I’m completely enchanted by Makazi’s Guesthouse. It’s built out of sandbags, and is kitted out with solar heating, composting toilets and recycled furniture. The house has been beautifully decorated (inside and out) and all profit made is used to fund the community-based Indlovu project, including a crèche, youth centre, clinic and soup kitchen.

This would be an eye-opening and different stay for any visitor to Cape Town,

Makazi’s Guesthouse is a community-built project in the Monwabisi Park area of Khayelitsha. For more information or to book accommodation, email office@shaster.org.za or phone +27 216571026 or +27 833750988.

sisonke singenza amahluko is Xhosa for “together we can make a difference”

photo credit: mamakalisa

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My pick of the bags are these dragonfly print jute shoulder bags with cotton lining (the handles are lined too to be comfortable on bare shoulders) with a cell phone pocket.

“Each Freeset Bag tells a story of one woman’s journey to freedom. She used to stand with 6,000 other prostitutes in a small but well known area of North Calcutta. She didn’t choose her profession; it chose her. Poverty does that. It robs people of their dignity and children of their innocence.

She still lives in the same area, but instead of selling her body she makes Freeset Bags. Now she has choices, the choice to work decent hours for decent pay, to re-establish her dignity in her community and to learn to read and write. Now her daughter won’t have to stand in the street selling her body like her mother used to. Freedom has been passed on to the next generation.” – from the Freeset website.

Also check out these wood-free Kantha journals. They are handbound, with a kantha- stitch multilayered cover, a screen-printed pencil and white wool paper. Each journal is unique. They are made by the daughters of sex workers. Freeset’s goal is to bring wholeness and restoration to their lives. Many tragic stories are told by the girls. By giving these girls a dignified job, Freeset have given them a step up, to gain respect by society. The cycle of shame is broken!

Freeset products are available in the UK, US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Sweden.

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Here’s all you need for a green cup of hot chocolate:

Step 1: Make sure you only boil as much water as you need for that hot chocolate. It’s easy to do with an Eco-Kettle or Tefal Quick Cup. At £29.50 you can’t go wrong with the Eco-Kettle. As an Eco-Kettle user myself, I heartily recommend them. The Tefal Quick Cup has had mixed reviews, and costs twice as much at £59.99. Design-wise it’s a more attractive thing to have on your kitchen counter, but looks aren’t everything. And there’s also the all new Morphy Richards Ecolectric kettle that has an 85′C setting for coffee and hot chocolate. Not a bad price at £34.99.

Step 2: Get your mug out. If it’s a global warming mug to remind you of why you’re making the effort to live green, all the better!

Step 3: Spoon some lovely Cocodirect Fairtrade Drinking Chocolate powder into your mug. It’s rich, creamy and velvety, and guaranteed to contain only Fairtrade cocoa beans and cane sugar from Latin America. At no less than 40% cocoa solids, it has almost twice as much as ordinary drinking chocolate. If you’re going to indulge, you do it properly!

Step 4: Pour the water over the hot chocolate, add a little organic milk if you like, and enjoy!

Best drunk outside watching the autumn leaves falling, wearing a pair of soft fleece eco-gloves (made of 94% recycled PET bottles) and a Fairtrade woollen beanie from People Tree.

There’s nothing quite like free P&P to make buying online really worthwhile. So, for Organic Fortnight (6 – 21 September 2008, Ethical Superstore are giving us just that, free P&P for all orders of £15 or more.

Love your planet, buy organic.

Twenty years ago organic cotton pioneers built their own supply chains from scratch and created a new business model based on a concept of partnership. Farmers made a commitment to supply organically certified cotton and retailers bought it at a reasonable price. Because the crop had to have organic field certification to qualify for the final label on the garment, a link between the farmer and consumer was established.

Farmers who converted to organic cotton are now seeing benefits in terms of their health, the environment and, for the first time, enjoying a closer relationship with retailers. But this relationship is now facing challenges as mainstream retailers start placing huge orders. Whilst this can bring opportunities to expand and benefit farmers, it will depend on whether big companies continue to use the ethical and equitable trading practices set up by pioneers who are mainly relatively small businesses. For example, a well known high street retailer recently had a huge marketing campaign based on their tee shirts being made from Fairtrade cotton. But this did not extend to the garment manufacturing. So, as a case in point, we see that it is very easy to put a ‘spin’ on things with clever marketing and things are not always what they seem.

