Don’t worry, it’s not an environmental disaster! No, a new green festival ‘Green Wave’ – billed as ‘The Eco Family Fun Weekend’ – is headed for Brighton on Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 July.

You’ll be able to experience all the fun of the green fair in the beautiful setting of Preston Park with eight different interactive Zones, from the Earth Zone – where you might find wormeries, composting ideas and a mini eco farm – to the Energy Zone, for products harnessing sustainable energy, ranging from mobile phones to solar powered cars, and an Energy Play Area or eco circus for children. (click on the image to the right to see the flyer full size)

The emphasis is very much on our favourite watchwords: biodiversity, eco-friendly, Fairtrade, homemade, locally produced, low carbon footprint, recycled and sustainable!

Take a stand!

If you are a Sussex-based ethical business, charity or NGO there is still time for you to take a stand at the fair. Charities and NGOs are eligible for free stands, and there may even be a few free stands available for small ethical businesses that add value or pure fun to the event!

If you are interested in this opportunity, do get in touch with the organisers:

Frank Jay on 01273 323 200 or 07721 633 233 or at frank@neweraassociates.co.uk

Or Jacqui on 01273 323 200 or 07740 201194 or at jac.cuff@talktalk.net

Or simply download the Green Wave booking form and return it to them.

It should be a fantastic event!

Take care,

Katie
Ethical Weddings

Well it has certainly been a busy few months for me with green event season now in full swing. We began our GreenFinder summer tour at U.K Aware which was a fantastic exhibition for green consumers followed by Sheffield green city days and Camden green fair.

This weekend sees the third annual Redditch green fair take place on Saturday so for those of you in the West Midlands area please show your support and come and see what the event has to offer. It is organised by the Redditch Alliance of Greens who always put a great deal of time and effort into the show and they have confirmed that there will be over 26 stalls taking part this year. For more details about the event please visit the Reddditch green fair website. For those of you interested in getting out and about and visiting green fairs and shows in your local area this summer check out our green event listings.

Kate

For all green art enthusiasts, this is the event for you!

A charity art auction, ‘Art Aid: Embrace‘ will be taking place on Saturday 21st June to raise money to support poor communities in Africa, Asia and Latin America adapt to climate change.

The work of around 50 artists from the East Midlands will be displayed in the View from the Top gallery in Nottingham from Wednesday 18th June until the reception and auction on Saturday 21st June.

The many artworks available are:
Painting and Drawing
Mixed Media
Original Printmaking
Ceramics and Sculpture
Photography
Signed Print

So there’s something for all art lovers out there!

If you’d like an evening of culture, treat yourself to a beautiful piece of art and help raise money for those affected by climate change then pop along to the website www.art-aid.org to find out more.

Can big business really save the planet?

Turning up the HEAT is a series of free interactive and virtual debates on climate change and corporate power organised by the World Development Movement.

You can turn up in person to the events in London (8th May), Cardiff (10th May) and Manchester (13th May) or you can watch and participate online – by watching the live webcasts and pre-recorded videos both before and after the events.

Panel speakers include: Rt. Hon Brian Wilson Flying Matters; Caroline Lucas MEP Green Party; Ricardo Navarro CESTA, El Salvador and many more.

For more information and to register please go to: www.wdm.org.uk/heat

Information provided by Rachel Tavernor

“On April 22, 1970, Earth Day was held, one of the most remarkable happenings in the history of democracy…” American Heritage magazine, October 1993

Did you know that today is actually the 38th anniversary of Earth Day? I have to admit I didn’t know that either. Senator Gaylord Nelson, the founder of Earth Day actually had this idea seven years prior to its official celebration. He knew then how important it was to bring attention to the demise of our environment. He had this idea in 1962 on how to bring environmental issues to the fore front; so he persuaded President Kennedy to take a five day, eleven state conservation tour in September 1963. The tour was not as successful as he had hoped in bringing national attention to the environment but it did plant the seed to what would become Earth Day!

“At a conference in Seattle in September 1969, I announced that in the spring of 1970 there would be a nationwide grassroots demonstration on behalf of the environment and invited everyone to participate. The wire services carried the story from coast to coast. The response was electric. It took off like gangbusters. Telegrams, letters, and telephone inquiries poured in from all across the country. The American people finally had a forum to express its concern about what was happening to the land, rivers, lakes, and air – and they did so with spectacular exuberance……….” -Senator Gaylord Nelson (www.earthday.enironlink.org)

Today, because of this one day 38 years ago, when millions of Americans decided to act, we now have laws protecting our most precious resource, our Planet! We have the Clean Air Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, and so many others that help us live in a healthy environment.

Earth Day isn’t just about going out and hugging a tree, it’s the one day to pause and recognize that our very existence depends on how we manage and maintain our surroundings; and to ignore it is to do so at our own peril for now and generations to come.

I’ve always liked the reason why the company Seventh Generation chose that as its name: The company derives its name from the Great Law of the Iroquois that states, “In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations.” This is something to think about on day like today.

I hope you enjoy your day today as there are so many celebrations happening all over. *Fun Fact:  Today is also the birthday of Julius Sterling Morton, founder of Arbor Day (the national tree planting holiday)!

Here’s a small timeline of just how far we’ve come in such a short amount of time:

In the 1970s 20 million people gathered to celebrate the first Earth Day.

In the 1980s Congress declares the public’s right to know when toxic chemicals are released in the air, land, and sea.

In the 1990s the EPA (environmental protection agency) issues tough new air quality standards for smog and soot, an action that would improve the air quality for 125 million Americans.

