-day consumption is reducing its impact on the forests of the world, and supporting a more sustainable pattern to the way we lead our lives. I hope this initiative continues to grow, as Tetra Pak innovate in the market”

Graham Breed, marketing director for Princes soft drinks, said: “As the UK’s leading ambient pure juice brand Princes is committed to working in partnership with suppliers to help protect natural resources for the future. We welcome the adoption of the FSC standard by Tetra Pak as a positive step.”

Made largely renewable, natural resource – wood – the move further enhances the environmental credentials of the pack. Tetra Pak is a member of the WWF Climate Savers Programme and is on track to achieve its global commitment to reduce carbon emissions by 10% by 2010 while continuing to grow.

Tetra Pak is also committed to increasing the recycling of its cartons, which can be used as raw material for other products. In 2008 25.6 billion cartons were recycled, up 64% since 2002. Over the next year, 75% of the cartons made by Tetra Pak for the UK & Ireland will become FSC-certified.

Yes you are right its is energy saving week and we must do are best to take this on board and focus on it. I know that there are a lot of things happening, like half term, credit crunch and leaves on the lawn, but you must stop for one moment for thought and try and doing something.

Therefore we have listed below MoreEco’s favourite energy saving tips. You do not have to do them all, but at least try and do a couple this week. Also if you wish to make an investment for your household and its energy consumption we have listed EcoTrendSpotter’s favourite energy saving products which may help you in this Eco quest.

So here are some of the easy Energy Saving Tips which you can do at no cost;

• Turn lights off and radiators down in rooms which are not being used.
• Turn your thermostat down when you go out for the evening, or away for a weekend.
• Turn off your electrical appliances instead of keeping them on standby. There are devices that can automatically do this for you.
• Close your curtains in the evenings to keep the heat
• Cut down on cooking time by using lids on your pans.
• Don’t overfill the kettle when making a cuppa.
• Fill up! Only wash full loads in the washing machine and dishwasher.
• Low Set your washing machine at 30 instead of 40 degree.
• Walk or cycle or take public transport instead of the car.
• Defrost your freezer regularly to keep it running at top performance
• Unplug Unused Chargers

Now if you wish to spend some money to take you that extra step further this week we recommend that you look at the following products provided by Eco Trend Spotter.

• Wattson Energy Monitor – £99.00 + Earn £9.95 Cash Back
• The Eco Showerdrop – £12.95 + Earn £0.90 Cash Back
• Eco Kettle 2 – £29.99 + Earn £2.08 Cash Back
• Wind up Penguin Torch (for the kids) – £4.99 + Earn £0.35 Cash Back
• Roberts SolarDAB Radio – £29.99 + Earn £5.56 Cash Back
• Sun And Moon Jar – Free Sunlight Forever £15.95 + Earn
• Energy Saving Gas Net - £5.99 + Earn £0.42 Cash Back
• Dryer Balls – £7.99 + Earn £0.55 Cash Back
• Radiator Booster – £19.99 + Earn £1.32 Cash Back

Just to finish off Britons are amongst the most energy wasteful people in Europe according to a recent survey by the EST. 71% of us regularly leave appliances on standby unnecessarily while 67% boil more water than needed in the kettle. In total, the energy we waste as a nation each year is now growing close to the equivalent of powering an additional 7 million non-existent homes!

Why not visit our Energy Saving Trust page for more information.

Following three days of intense deliberation by the judging panel, the Green Awards 2009 is pleased to announce this year’s shortlist across 16 categories. The winners will be announced at the 4th annual Green Award ceremony on 18th November.

The shortlisted work ranged from the informative to the amusing, with entries being selected from a competitive pool for the clarity of their message, creativity of expression and their sustainability rationale. The hot topic throughout was whether companies could be accused of ‘Greenwash’ or were in fact truly living their values by providing both qualitative and quantitative evidence of the positive sustainable impact of their campaigns.

