Harry Potter saves some trees
Europe votes to ban phthalates in toys
Fair Trade mosquito nets
Organic Week
and more
Cruelty at the Co-op
Sir Paul McCartney has written to Martin Beaumont, the Co-op’s Chief Executive, urging him to give the store’s ethical claims meaning by immediately ending the sale of all factory-farmed duck meat.
His letter follows a covert investigation by campaigning animal welfare group Viva!, which revealed the squalid, cramped and filthy factory-farm conditions in which ducks were kept by Kerry Foods (AE Button & Sons), and MFD Foods, the current and former duck meat suppliers to the Co-op. In May this year, Viva! held peaceful demonstrations outside more than 200 Co-op stores across Britain, calling for the store to end sales of factory-farmed duck meat.
So far, the Co-op has told Viva! it does not intend to introduce free-range ducks in the near future but intends to replace its existing standards with the newly-drawn up RSPCA Freedom Food standards for ducks, probably within six months. According to Viva!, the Freedom Food scheme claims to set the highest animal welfare standards when in fact they fall well short the Soil Association’s standards and are usually little better than the legal minimum requirements. Despite the word ‘Freedom’, the scheme approves intensive, factory farming and does not in any way guarantee that the birds will be free-range.
Popular poet Benjamin Zephaniah put it succintly, “Co-op or ‘cop-out’? Prove your ethical mettle, Co-op, clear the shelves of factory farmed ducks immediately!”
Send a virtual postcard to the Co-op from the Viva! website at www.viva.org.uk
Harry Potter goes green(ish)
The boy with the lightning bolt on his forehead is back. And this time, Harry is not only saving Muggles and Hogwarts from the evil powers of Voldemort, he’s also working a little magic for the world’s ancient forests.
In July, the English language editions of the new J.K. Rowling book Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince hit the bookstores. Greenpeace is commending the Canadian, German and UK publishers for printing the book on environmentally friendly paper.
The Canadian edition is printed on a 100% post consumer recycled paper. This trend is being echoed by other publishers across the globe. The UK edition, published by Bloomsbury, is printed on a 30% Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified paper - a positive step by the publishing house. The German edition is printed on 40% post-consumer recycled paper with the rest of the virgin fibre coming from FSC certified sources.
More info from Greenpeace on 020 7865 8100 or www.saveordelete.com
Europe votes to ban phthalates in toys
In July, the European Parliament voted to permanently ban the use of a group of chemicals used to soften children’s toys, following health concerns. Phthalates have been linked to damage to the reproductive system and an increased risk of asthma and cancer. They are also used in the manufacture of lubricants and solvents, and are found in cosmetics, medical equipment, paints and packaging. A temporary ban had been in place in Europe since 1999. MEPs voted to ban the use of six types of phthalates in children’s toys.
The Womens Environmental Network now calls for all phthalates to be banned. WEN calls on cosmetics companies to remove phthalates from all their products. DEP, the phthalate most commonly used in cosmetics, and one of the phthalates linked to birth defects, has not been banned yet. Product tests conducted for the WEN report, Pretty Nasty, in 2002 found DEP in 68 percent of personal care products tested including deodorants, hair care products and all the perfumes tested.
Download 'Pretty Nasty: Phthalates in European Cosmetic Products' from www.wen.org.uk/cosmetics/resources.htm.
Fair trade mosquito nets
Malaria is by far the most devastating and deadly parasitic disease in the world. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), malaria infects up to 500 million people a year and may kill as many as 2.5 million, including at least one child every 30 seconds. It is a disease that we in the West are largely untouched by unless we visit countries affected. Now you can not only protect yourself against malaria when travelling abroad but also help Save The Children in their campaign against the deadly disease.
Pyramid (a division of Swisstulle UK plc) are collaborating with Save the Children and the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) in the fight against malaria. Working with a Kenyan company Nets Ltd, Pyramid have produced a mosquito net for travellers with a conscience. The factory has apparently been inspected by UNIDO officials for quality and labour standards plus the range meets World Health Organisation (WHO) standards. The nets cost the same or less than those of their competitors and for every ten nets sold in the UK Pyramid Nets will donate one net to the Save The Children campaign to protect children in Africa from the disease.
The lightweight pre-impregnated nets are available in a number of sizes, packed in a non bleached bag, also made and printed in Africa. They will retail at £22.50 for single size and £27.50 for double size.