Production of cotton is a crucial part of the economy of many third world countries, with millions of people dependent on it for their livelihood. Fifty years ago ‘white gold’ was seen as the great hope for developing countries. But these dreams have faltered, with cotton farmers barely able to make a living and in debt to pesticide suppliers. Chemically intensive cotton production and monoculture has contaminated soil and water resources and reduced fertility of the soil. Effects on the environment and workers health has been devastating. Not enough is known about the chronic effects of being continually exposed to pesticides, but it has been suggested that deaths as a result are vastly underestimated because very few workers have access to medical diagnosis and treatment.

Only over the last twenty years have the social, environmental and health impacts of cotton begun to be considered. This is because of the complexities of the supply chain for conventionally grown cotton which makes it difficult for consumers to be aware of the beginnings of the chain. Fibres are blended and are not traceable to their point of origin. In the case of organic cotton the fibre needs to be separate from conventional cotton fibre and cannot therefore enter the same supply chain. With conventional cotton there is such a long chain of buyers and manufacturers. Clothing retailers shop around for the cheapest fabric and the growers at the end of the chain are squeezed to the maximum so that the price of their product falls. They see the only way forward as increasing their yield with increased use of chemicals. Eventually pests develop resistance and the yield decreases. American and European subsidies push the price down even further and this way third world countries are kept poor and in debt to the Agrochemical giants who maintain a healthy profit.

Benefits of organic cotton to the environment and growers are well documented, but what is not so often recognized is the fairer supply chain. Pioneering cotton companies have also undertaken to share the daunting risks. Agriculture is subject to forces beyond our control in terms of adverse weather and climate. There is no safety net for third world cotton farmers and banks that see them as high risk charge exorbitant interest rates for loans and overdrafts. Pre-financing by arranging input advances during the growing is a central aspect of a fair trading model.

With the high street giants seeing the marketing potential of organic cotton come new challenges to be faced. Will these giants continue with the trading standards set up by the organic cotton pioneers or will they expect to continue with the practices that they have previously imposed on their suppliers, such as making them wait 90 days for payment? It is imperative that they set up new ways of working and do not rely on their size and power to impose unfair conditions. It is also important that they continue to uphold the pre-finance support, listen to what farmers say and understand and develop the principles of the organic agricultural model. It is critical to fair and ethical practice that we continue to have clarity throughout the supply chain.

Photo credit: Jonne1985

Until fairly recently ethical shopping was a niche market but it is becoming more mainstream as people become more aware of environmental and ethical issues. Numbers of people buying organic or Fairtrade continues to rise as it becomes more accessable and receives a higher level of support from retailers but it is still a small part of the overall market.

There is a huge buzz of interest about sustainability or development which meets present needs but does not compromise future generations. George Monbiot in an article for The Telegraph says “There is an inherent conflict between the aspirational lifestyle journalism that makes readers feel better about themselves and sells country kitchens, and the central demand of environmentalism – that we should consume less”. So being an ethical shopper is not about continuing to take several holidays a year by air and buying things that are surplus to requirements. Perhaps the root of the problem is our rampant consumer culture which is reinforced by the media continually. Take a look at the Sunday glossies. They are selling the lifestyles that we aspire to: travel, fashion, beautiful homes.

Some say that we can’t afford to be ethical shoppers with the credit crunch but can we afford not to be? The “race to the bottom” is an expression used to describe the practice of international retailers employing developing world contractors, who cut corners to keep margins down and profits up for western paymasters. We need to be ecologically aware, supporting conservation and adopting proactive attitudes towards recycling, energy saving and carbon reduction. Promoting the welfare of animals and rights of human beings to live and work in conditions of decency.

