The Green Village News for the ‘Green Family’ Category
Sunday, July 26th, 2009
Flagship green event, The Big Green Gathering was threatened with High Court injunction proceedings if they were unable to satisfy a number of concerns that Mendip District Council had. In a statement released today, Directors of The Big Green Gathering have been forced to cancel the 2009 festival, surrendering their license for the event.
The much loved and well attended family friendly green festival, which attracts around 20,000 visitors, caters for most tastes and covers many aspects of sustainability and environmental concerns. Activities on site would have included arts and crafts fields, a healing area where people can try alternative therapies and treatments, a children’s area and campaigns fields, as well as providing a range of eating and entertainment experiences for those attending, including music presented in tents powered by renewable energy.
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Tags: council, green event, green festival, mendip district council, the big green gathering
Posted in Events and Courses, Green Family, Green Leisure and Tourism, Green Living | 11 Comments
Monday, July 20th, 2009
With the current economic climate putting restraints on the amount of money people have available to spend on a holiday, staycationing is becoming a popular solution to the family holiday on the cheap. Holidaying in the UK doesn’t only save cash. It can also help you reduce your carbon footprint and save the planet one holiday at a time.
One of the big environmental bonuses of staycationing is the reduced impact from the method of transport you can use to get to your destination. As many people have recently tended to holiday abroad, the form of transport of choice has been by air. Plane travel is one of the biggest contributors to an individual’s carbon footprint, so by reducing the amount of people flying to their holiday destinations, the country’s collective carbon emissions can be significantly reduced.
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Tags: air miles, air travel, carbon emissions, carbon footprint, staycation, staycationing, uk holiday
Posted in Green Family, Green Leisure and Tourism, Green Living | No Comments
Sunday, July 19th, 2009
Back in February Gordon Brown threatened supermarkets that unless they took action to reduce the amount of carrier bags given away, currently 1 billion bags every year of which many are shipped off to landfill after a single use, the government would pass legislation forcing supermarkets to act.
The threat paid off, as carrier bag usage has been reduced by 48% across the UK in May 2009 compared to the amount of bags used in May 2006, meaning a reduction of 420 million fewer carrier bags in total. However with a target of 50% set by British Retail Consortium members, the Welsh Assembly, Scottish Parliament, Northern Ireland Department of the Environment and Defra in 2008, this is still 2% short of their original aim.
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Tags: bag for life, brc, carrier bags, plastic bags, pollution, supermarkets
Posted in Companies and Organisations, Environmental Impact, Ethical shopping, Green Family, Green Living, Green Planet, Recycling and Waste | No Comments
Tuesday, July 14th, 2009
Supermarket chain Asda have announced the launch of a new range of low carbon beef as part of their latest efforts to reduce their store’s environmental impact and increase their green credentials. The addition of the new product range comes as part of a programme the company has introduced in order to calculate the carbon footprint of the meat on its shelves.
The range of beef is sourced from bull calves born into dairy herds that would usually either be exported or shot at birth due to their low value to dairy farmers. Asda source the meat from British dairy farmers who raise the calves to 9-11 months old. Compared to standard beef that is usually slaughtered at 24 months old, Asda claim their low carbon beef has a carbon footprint that is up to a third less than other beef.
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Tags: asda, beef, calf, dairy cows, imported meat, supermarket
Posted in Companies and Organisations, Ethical shopping, Food and Farming, Green Family, Green Living, Green Planet | 2 Comments
Sunday, July 12th, 2009
At a time when allotment waiting lists are as long as your arm and people are looking for different ways to get their own bit of ‘The Good Life’ by growing their own veg, National Trust has come up with the perfect solution. Window boxes.
With 600 acres of window box space across the UK, National Trust have launched a new campaign that aims to spread the word about using this potentially valuable space to provide fresh vegetables and herbs for the kitchen. There are many options available for growing in small spaces, with some varieties of lettuce being particularly good for growing in pots, especially varieties you can cut to come again; tumbling tomatoes that grow well in hanging baskets or window boxes providing fresh cherry tomatoes through the summer, and even beetroot. If you don’t fancy growing vegetables, there are plenty of varieties of herbs that you could try your hand at.
