Every now and again we are given the gift of true presence. Usually it is when we are faced with the stark reality of life ending, whether it is through the death of someone or something beloved. The details that we often think of as life itself, fall away and the mystery of our frail human form and relationships that make life meaningful is all that we have, and all that we ever really had.

This naked place of pure presence is not an easy one to live in- we know in these moments of pure love and connection, pure loss and loneliness that our emotions are not thoughts in our head, but physical weighty forces that fill our physical body so completely that they have the power to alter our senses. Falling in love is a full body experience, one that alters how we see everything- a more powerful drug you can’t find on the planet.

The same is true for grief, especially grief that we don’t allow ourselves to experience. Feeling the weight of our own sadness is frightening. There is no deeper emotional access to the present moment than our sadness and grief. Yet feeling the full force of these emotions often reminds me of my kids when they were three years old, just old enough to get their experience but without a big enough body to contain it or a language to express it. Witnessing the trauma of a full on tantrum is enough to make any sane adult choose to repress it, the power of the feelings are as large as any force of nature.

When it’s over, I want to say: All my life

I was a bride married to amazement.

I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms. Mary Oliver

Giving yourself or someone you love this gift of pure presence is the most amazing and life changing gift you can offer. Here’s the truth… it doesn’t work to repress our feelings. Our experience of life deserves to be witnessed and shared. All that is not given the air and space in the world around us will like any force of nature so transform and alter our internal landscape that we can’t find our presence- with ourselves and not with the people we long to love the most.

Eternity is not waiting to happen after you die, it is happening right now- and the meaning and love that you have the chance to make in your life is the only gift that will really count when your days are over. So instead of just exchanging physical gifts this holiday season- open your arms wide to the stories and feelings that make our presence real and our relationships sustainable.

My gift for the season was launching my new website www.goodcleanlove.com.  Come visit and share your stories of sustainable love.

A user-friendly guide to organising an eco-friendly Christmas.

So, you’ve taken steps to reduce the impact your lifestyle has on the environment; you wash your clothes at 30 degrees, you walk on short journeys, you carry re-usable bags, you’ve changed your light bulbs to energy saving ones, and perhaps you have even had an eco-friendly party using products from Little Cherry!

But what about an eco-friendly Christmas? Traditionally a time of over indulgence in every way, it’s obvious why we would get wrapped up in the excitement and relax our habits towards being friendly to our planet… but this year why not try to organise a green Christmas.

It is estimated that we make a massive 3 million tones of rubbish over the festive period, and sadly much of this ends up dumped in landfill rather than recycled. Did you know that approximately 1 billion Christmas cards could end up in the bin this year?

So follow our eco-friendly Christmas tips and choose to make it a Green Christmas in 2007!

Christmas Tree, Christmas Tree
Almost 8 million Christmas Trees will be used this year resulting in an estimated 12 million tones of rubbish. Don’t choose an artificial tree, massive amounts of fossil fuels are used in their production and they only last a few years – you can’t beat the wonderful smell of a real tree – make sure you choose a Christmas tree with roots, and help the environment by planting it afterwards!

Did you know that real trees are completely carbon neutral? So collect one from your local FSC accredited supplier and if replanting your tree after Christmas isn’t an option, contact your local council or www.letsrecycle.com for tree recycling schemes.

Decorations
Bring nature back into your home by decorating with real holly and ivy, collect attractive branches from your local park and dip them into vegetable based water paints for an unusual display.

Invest in re-usable decorations such as our 100% cotton Christmas Bunting, which is hand made in the UK. Use cotton or wooden decorations, not only are they better for the environment but they also look much more stylish.

Choose low energy LED Christmas lights and remember to turn them off when you are out or at night.

Cards
Send e-cards rather than traditional cards and make sure you recycle any cards after the festive season by using them as gift tags, or The Woodland Trust, the UK’s leading conservation charity, arranges for the recycling of used Christmas cards via Tesco and WH Smith. Visit www.woodland-trust.org.uk/recycling for more details.

Gifts
Less is more this year – choose charitable gifts which help others, such as those through Oxfam Unwrapped. Children also love the idea of helping animals, and through the World Wildlife Fund you can adopt a range of endangered species including orangutans and pandas (www.wwf.org.uk/adoption).

Pass any unwanted toys or gifts to charity chops, your local hospital or school; try to choose gifts that are recycled such as our pencil case which is made from recycled car tyres! Instead of mass produced plastic toys, choose wooden ones made from sustainable wood and painted in non-toxic paints, such as our best selling Fire Engine or Cement Mixer, or how about our wooden jewelry or skipping ropes?

Wrapping Paper
Around 83km2 of wrapping paper will be used this year – make a difference and wrap your gifts in a re-usable 100% cotton bag or in recycled wrapping paper. If you can, save any wrapping paper from gifts you receive and re-use it next year, if you get too excited when unwrapping your presents so this isn’t possible, make sure you recycle any paper after use.

