james & jac @ home: September 2006

Something is definitely happening out there... There are so many exciting news stories and announcements that I thought it would be a good idea to summarise for a lunch-time/evening read, and if you are interested please have a click, or pass onto your friends/colleagues who are interested.

Even more first off... Just go and see An Inconvenient Truth... with Al Gore. It's a great movie, and your planet relies on it.
http://climatecrisis.org/

First off Green Pages: 'Launching Oct 10 - Fed Square'. Top notch reference for all things environmental! Just looking at the menu shows all the different areas - so before you head to white or yellow pages, stop off at green pages first to see if you can find what you are looking for!

http://www.greenpagesaustralia.com.au/

Sainsbury's in green packing push - Sainsbury's [UK Supermarket chain] - aim to transfer all their own-brand produce to compostable packaging, and are encouraging other supermarket chains to do the same, and for the government to provide compostable bins to the general public. Just for Sainsbury's alone this amounts to a saving of 3500 tonnes of plastic per year. Amazing.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5326138.stm

E-Cycling Made Easier - "WE ALL HAVE A STAKE in protecting the environment, and that includes producers, users, and recyclers of electronic equipment. Governments around the world are pressuring both users and producers into environmental virtue through regulations, mandates, and directives. But a new program, based on a new IEEE standard, aims to entice rather than coerce."

http://bmsmail3.ieee.org:80/u/3721/80259122

Where's my Beet? - This is something a friend of mine, Alex, in San Francisco picked up in his local area re: 'Food Miles' - the availability and delivery of locally produced produce, compared to shipping things from the other side of the world. A fantastic idea - you print out a postcard and give it to local shops and restaurants. It says the following: "Hi There. I am a regular customer who wants to let you know how much my family and I enjoy doing business here. There are many farming and fishing families in...(your town/state here)..........., and I would like to support them by buying locally harvested products as I can. It would be great to see signs highlighting....(your town / /state/ area here)...... Grown produce, cheeses and fish in your establishment. I hope you will give patrons like me the opportunity to support local family farms and fisheries while we also support you. Thanks so much"

Become carbon neutral - offset your carbon emissions through planting trees, investing in renewables or purchasing carbon credits. Simple and relatively cheap. Also calculate your emissions.

http://www.elementree.com.au/ or http://www.climatefriendly.com/

On the road to a hydrogen-fuelled future - THE latest developments in enviro-friendly fuel-cell technology could find their way into real-world applications within the next decade.
http://carsguide.news.com.au/story/0,20384,20391392-21822,00.html

On a more sad note, the plight of the Orang-utans in Borneo. In short - sale of Palm Oil, which is located in 1 in 10 of our supermarket products (often branded as vegetable oil, and is also used as a biofuel) is driving deforestation of their habitat. in 1990 there were 200,000 Orang-utans, in 2000, 50000 left and reports are now that ~ 5000 per year are dying. It is an absolute disaster zone and something which is being driven by the first world's demand for this product. It can be produced safely, but assistance is required to put pressure on supermarkets to ensure that their suppliers use Palm oil that only comes from known safe sources.

Download a sample letter here and post it to your supermarket today... http://www.savetheorangutan.co.uk/?page_id=36

Have a great, and hopefully sustainable, day.