It is my belief that all retailers should all be working towards providing more assurance to the consumer that their clothes are produced cleanly, responsibly and ethically. Unfortunately, indifference, yours, mine, theirs, to the issues is very real, I am not taking the moral high ground here. I am as guilty as the next person. Perhaps we should start out by having a system of labeling on clothing denoting that it has been produced responsibly enabling consumers to make more informed choices.

Many people start the day with a few cups of coffee, or if you’re like our very energetic team at Ecotopia – a few pots of coffee. But have you ever thought where it comes from? If you haven’t checked out “Black Gold,” the acclaimed documentary that takes a look at the multi-billion dollar coffee industry and the poor farmers who cultivate the beans, then you should! You probably will never set foot in a large supermarket to buy your coffee again.

The film follows Tadesse Meskela, the General Manager of the Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union, as he visits coffee-growing regions in Sidamo and Oromia, as well as a coffee processing center, a coffee auction house, and his union’s headquarters in Addis Ababa. He also travels to England and the US in an effort to promote Ethiopian coffee by eliminating the numerous middlemen.

With great frankness, Meskela uses “Black Gold” as a stage to describe the chronic situation Ethiopian coffee farmers face. When the price of coffee hit a 30-year low at the start of the Millenium, farmers struggled to feed their children and send them to school. Some quit farming. Others began growing a more profitable line – a local narcotic banned in the US and Europe. With their families malnourished and being forced to travel long distances to accept foreign aid, some farmers saw no alternative but to bring their families to government feeding centres.

So why do they call it black gold?

Coffee is traded as a commodity—just like oil or gold—and is second only to oil in commodity value. Because of the production surplus brought about by sun-grown coffee, the price of coffee has been chronically depressed on the world market, making it difficult for farmers to make a good living from year to year.

The price of coffee is rising, but little has changed in these communities. In Ethiopia, country that depends on coffee for about 40 percent of its export revenue, farmers make as little as 2.5p for every cup of coffee sold in Europe. Meanwhile, multinational coffee corporations collectively rake in as much as £160 billion each year, according to the film.

So why buy Fairtrade?

Fair trade organisations work directly with cooperatives of small farmers to eliminate much of the middleman costs and provide the growers with a stable price that ensures a reasonable standard of living. For instance, in 2004 the UK Fairtrade market guaranteed participating coffee growers a minimum of 126 cents per pound for arabica coffee beans, compared to a world market price of 52 cents per pound. Many fair trade organisations also encourage their growers to employ sustainable farming practices (such as organic and shade-grown).

Photo credit: jsbarrie

Fairtrade is an organized social movement and market based model of International Trade (Wikipedia). In a capitalist society profits rule and the scramble of wealthy countries to make money often results in exploitation of small scale producers such as farmers, craft and textile workers etc. who are left to exist on minimum wages without any hope for their and their families’ future. At present the rules of global economics are made by institutions such as the World Trade Organisation, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Global policies are developed with input mainly from multinational corporations and little input from the public.

Fairtrade works by paying producers a fair price for crops plus a little extra to help community development projects. It also helps to promote social and environmental standards. Price is agreed according to local or regional context, is reached via discussion with all parties and covers not only the cost of production but enables socially just and environmentally sound production. It pays fairly and without gender bias so that women are properly rewarded for their work. It is suggested that many more farmers could benefit from Fairtrade if it were not for unfair trade rules that make it very difficult for poor countries to trade their way out of the poverty trap. For example tariffs which are a type of import tax are levied by many countries. A tariff of 500 percent on rice for example makes it impossible for poor countries to trade with Japan. The European Union and United States of America give farmers massive subsidies. Resultant over production is then ‘dumped’ on poor countries making it difficult for farmers to even sell their crops within their own country.