Suppliers: www.travelpharm.com, Active8 (01273 821 554 Brighton branch), www.tiso.com, www.itchyfeet.com (0207 292 9750 London branch).
Organic Week
The UK’s largest celebration of organic food and farming takes place from 3 to 11 September 2005. Organic Week is now in its eleventh year and is organised by the Soil Association, the country’s leading organisation certifying and promoting organic food.
This year’s theme is ‘A feast of flavours’ and the Soil Association is encouraging people to enjoy the great taste of organic food. Events include the Organic Food Festival in Bristol on 3rd and 4th September and the Organic Experience Weekend on the 10th and 11th when organic farms around the UK will open their gates to the public, with events for all the family. For details of events around the UK, visit www.soilassociation.org/organicweek or call 0117 314 5000.
Green moves
A web site dedicated to promoting green/eco homes/eco plots for sale in the UK has recently been launched. The site is www.greenmoves.com and will only advertise green, eco friendly and energy efficient homes/plots for sale and for shared ownership.
The venture is sponsored by WWF, the Ecology Building Society and the Naturesave Trust and supported by co2balance, the Somerset Trust for Sustainable Development, Building Research Establishment and Jonathon Porritt CBE.
Advertisers will need to answer key questions online, on what makes the property/plot eco and green, as well as provide pictures and dimensions of rooms or plans if it is a new property. For newly developed properties the homes must be built to the Building Research Establishment’s EcoHomes standard and have received a “very good” or “excellent” rating.
For further information contact Julian Brooks, Managing Director of Green Moves UK Ltd. on 01460 77155 or email jbrooks@greenmoves.com
New Palestine guidebook launched in UK
Olive Co-operative has announced the
arrival in the UK of the first travel guide to Palestine for five years.
The guide, written and published by the Alternative Tourism Group in
Beit Sahour, near Bethlehem, is a comprehensive travel guide to Palestine
(the West Bank and Gaza), including cultural and historical information,
transport and accommodation advice and political context. It also includes
information on Israel and towns of significance to Israel’s remaining
Palestinian population. The guide will be distributed by the UK by Olive
Co-operative, a Manchester organisation specialising in responsible
tourism to Palestine and Israel and the sale of fairly traded Palestinian
goods.
The guide is available from Olive Co-operative’s website for £22.00
inc P&P or from Olive Co-op’s outlets. Trade enquiries are
welcome. ISBN 9950-319-01-3, 438 pages.
For more information contact: Olive Co-operative at www.olivecoop.com,
info@olivecoop.com or call on
0161 273 1970 or 0845 456 1472 (UK local rate) See the ATG website at
www.patg.org, email atg@p-ol.com
Art Not Oil
Art Not Oil is an annual event aimed at encouraging artists to create
work that explores the damage that companies like BP are doing to the
planet, and the role art can play in counteracting that damage.
It is designed in part to paint a truer portrait of an oil company than
the caring image manufactured by the BP Portrait Award, run by the National
Portrait Gallery, a search for the year’s ‘best’ portrait
which also helps to divert public attention and indignation from BP’s
core activities.
Check it out online at www.artnotoil.org.uk
or contact 07708 794665 for details of tour dates.
Eco guitar
Ten years ago Gibson began working with the US group Rainforest Alliance,
whose SmartWood programme audits the chain of custody of certified wood
(certified by the Forestry Stewardship Council). Gibson introduced the
SmartWood Les Paul in 1996 to symbolize this new commitment and to raise
industry awareness of the need for responsible forest management. Since
then, Gibson has moved closer and closer to a goal of 100 percent certified
wood, and the majority of Gibson products now have SmartWood content.
Visit Gibson’s website at www.gibson.com
or check out the Rainforest Alliance at www.rainforest-alliance.org/
DISARM DSEi 2005
DSEi (Defence Systems and Equipment International) is the world’s
biggest weapons fair, selling everything from battleships and attack
helicopters to cluster bombs and machine guns. At DSEi 2003 there were
973 exhibitors selling their deadly wares to delegates from a third
of the world’s countries. DSEi 2005 runs from 13 - 16 September,
at the ExCeL Centre, London Docklands.
DISARM DSEi is calling for a week of action and resistance against this
lucrative trade, both at the exhibition and at relevant targets across
the country. There are also plans for a convergence space and two day
conference. There’s loads to do to make this happen including organising
actions, publicity, fundraising, convergence spaces and mobilisation.
Check it out at www.dsei.org
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