Dr Peter White, Director of Global Sustainability, P & G and Chair of the UK judging panel, said: “This year’s Green Awards will recognise excellence in sustainability communications from organisations large and small, public and private, and from home and abroad.”

“The entrants demonstrated the innovation and creativity needed to communicate sustainability, even during the current financial downturn. The diversity and creativity of the entrants resulted in much discussion on the judging panel to select the final and worthy winners.”

The Green Awards 2009 short list is as folows;.

Best Green Advertising (Press & Outdoor)
Waste Aware Scotland: Waste Aware Scotland Recycling Campaign
The International Fund for Animal Welfare: Turtle Beach Event

Best Green Audio-Visual
Spanner Films: The Age of Stupid
Global Renewables, Lancashire Council, Blackpool Council: Adventures on the Environmental Journey
Green Thing: Meet Green Thing

Best Green Campaigner
Sponsored by ASDA
Car Free Walks: Car Free Walks

Best Green Charity/Social Enterprise Campaign
Keep Britain Tidy: Food on the Go Campaign
The Climate Group: Eat Seasonably

Best Green CSR Report
Guardian News & Media: Living Our Values
Aster Group: Foundations for our Future
Kingfisher Plc: Future Homes CR Report

Best Green Direct Mail
Sponsored by Royal Mail
South Oxfordshire District Council: South Oxfordshire District Council Waste Collection Service
Four Corners Print / Responsible Print: Responsible Print one piece mailer

Best Green Event
Belfast City Council: Stitch and Style
Unity Marketing Group: 10:10 – UK Launch Event
Sony: Focus on the Rainforests Exhibition

Best Green Integrated Campaign
The Climate Group: Eat Seasonably
Belfast City Council: Waste Week 2009
Reading Borough Council: Cutting Carbon with Kyocera
The Co-operative: The Co-operative – ‘Good For Everyone’

Best Green Internal Communications
Sponsored by Haymarket Brand Media
Turner Broadcasting System Europe Ltd: Turn Turner Green
Informa plc: Going Green: Green Week
EHS Brann: Greenius “

Best Green International Campaign
Acne Advertising (Sweden): Flygbussarna Airport Coaches
Coop (Switzerland): “Footprint”
The International Fund for Animal Welfare (Australia): Tails for Whales
Max Hamburgarrestauranger AB (Sweden): Climate on the Menu
Sony Europe: Forest Guard

Best Green New Media
Green Thing: Green Thing
The International Fund for Animal Welfare: A World Without Gorillas

Best Green Packaging
Sponsored by Tesco
The Wool Packaging Company: woolcool® Insulated Food Packaging
The One Off: HaPe Eco Toys Packaging

Best Green PR Campaign
Thandi wine: Farm Workers to Full Owners – Thandi wine
British Gas: Green Streets

Best Green Public Sector Campaign
Sponsored by Yell
South Oxfordshire District Council: South Oxfordshire District Council Waste collection Service
Cumbria County Council on behalf of the Resource Cumbria Waste Partnership: The R Factor
London Borough of Bromley: School Travel Plans
Scottish Government: Forget me not, Scotland

Best Green Radio
Sponsored by Passion for the Planet
The Carbon Trust: Driving applications for loans to fund energy efficient equipment
Kyocera Mita (UK) Ltd: Every Page Counts

Best Green Website
The Fairtrade Foundation: Fairtrade Towns
Marks and Spencer: Plan A Website
The Climate Group: Eat Seasonable

JumbleAID is a new ‘free to use’ fundraising website that enables anyone with an unwanted item to find a new home for it, thus keeping it out of landfill, and in the process converting it into valuable funds for their chosen charity.

It was born out of frustration with the throwaway society and a genuine wish to unlock the second and third hand value of unwanted stuff for the benefit of any UK charity.

It empowers charity supporters to raise funds without putting their hands in their pockets and it gives charities a way of asking supporters for help in the current economic climate without asking for cash. It brings ‘New Money’ into the charity pot.

JumbleAID creates a community that is all about giving and care for the environment. As nobody can list an item for commercial gain, it cuts out any profiteering and opportunism.