Campaigns for trade justice aim to influence governments and International bodies to rewrite unjust trade rules. Rules need to be advantageous to people in poor countries rather than making it impossible for them to compete. Of course the Fairtrade movement does have its detractors. It has been suggested that it is a misguided attempt to make up for market failures encouraging inefficiencies and over production. This argument seems a little rich to me when you consider the European Union surfeits of crops which have been well documented in the press. Fairtrade supporters argue that current market prices do not reflect the true costs associated with production and that only a well managed and stable minimum price system is able to cover environmental and social production expenditure. Some left wing authors believe that Fairtrade does not go far enough. The French author and broadcaster Jean-Pierre Boris advocates immediate policy changes that would have a far bigger impact on disadvantaged producers lives. Author Christian Jacquiau suggests that Fairtrade should not seek to work within the flawed current structure but should establish a fairer and autonomous trading system. There are also concerns about the impact of Fairtrade on long term economic growth. However Fairtrade organisations contradict this argument claiming that Fairtrade is a market responsive model of trade and producers are encouraged to diversify and invest in speciality crop programmes.

In my opinion having read and considered the arguments put forward Fairtrade, although not perfect, is the best model we have at present to try to help poorer disadvantaged countries. Discussion and exchange of ideas is a healthy way forward to continue improving systems currently in place. With ethical and religious agencies such as Oxfam, Christian Aid and Amnesty International to name but a few involved in these discussions “Trade not Aid” may have real meaning for a better future.

Photograph by M.Gifford.

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Electronics & Gadgets

This is a good gadget. In Stephen Fry’s recent review of it he declared: “Eat Trevor’s dust, Apple!” The Trevor Baylis Eco Media Player plays music, video and fm radio, and also functions as a torch, sound recorder, photo viewer, mobile phone charger, ebook viewer and data storage device. You can even record your old LPs onto it. It has a dual power system, so if you’re away from your power source (in this case your PC/laptop USB port) for a while, who cares, just wind it up. You get 40 minutes audio play time for each 1 minute of winding. The Eco Media Player features a 1.8″ screen, and 2 gigabytes of internal memory, which holds around 500 songs, and can be expanded by adding an SD Memory Card. £169.99 £134.99. Free shipping with promo code FSCS25 until 21st December 2007. I’m getting one of these babies for my birthday in a couple of weeks time, can’t wait!

Here’s a little something for boys of all ages. The H-Racer is the world’s smallest hydrogen powered fuel-cell car, a futuristic toy car containing one of the most exciting and advanced technologies of the 21st century. With new advances in technology, hydrogen is on its way to becoming the world’s next fuel. The H-racer is the working miniature version of what is being developed in real-size cars of the future, which are also called “zero emissions vehicles”. I can just see boys and their dads falling head over heels for one of these. £74.99 including delivery.

The Eton FR200 Wind Up Radio with Flashlight is ideal for camping, gardening and even in emergencies. The radio has a heavy-duty, splash-proof ABS plastic case, a long-lasting rechargeable battery pack and gives you access to AM, FM, and 11 International Shortwave bands, so you can stay informed where ever you are, even in emergency conditions. Just one minute of winding will give you approximately an hour of radio operation. A gift that will appeal to geeks, hunks or grandpas.£23.99.

Fashion
Handbags and gladrags tend to make an appearance at this time of year. This gorgeous bag wouldn’t be out of place now or at any other time of the year for that matter. The Fairtrade felt Flower Bag is handmade in Nepal by local village women. It’s fully lined and zips up, keeping keys and purses safe. Buying Fairtrade gifts is a wonderful way to give back something at Christmas time to people who work hard for wages that are much lower than ours. £18.50 including delivery.

Food & Drink

Food is such a great gift not only because it brings pleasure to the recipient, but also because it’s something that can be all used up, there’s nothing leftover to go to landfill. And what’s more of a luxury than beautiful and delicious cake and deserts. Tom and Ant’s organic cakes are a feast for the eyes, the taste buds and the stomach. This Christmas Celebration package contains a 10″ cake of your choice and a large mixed desert box, including brownies, chocolates and fudge. £55 including delivery.

Gifts for the Home

This is such a cool gift that it won the Gift Association’s Eco-friendly Gift of the Year Award this year. The Sun Jar is a traditional Mason jar containing a highly efficient solar cell, rechargeable battery and three low energy LED lamps. During the day, put the jar in a sunny location where the solar cell creates an electrical current that charges the battery over a few hours. At night, this energy powers the warm coloured LEDs in the jar, the light of which is diffused by the frosted jar. The jar is watertight so the jar can be put outside to benefit from maximum sunlight. Makes an excellent garden light, mood lighting or night light for children. £19.95.