Batteries
We get through more batteries at this time of year than any other; batteries contain toxic chemicals, don’t biodegrade and are difficult to recycle. Make sure you cut down on your toxic waste by only using rechargeable batteries.

Food
Visit your local Farmers Market (find one through the Soil Association or www.farmersmarkets.net) and buy locally produced organic food. Not only will you be reducing the amount of packaging you take home but organic foods contain higher levels of nutrients than other foods, so your taste buds and body will thank you for it too! An organic turkey is an absolute must, and as 4,200 tonnes of aluminium foil is thrown away over the festive period – make sure your aluminium foil is washed and recycled after use!

Compost all your green waste and any leftovers rather than sending them to the landfill, your local council should have cheap compost bins available.

Packaging
Did you know that around 125,000 tonnes of plastic packaging will be wasted this year? Try not to buy anything with excessive packaging and buy your vegetables loose. Make sure you carry re-usable bags with you on all shopping trips to reduce your plastic bag usage.

Christmas Party!
Make your Christmas Party a green one, use our biodegradable organic bamboo plates or our plates made from recycled organic yoghurt pots. Make sure cutlery is recycled and re-usable and choose recycled napkins. Browse through our comprehensive range of products and celebrate in style this year!

Finally…
Try to make a difference by extending the reduce, re-use, recycle mantra to Christmas this year, lets teach our children how to look after the planet and its resources, that’s the most stylish way to celebrate!

Wishing you a very merry green, eco-friendly Christmas!

Lucy Brindley – www.littlecherry.co.uk

Is it too early to start talking about Christmas yet?  I try to refrain because here in the USA holiday decorations start to go up the very next day after Halloween!

Every year this debate comes up:  The Christmas Tree!  Do you buy a real one or go plastic.

I actually think this debate was settled or at least a very convincing opinion was given by advice maven Umbra at Grist.org (I LOVE her column), and through her I even learned that there is such a thing as an organic Christmas Tree!

But alas dear readers I sit her writing with a bag over my head (canvas, of course) because I have a plastic tree!!  I’ve had it for YEARS.  I NOW know that real trees come from sustainable forests, but I didn’t know back then.  I thought I was doing the right thing by buying a plastic (oh the horror) tree, plus it really came down to economics with me.  I just couldn’t afford a real tree on a student’s budget, so I knew a fake tree would pay for itself over time (and it has).

But for those of us who inherited a fake one, take heart in knowing that you are at the very least reusing and recycling.  Even Jim Motavalli, the editor of E, The Environmental Magazine, brings out his fake tree he inherited from his grandparents. (source: Washingtonpost.com 11.29.07-The Greening of Christmas)

If you do not already own a fake tree, don’t go buy one.  I strongly advocate for the real thing.  Unfortunately here in America fake trees are gaining in popularity!  Good grief people, did you not learn anything from A Charlie Brown Christmas, besides you just can’t replicate that real tree scent and that actually is the best part about the tree anyway!

With the weather turning cold and the nights drawing in, it’s not hard to find yourself dreaming of sunnier climes. Maybe your ideal getaway is a sun-drenched white sand beach, perhaps your imagining takes you to tropical rainforests full of rare wildlife, or it could be that a visit to a new city, to explore an exotic culture, is your ideal. Whichever way, you’re unlikely to happen upon any of these scenes by staying at home. In fact, there’s a strong possibility that a flight would be in order to reach any of these destinations. So how can any of these holidays be eco-friendly?

Although it is a widely established fact that airline emissions have a harmful effect on the environment, there are many other factors to take into consideration before ruling out an overseas holiday destination. Tourism is a vital source of income for many countries and for many destinations the impact of eco-tourism, rather than mainstream tourism, is actually beneficial to local communities, by bringing in investment and work opportunities and by helping to preserve culture and traditions. It can also be of benefit to natural habitats by assisting with conservation and education efforts. In addition to this, responsible travel encourages cultural exchange and understanding.

Posada Amazonas Eco Lodge, in the rainforests of Peru, is a good example of the positive effects of eco-tourism. This eco-lodge is jointly owned by the local community and has seen the improvement of infrastructure for health, education and transportation in the local area. Due to eco-tourists coming to see the amazing wildlife found in the region, the community has become aware of the importance of conservation and has incorporated regulations which forbid members to hunt in the communal reserve, to fish with nets in the lake, or to cut forest around harpy eagle nests.

Another example of the benefits of eco-tourism is Kizingo Lodge on Kenya’s Lamu Island . While holiday-makers can relax on the 12km beach, the Lodge works to protect baby Green turtles as they find their way to the ocean, and incentivise local fishermen to tag and release turtles caught in their nets. The Lodge also works with partners to operate the Kipungani schools trust, which builds schools in the local and surrounding area and sponsors scholarship students to move on to secondary education.