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Tags: container gardening, Grow Your Own, herbs, national trust, vegetables, window boxes
Posted in Companies and Organisations, Food and Farming, Green Family, Green Living, Green Planet, Grow Your Own, Self-Sufficiency | No Comments
Saturday, June 27th, 2009
Animal welfare organisation Compassion in World Farming have organised the Bake With Compassion week to promote baking with free range eggs and help campaign against caged and battery production. The weeklong campaign will take place between 6th and 12th July and aims to raise money through fundraising events to help promote the chickens’ cause.
The fundraising campaign will coincide with CIWF’s Good Egg Awards, which celebrate companies and organisations that switch to using free range eggs in their businesses and products and calls on budding cooks and home bakers to put on their pinnies and make some homemade goodies to promote the importance of using free range eggs.
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Tags: bake with compassion, baking, battery hens, caged hens, ciwf, compassion in world farming, free range, free range eggs, good egg awards, homemade cakes
Posted in Companies and Organisations, Ethical shopping, Events and Courses, Food and Farming, Green Family, Green Living, Green Planet | 2 Comments
Thursday, June 25th, 2009
Despite homeopathic treatment prescribed by the NHS being at the request of patients, the practice has received criticism due to the total amount spent on the alternative therapy totaling £12 million across the UK over the last three years. The treatment is based on the theory that like treats like, and patients are prescribed minute doses of plant extracts diluted down that aim to treat the underlying cause of illness, rather than simply relieving the symptoms.
Criticism has come from a number of people including Professor of Complementary Medicine, Edzard Ernst, who has said that homeopathic remedies are little more than sugar pills, and their effects are placebo. There have been calls for doctors to stop prescribing homeopathic treatment for patients as a result of this, although not everybody is of the opinion that homeopathy is a waste of time.
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Tags: alternative medicine, alternative therapies, annabel croft, complementary therapy, homeopathy, natural remedies, nhs
Posted in Green Family, Green Living, Health and Wellbeing | 1 Comment
Monday, June 22nd, 2009
Today marks the start of the 5th annual ‘Recycle Week’, a nationwide initiative looking to promote waste reduction and recycling across the UK. More than 330 events will take place over the course of the week from 22nd-28th June, with the theme of ‘Let’s Waste Less’.
As part of the campaign, Recycle Now is challenging people to pledge to kick start new environmentally friendly habits and recycle more of the waste we produce including textiles, glass and electrical goods, to making greener consumer choices such as choosing to buy peat free compost, to using leftover food for tomorrow’s lunch. The site also includes details of the many events taking place, including roadshows providing advice on recycling and composting.
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Tags: landfill, love food hate waste, recycle now, recycle week, recycling, waste reduction
Posted in Environmental Impact, Green Family, Green Living, Green Planet, Recycling and Waste | 1 Comment
Friday, June 5th, 2009
Next week, 8th-14th June, is the RSPB’s ‘Make Your Nature Count’ week, where nature lovers up and down the UK are being asked to monitor the wildlife visiting their garden over a one hour period during the week.
The week-long survey is a follow up to the ‘Big Garden Bird Watch’ that takes place in January and helps the RSPB monitor and identify trends among wintering bird populations. It is hoped that ‘Make Your Nature Count’ will help provide insights into the amount of wildlife passing through Britain’s gardens, and to celebrate the important role wildlife plays.
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Tags: badgers, big garden bird watch, birds, frogs, hedgehogs, make your nature count, RSPB, squirrels, toads, wildlife monitoring
Posted in Companies and Organisations, Conservation and Wildlife, Events and Courses, Green Family, Green Living, Green Planet | No Comments
Wednesday, May 13th, 2009
The plans for the London Array, originally proposed in 2001 and which have stood in jeopardy for the last few years have finally been approved thanks to new funding secured by the UK government in last month’s Budget.
German energy giant, E.ON, the company responsible for the majority of Denmark’s wind power and for building half of the off shore wind farms in the world, DONG Energy, and an Abu Dhabi government controlled fund, Masdar, have come together to make the London Array a reality, investing £2.2bn in the development. Work on the onshore farm will begin this summer, with the offshore farm development due to begin in 2011.
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Tags: dong energy, eon, government, masdar, renewable energy, wind farm, wind power
Posted in Companies and Organisations, Energy and Resources, Environmental Politics, Green Family, Green Planet, Sustainable Development | No Comments