I hummed and hawed about putting this item on the gift list. It is a piece of furniture, and I’ve never bought anyone a piece of furniture for Christmas, but if you’re one of those couples who buys something together for your home instead of a gift each, or if you have a son or daughter (or friend) who’s just bought their first home, this may be just the thing you’ve been after. They’re called Rock’n'roll shelves, a unique shelving system made in Sweden from unbleached high density paperboard. They are paintable, washable, not inflammable and fully recyclable. I think you’ll agree that they’re also beautiful. £189.99 for a pack of 5 rolls. To make the pictured configuration you’d need two packs.

Kids Stuff

“He thought he could fly up in his spaceship and just grab the star. But his spaceship had run out of petrol last Tuesday when he flew to the moon.” A quote from How to Catch a Star, one of my daughter’s favourite story books. Rockets and spaceships play a big part in children’s fantasies, and this really cool Paperpod Rocket is eco-friendly too. It’s not just a toy rocket, small astronauts can actually fit inside it for planetary exploration missions. It’s made from recycled cardboard, is a blank canvas for budding artists to decorate and personalise, and can be folded away at the end of play. This really appeals to my motherly side, and to the side of me that likes a tidy living room once the kids have gone to bed. £29.99.

The Lorax is a classic in every way. Who doesn’t love Dr Seuss? And this is no ordinary Dr Seuss book, in this book Dr Seuss gets serious and spells out an ecological warning that is as relevant today as it ever was. A great book to get children into the ideas of environmentalism and earth stewardship (although sometimes I think it’s the kids that get it, and it’s the grown-ups who should be reading books like these). By buying a child a copy of this book, you’re passing along an important message in a most enjoyable way. £3.99.

This is the best value wooden kitchen that I’ve come across. I bought one for my daughter 18 months ago and it’s stood up extremely well to being played with on a daily basis. I heartily recommend this all-in-one kitchen for its durability, for being fantastic value for money and for being compact enough to be wheeled into a corner at the end of the day. The kitched includes cooker, hob, washing machine and sink. £79.95.

Book Recommendation

This great read has been the top-seller in our bookshop since I reviewed it back in June. In “How to live off-grid“, Nick Rosen goes into every detail of off-grid living. He provides not only the inspiration to get off the beaten track and find your own space, he also provides countless resources to help you do just what he suggests. To gather the information to write this book, Nick took to the road with his wife and baby daughter in a converted care bus fuelled by vegetable oil and sun. They toured the UK meeting with off-gridders of all sorts. Yurt-dwellers, communards, utopians and rural squatters were all on Nick’s path, all living happy and comfortable lives completely off-grid. Their stories are fascinating, inspiring and sometimes quite far-out. But they all have some lessons to pass on to those of us who until now have only dream about being self-sufficient. £9.09.

Stocking Fillers

Multi-Striped Organic Cotton Socks – treat their feet! £5.95 £4.75

Divine Fairtrade Milk Chocolate Coins – pennies from heaven. £1.99

Felt Finger Puppets (set of five) – These cute little guys will provide hours of fun for the little people in your life. £5.95 £2.35

Swedish Firesteel – For outdoors enthusiasts, these are really cool little gadgets. No need for lighters or matches. With one of these you can pretend you’re Ray Mears. £14.95 £11.95

Forest friendly Butterfly Castanets – For the littlest of people. Brightly coloured butterflies that make a delightful clackety-clack in small hands. £2.49 including delivery.

Advertisement: Reduce your CO2 footprint by as much as 2 tonnes/year & save up to £150 on your energy bills.

The chocolate in the calendars is made with Fairtrade cocoa beans from Kuapa Kokoo, a cooperative of 45,000 cocoa farmers in Ghana, West Africa. So while you and your family are enjoying your chocolate Christmas countdown, you’ll know that you’re helping to make positive change happen far away in Ghana. Natural Collection also have some great green and ethical ideas for stocking fillers. Well worth a look!

Advertisement: Reduce your CO2 footprint by as much as 2 tonnes/year & save up to £150 on your energy bills.