In the 2000s school buses across the country are retrofitted through the Clean School Bus USA program removing 200,000 lbs. of particulates over the next 10 years.

”Earth Day worked because of the spontaneous response at the grassroots level. We had neither the time nor resources to organize 20 million demonstrators and the thousands of schools and local communities that participated. That was the remarkable thing about Earth Day. It organized itself.” Senator Gaylord Nelson.

Happy Earth Day!

After months and months of planning the U.K Aware Greener Living Expo will take place at the Barbican in central London on the weekend of May 10th & 11th. It is set to be one of the biggest events of its kind and I for one have already been caught up with the excitement of it all.

U.K AWARE are delighted to be able to offer all Green Girls Globals visitors an exclusive two-for- one ticket offer. Simply visit www.ukaware.com and enter the code ‘SUB241’ to obtain your discount. The weekend will be a melting pot of world class speakers and ground-breaking exhibitors, environmentalists, business and innovative design. LONDON AWARE 08 promises hundreds of exciting green products for you to see, touch, feel, taste and smell, and with their 2-for-1 tickets you can bring along your family and friends!

I am going to be setting up my GreenFinder showcase stall there and can’t wait to see whats on offer. I’ve already chosen which speakers I’m planning to go and see and must confess that Trevor Bayliss the inventor of the wind up radio is top of my list.

See you all there!!!!

Having friends over to celebrate Earth Day and don’t know what to serve?  Let Earth Dinner help you plan your meal for your family or your community.

This event was started three years ago by America’s largerst collective of organic farmers: Organic Valley, to honor Earth Day with it’s own special meal.  This is akin to what we Americans do at Thanksgiving.  It has now grown and is taking root all over the nation.

“Many Americans are detached from what they eat and the tremendous impact of their food choices,” says Theresa Martinez, Earth Dinner Founder.

Go to their website, Earth Dinner to see which public events and fundraisers are taking place near you, or for recipe ideas for your own dinner.

Yep, back again to Brighton is the Fashion Made Fair sample sale – much too good (in both the ethical and fashion sense!) to be missed…

From Friday to Sunday come along to Fabrica to take your pick of the best fair trade and ethical fashion.

They’ve got howies, People Tree, Kuyuchi, Terra Plana, Tonic T’s, THTC, Ethletic, Sandbag, Bamboo Clothing, Daryl Black, Amira and Green knickers… all available at up to 80% off!

The sale kicks off this Friday 5.30pm -8.30pm and continues Saturday 10am-6pm, Sunday 10am -4pm.

See you there?

Katie
www.ethicalweddings.com

Today sees the start of Fair Trade fortnight.

There’s more to Fair Trade than just food. It’s not just bananas, cocoa and coffee; Fair Trade can apply to clothes and even toys.

It’s about partnership with the suppliers in developing countries, making sure they get a fair price for their products, whilst ensuring decent working conditions and fair terms of trade, even for the smaller producers.

There are those who claim that retailers are jumping on the proverbial bandwagon to sell us Fair Trade products, but does it matter if they are? Fair Trade sales reached nearly £500 million in the UK last year and that’s down to consumers voting with their wallets to make a difference.

Certified Fair Trade products are easy to spot – they’re allowed to carry the Fairtrade Foundation’s mark.

The Fairtrade Foundation’s message for Fairtrade Fortnight 2008 is that, whilst sales of Fairtrade products continue to soar, change is still not happening quickly enough for the millions of the world’s poorest farmers who remain trapped in ‘trade poverty’. With 2 billion working people earning less than US$2 a day and many of these producing the products we put in our shopping baskets, the Fairtrade Foundation believes that it is critical to increase the momentum for change through Fairtrade in 2008.

Some argue that Fair Trade could be fairer, as much of the profit is still in the processing of the raw materials, which is often done in developed countries. As shoppers, we need to keep putting pressure on the major (and smaller) brands to do as much as possible to support the growers. In the meantime, Fair Trade at least ensures the farmers are getting a fairer deal.

The Fairtrade Foundation expects there to be over 10,000 local events during the fortnight. Find out if there’s a Fairtrade event near you. There’s a Fair Trade bus touring the country and local events range from coffee mornings and wine tasting to concerts and talks with producers.

Last March the city of Sydney plunged itself into darkness to make a statement about climate change.

2.2 million people and 2100 businesses switched their lights off for one hour which, according to the Earth Hour website, reduced Sydney’s energy consumption by 10.2%, the equivalent effect of taking 48,000 cars off the road for one hour. Now that’s impressive.

Earth Hour is happening again this year but on a global scale and with those impressive numbers on saving energy how can you not be involved?

We at Make Hay have signed up to support Earth Hour and committed to switching off our lights for one hour at 8pm on 29th March. You can get involved too by visiting the WWF’s Earth Hour website and giving your support.

This ties in a little with some of my previous posts about energy waste through unnecessary lighting and Earth Hour goes to show just how unnecessary it is.

Recently Nottingham City Council held an event called Nottingham Light Night which, yes you guessed it, meant wasting more electricity on pointless lighting. Sometimes I wonder whether they’ve actually heard about what’s happening to the planet but that’s a whole other topic I could rant on about forverer.

You might ask what the point is of just switching off for a once-a-year event, its what you do every day that counts and I would totally agree. However, I can’t help being inspired when people decide to put their heads together and demonstrate how they feel about an important issue. An event like this also shows that a positive message can spread far and wide and we all have the ability to effect change.

Watch the Earth Hour video and you’ll see what I mean…

Visit www.earthhour.org