Even chic city hotels can be eco-friendly. Take the Shinta Mani in Cambodia. While visitors can spend their time visiting the cultural attractions of Siem Reap, such as the temples of Angkor Wat, this hotel has an ongoing commitment to the local community including an Insitute of Hospitality which provides free hospitality industry training for young Cambodians at risk.

Without international tourists, projects like this all around the world could not exist. There would be fewer funds for conservation efforts, there would be less incentive for local communities to protect their natural environment and, with a decrease in income, some communities would be forced to resort back to illegal poaching and logging to make a living.

That isn’t to say that you shouldn’t take any measures to reduce your carbon emissions from flying. For example, you could reduce the number of flights you take each year and stay for longer in the destinations you travel to. As take-off and landing are the worst time for carbon emissions, you could also try to avoid stop-overs en-route when you fly to an overseas destination. Another option is to off-set your carbon emissions through a carbon-offsetting scheme.

Whatever you decide to do, respect the environment and respect the local culture, and you are sure to have a good time!

If you’re interested in finding eco-friendly accommodation for your next holiday, here are a couple of websites which might help you:

ecobookers – This accommodation-only website features a wide range of eco-friendly accommodation around the world, from eco-friendly hotels and ecolodges, to eco-camps and tree houses. The site provides online price quotes and secure booking. UK customers booking through the site can also take advantage of benefits with eco-friendly partners.

responsibletravel.com – This responsible travel agent offers a wide range of holidays which benefit local people and minimise negative environmental impacts. Holidays on offer include cultural tours, safaris, volunteer travel, wildlife holidays and walking holidays, each available through responsible operators.

Summer holiday season is coming to an end, and it’s almost time to stow those suitcases back in the attic until next year. For the more organised amongst us, it’s also time to start thinking about next year’s destination of choice. But if you’re trying to keep your carbon footprint in-check, jetting off to explore foreign climes brings with it a whole new dilemma: not just where to go, but whether flying is really an environmentally friendly choice.

I work for the Air Transport Action Group, which is a global cross-industry coalition including airlines, airports, aircraft and engine manufacturers, air traffic controllers, etc. that have decided to coordinate their environmental activities to reduce the impact of aviation on the environment. One of the initiatives we’re working on is called Enviro.aero which aims to illustrate what the entire air transport industry is doing to reduce its environmental impact – we also have a website: www.enviro.aero .

Flying is an important part of both our business and our personal lives, allowing us to visit friends and explore new places, which just wouldn’t be practically accessible by any other form of transport. However, both individuals and the industry need to adopt a responsible approach to limiting aviation’s environmental effects.

This means you need not avoid holidaying abroad, but you do need to be a responsible traveller. And the first step is often the hardest – when you fly… pack light! Yes, they do make suitcases that can carry your entire wardrobe these days, but wouldn’t it be nicer not to have to enlist a team of fellow travellers to haul your bag off the conveyor belt for once? Think about what you’ll really need to take, rather than how big your weight allowance is, and you’ll probably save a good few kilos.

Leaving even one kilo of luggage at home can make a surprisingly big difference. An aircraft will burn about 0.03kg of fuel for each kilogramme carried per hour. Based on that average, and given that the total commercial fleet combined flies about 57 million hours per year, saving one kilogramme on each flight could save roughly 170,000 tonnes of fuel and 540,000 tonnes of CO2 per year. Let that be your inspiration, and leave a few things behind next time you fly.

A lighter bag also makes it easier to get yourself down to the nearest train station or bus terminal, and taking public transport to the airport is another step towards reducing CO2 emissions and improving local air quality. Public transport to and from our airports has never been so good. Just look at the effect the Heathrow Express has had in London: it can carry 5.5 million passengers annually, which means 3,000 fewer cars on the road every day.

Once you’ve done all you can to minimise the emissions of your flight, think about offsetting those which are unavoidable. Some airlines, including British Airways, SAS Group, and Cathay Pacific, now offer you the opportunity to offset when you buy your ticket. Although I’d agree it’s not perhaps a long-term solution, offsetting does fund projects, which will contribute to reducing the levels of CO2 in the atmosphere, so it shouldn’t be dismissed.

And of course, it’s not just you as the passenger who should behave responsibly. The whole air transport industry has a role to play and is in the process of implementing a number of initiatives to fulfil their obligation to reduce emissions. The industry is investing in the latest and most efficient aircraft technology; it is decreasing the weight of planes and saving fuel; it is developing new operational procedures on the ground that save fuel; and is constructively moving towards emissions trading in Europe. Alternative fuels are being investigated for both aircraft and ground vehicles; modified winglets are being introduced which reduce drag and can improve fuel efficiency by five percent, and by working with governments across the world to shorten routes, the industry saved 6 million tonnes of CO2 last year.

