In central London on the evening of Tuesday 27th October, 8 green leaders will present their view on the future of their industry. To those in the know, it’s quite a star-studded occasion. Green Tomato Cars will give their view on the future of sustainable transport, Ed Gillespie from Futerra will speak about ethical communication and consumer attitudes, and Terra Plana will comment on how its ethical footwear will evolve. Sam Kimmins, Sustainability Adviser at Forum for the Future, will give his take on the future of sustainable construction. Other presentations will be from Germination (a cutting-edge event company furthering social progress), innovative web community Project Dirt, The Hub (a shared workspace concept for social entrepreneurs) and sustainable lifestyle magazine Sublime.

Each of the 8 presentations will last no more than 8 minutes, and to keep things highly visual, no more than 5 words per slide are allowed. It means that 80% of the ideas in a normal presentation can be communicated in 20% of the time. The evening will be held at St Giles Cripplegate Church in Barbican, EC2. Further adding to the creative spirit, guests are invited to help reduce waste and bring their own reusable vessels for wine.

Inspiration and insight won’t just come from the presenting businesses either. Up to 250 keen, green thinkers and doers are expected to attend, so there’ll be food for thought in the conversations and networking, too.

Want to know more and book your ticket? Here are the details you need to know:

When: Tuesday 27th October
Start time: 6.30pm for a 7pm start (drinks will be available – you’re encouraged to bring your own cup for extra green points!)
Where: St Giles Cripplegate Church, Barbican, London, EC2Y 8DA (for map click here)

Tickets are limited, costing £9.50 in advance or £15 on the door.

You can buy your ticket here: http://futureofgreen.eventbrite.com

To find out more, click on http://www.insider-worldwide.com/trend-evening-green-futures/

Dutch creative communications company SPRANQ has come up with a font that uses up to 20% less ink than a regular font does when you’re printing.

“After Dutch holey cheese, there now is a Dutch font with holes as well.”

SPRANQ tested how much of a letter could be removed while maintaining readability? After trying different shapes, the best results were with small circles. And so the Ecofont was invented.

The Ecofont is based on the Vera Sans, an Open Source letter, and is available for Windows, Mac OSX and Linux. It’s free to download and use.

From the edie news feed:

Jonathon Porritt, founder director of Forum for the Future and chairman of the government-backed UK Sustainable Development Commission, became the second individual to receive an edie award for raising public awareness of environmental issues, after Al Gore picked up the award last year following the release of his climate change movie An Inconvenient Truth.

“Following in Al Gore’s footsteps, in receiving this award, is obviously a great honour,” said Porritt.

“And all the more timely given just how important it’s going to be to keep green issues right at the top of the agenda in such difficult economic conditions.

“That’s certainly going to be my principal challenge over the next few months.”

Other awards went to:

Arup – for being the consultants’ consultancy. The employer those working in the industry would most like to work for.

ERM – five of the seven best consultancy in their sector awards.

Atkins – for being voted best environmental consultancy overall, as well as the prize for offering the best advice on water & wastewater.

Awards were also made for business projects that are good for the environment, including an initiative from Coca-Cola using the popularity of league football to promote recycling, and Mitsubishi’s ambitious reinvention of building heating and cooling systems which will save over 3 million tonnes of carbon by 2016.

The awards were judged by a panel of experts including:
Lord Chris Smith, chairman of the Environment Agency
Liz Goodwin, chief executive of the government-funded Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP)
Peter Bonfield, director of the Building Research Establishment (BRE)
Tom Stephenson, head of applied sciences at Cranfield University (a centre of excellence for environmental disciplines)
Peter Stansby of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research

For the full list of winners click here.

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

Electricity

1. Light-bulbs – look for the energy rating on the packet and go for A only. Energy saving light-bulbs are a bit more expensive than the regular old ones, but they last for 5-10 years and save up to 70% of energy used, so it’s a false economy to buy cheaper bulbs.

2. Switch off standby – this device is on sale at the moment and you don’t need an electrician to install it. It’s like a remote control to switch off all non-essential power supplies in an office or home.

3. Motion sensor lights – these are great, especially in offices and communal areas in flats or house-shares. If possible, look out for LED bulbs as these use hardly any energy but do tend to be used more for atmospheric low-lighting conditions.

4. Appliances – in the home situation, when choosing cookers, fridges, washing machines etc. always look for the energy rating. AAA is best and G is the worst. If you currently have an old fridge, it’s possible to add a Sava Plug to it to improve energy efficiency.

Water

Considering that water rates have just gone up in the UK, it makes sense to save this resource too.

1. New toilets by law require a dual flush cistern, but if you have any older toilets, consider fitting a hippo into the cistern. This is a low cost way of using less water for every flush.

2. Add an aerator fitting to taps.

3. Stop all dripping taps.

Photo credit: thingermejig

The first Facebook Forest is being planted on a small plot of land just outside Minchinhampton (see the site on Google Earth) on the edge of what is to be the first carbon neutral market garden. Lucy Offord, creator of the market garden is excited about the project that compliments the new carbon neutral market garden that she is developing and thinks that it will be a great point of interest in the local area.

This is the first of many planned sites where Ecotopia will be helping to create new woodlands in the UK. They are hoping to find more projects to get involved in. Steve Jones, director of Ecotopia says, “We are delighted to establish our first forest. By planting indigenous species, forests can support themselves and after a short period of time will begin to support an entire ecosystem which will benefit the local countryside. We would be delighted to hear from any organisations and groups who would be interested in benefiting from having their own small Facebook Forest.”

Newsflash! There’s a UK mobile service provider who cares more about the environment than making massive profits.

Green Mobile has some great packages that give something back to the environment. Firstly, they encourage you to keep your current phone rather than upgrade when you switch to them. They offer refurbished phones with contracts as well as new “greener” phones, and plant trees or support an environmental charity for every new customer. And to top it all off, their line rental is cheaper than that of Orange, Vodafone, T-mobile and O2.

What are greener phones?

Green Mobile are set to be the first to introduce the new “Sunflower Phone” to the UK. It’s a totally biodegradable phone that has a built-in seed that will grow once the phone is planted in the ground.

Find out more and switch at the Green Mobile website.

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

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