How does it work?

Very similar to the ebay process, funds are raised by ‘Gifting’ unwanted stuff online and people make a donation in return for the items. The whole process is administered through the site and all money is securely collected and distributed to charities by Charities Trust – a not-for-profit charity specialising in the collection and distribution of charity funds. Their fees are fixed at a flat 4% to cover transaction charges and Gift Aid administration (the Gift Aid process has been approved by HMRC).

Not a penny of any donation goes to JumbleAID. JumbleAID sustains itself through advertising revenues on the site and selected sponsorship agreements.

The word is starting to spread!

The site is now starting to gain awareness through PR, social networking, search engine optimisation and ‘Corporate Group Schemes’ where an organisation uses the site to involve their staff in community fundraising.

Promotion is starting to builds with over 300 charities having contacted the site to register their interest, and founding charity partners starting to spread the word in a range of communications.

The site is also developing a growing following with Local Authorities who, as advocates, are starting to recommend JumbleAID to the communities they serve as a worthwhile and responsible way of finding new homes for unwanted stuff and keeping it out of landfill.

While some cell phone companies are introducing convenient ways for you to recycle your phone once you’re done with it, a new start-up is making it just plain simple. EcoATM will be deploying kiosks at retailers around the country where you can drop off your old phone, have its value assessed and immediately get an in-store trade-up coupon or gift card.

The first of these kiosks has been stationed at the Nebraska Furniture Mart in Omaha for the last year. After great success with that one kiosk, the company is going install the e-cycler at wireless and big box stores in San Diego, Washington state and Vermont in the next couple of months. By the second quarter of next year, the kiosks will be popping up around the country and the machines will soon be able to accept other gadgets like MP3 players, cameras and laptops.

The EcoATMs have cameras that can detect damage to the phone and then come up with its value. If the phone is worth nothing, you can still choose to have it recycled and receive a free waterproof phone case and, for every phone recycled, the company plants a tree. The machine will also recycle your used batteries.

The company makes it beneficial to the retailers by installing the machines at no cost and making the payments redeemable in-store, increasing their sales. It also allows them to apply donations from the machine to their favorite charity.

We are just wondering when and where the first UK EcoATM will be located. Also as there are no ecoATMs’ in the UK you should check out the companies which can do this for you via post at MoreEco.

>>Via EcoGeek

Climate change dwarfs all other challenges facing the human species. The science is irrefutable and daily grows in the severity of its findings. Humankind has the resources and imagination and creativity to rise to this challenge IF we find or create the motivation to act together FAST. The unprecedented nature of this challenge requires us all to raise our game to a new level of co-operation and combined action for the common good.

“Six Billion Reasons” has been created to provide a platform for people all over the world to communicate their mandate for the climate change decision makers to take bold, urgent, co-operative steps to tackle climate breakdown. It is a response to Ed Miliband’s plea for the public to make a much bigger noise about climate change to impel, compel and empower the climate change negotiators and politicians to make the big leaps necessary. (Ed Miliband heads the British department for climate change and energy).

“Six Billion Reasons” gives people a creative way to “stand up for life on earth” – to move the politicians to move mountains. All that people need to do is to make or find a “pictogram”, which is a photo or short video which communicates their mandate, and upload it to the web (via flickr or You-tube), and tag it with Iamareason. Then OneClimate will use their technology to harvest these and present them all on the Six Billion Reasons platform, creating a stunning global chorus that affirms the power of humanity to meet this challenge together.

The pilot website is already up and running: www.sixbillionreasons.org

But this is only the beginning. We intend sixbillionreasons to become an unmissable global presence which will, in an exciting, empowering way, continue to raise international awareness about climate change, and support action on individual, national and inter-national levels. It’s designed to give a “bottom up” approach “top” significance.

It has been created by:
Susannah and Ya’Acov Darling Khan, (School of Movement Medicine) Peter Armstrong and Anuradha Vittachi (One World and One Climate) and their teams.