Whether we’re flying for business or personal reasons, it’s up to us as consumers to work with the industry to minimise the environmental impact of our travels. We shouldn’t have to leave our environmental principles at home when we travel, and I don’t believe we have to. Carefully planned packing, responsible travel to the airport, and a contribution to offsetting your impact will mean that wherever you end up, on a sun-soaked beach or muddy mountain trail, you don’t need to worry about how you got there (until you need to find your way home…).

Once upon time there lived a little girl who hated bath time. Her mummy decided that she needed to find a way to get the little girl to take a bath. Knowing she loved stories her mummy would promise that for every bath she took she would tell her a story. This worked a treat and for the next 2 or 3 years story time and bath time were rolled into one.

Now one of the little girl’s favourite stories was of a magical land far away. This beautiful island could only be reached by boat and had more butterflies than people living there.

No cars were allowed on the island because that would certainly ruin it’s peace and tranquility and there were no supermarkets either. The little girl loved this story and would ask for it time and time again. She loved to hear about the people on their bicycles and in their horse and carriages going about their daily lives.

Thirty years later the little girl now grown up finally visited ‘Sark’ this mysterious island she’d heard so much about. Nestling amongst the other Channel Islands she took a day trip from Jersey on the ferry and decided to see the place for herself. It was just as she had imagined….

Yes, cars were still not allowed to disturb the peace and the place was heaven for cyclists, walkers, horse riders and wildlife. The sun shone, the sea sparkled and the scenery was amazing.

While it may not be everybodies cup of tea, it is certainy worth a visit if you crave something a bit different, a gentler pace of life, peace and tranquility and a pleasant little eco break away. Sark is really splendid!

The sun was shining on me all weekend, maybe I was just short on Vitamin D, but I can’t put into words just how healing the hours on a warm sunny beach was to my soul. This is a small miracle on the Oregon coast. You never know what you will get in the little micro climate we call beach, but when it is glorious- windfree, sunny days- you take it as a blessing.

That and slowing down the pace enough to actually find the moment and suddenly the burden of family and growing children was a gift, the entire lens shifted and I could see through grateful eyes. That is the prayer answered, the moments when we can see our lives as the gift that they are. I would like to believe that I could have come to that place had the overcast skies never broken, but I know myself. It would have been too easy to keep wishing for what I didn’t have, lamenting how life wasn’t exactly how I wanted it.

You’d think we/I would grow out of that useless behavior by now. I have read enough meditation texts that I know deeply the waste of time my energy fuels with the discontented longing for life to be some other way. It is just a short trip from there to a tiny thought fueling a fast spiral into some familiar resentment. I have spent way too much of the last few months battling back to eventide.

So thank you to the sun, to the ocean roaring in and going out, to the warm soft sand under my feet. Thank you to a world which was just as I had wished it, so that I can remember how beautiful life really is- all the time, whether it is to my specifications or not.

I was reading about the recently disclosed letters of Mother Teresa during this coming to the light of mine and tried to imagine a woman who brought light and hope to millions of people during her lifetime, and who all the while agonized about her own personal connection to God. Was it a mask as she claimed in her darker moments, the smile and comfort that touched so many lives, or did she just not get that each of those connections was her being loved by God.

They referred to her 50 some years of searching as a crisis in faith, but I am not sure if I would agree, it might have actually been her triumph of faith that allowed her to make her ministry one of the great forces of love in history. It feels like a deep lesson to me, the girl who is always touting the power to sustain love- you don’t have to feel connected to do the work of connecting. Love is love whether we feel it or not. Believing in it, acting for it even when we most long for it- might be all we get- and every now and again- the sun is shining on us.

I have been a quiet little green girl for the last few weeks as I’ve been busily working away on the launch of the 2007 Responsible Tourism Awards, this year with a new headline sponsor, Virgin Holidays.

The Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Awards are the largest of their kind in the world.

They are a collaboration between our team at online travel agent responsibletravel.com who organise the Awards, UK media partners, The Times and Geographical Magazine, and The World Travel Market who host the presentation event – this year at the first ever WTM World Responsible Tourism Day.

The guiding principle of the Awards is that all types of tourism – from niche to mainstream – can and should be operated in a way that respects and benefits destinations and local people.

The Awards are different from other tourism Awards in that winners are nominated by tourists. In 2006 we received over 1200 nominations! You can read about last year’s winners in the 2006 Awards Brochure.

I won’t say anymore right now except to tell you to get yourself a copy of The Times (if you’re in the UK) this Saturday for the launch of the Awards in the Travel section.  The whole of the Travel supplement will be dedicated to responsible tourism and you can find out how to nominate your best responsible tourism holiday and even how to win a holiday yourself!

I’ll be back with more after the launch…

Happy travelling!

Katie
responsibletravel.com