The festival and camping season is on the horizon and to help you stay green through your outdoorsy adventures in 2008, Ecotopia have launched the Eco Festival Pack. With this pack, you’ll be able to considerably reduce your carbon footprint at events. It contains everything you need to have a happy, healthy and eco friendly festival or camping experience.

This is what the kit contains:

Freeloader Solar Charger
Freeloader is an advanced portable solar powered charger that can power everything from phones to gaming machines to digital cameras anywhere, anytime. Power is taken from Freeloader’s solar panels or via a supplied charge cable that plugs into a computer’s USB port. It comes in a tough but stylish aluminium body that can take the knocks of every day life whether you’re away on business, climbing Ben Nevis or chilling out at the V festival or Glastonbury.

The Freeplay Kito LED Lantern
Combining Freeplay technology with the reliability of LED illumination, with the Freeplay Kito LED Lantern you’ll never worry about replacing batteries or bulbs again, or even charging from a wall. A 60-second wind provides one hour of illumination - the more you wind the longer it shines.

Badger Tangerine Breeze Lip & Body Balm
Sooth and moisturise your skin and lips with this fruity scented Badger balm’s blend of essential oils. making it the perfect all purpose product to keep with you at all times. Handily packaged in a cute tin to carry with you wherever you go

Kingfisher Toothpaste
A natural toothpaste that’s suitable for children, vegetarians, homeopathic users (shame some of you can’t touch the mint), vegans, Halal, and some kosher diets and people who want good healthy teeth. Kingfisher is approved by the British Dental Health Foundation.

Preserve 100% Recycled Toothbrush
Recycled Plastic Adult Medium Toothbrush.

Tushies Baby Wipes
These wipes are perfect when you can’t face the festival showers? Keep clean and fresh, even in the sweatiest of conditions. Tushies natural formula wipes contain Aloe Vera, Vitamin E, and are hypoallergenic and alcohol-free. Each wipe is thick and comfortably soft. The natural cleansing lotion will moisturise and soften your skin and are biodegradable. Contains 80 wipes.

Condomi Condoms
Totally biodegradable, all condomi condoms are free of animal derivatives and meet or surpass all global and domestic quality accreditations. A new take on the concept of safe sex.

Natracare Organic Feminine Wipes
For everyday freshness, during your period, or when travelling, Natracare certified Organic Cotton natural wipes, enriched with Calendula and Chamomile are gentle for cleansing delicate skin because they only use ingredients derived from plants and never use the harsh chemicals and damaging preservatives used in everyday wipes. Essential if your weekend away coincides with that time of the month.

Toms of Maine Deodorant
Banish smelly pits with Toms of Maine Wood spice Gentle Deodorant, created specifically for people with sensitive skin. A combination of sage extract and lemongrass oil is used as odour-fighting botanicals and only mild fragrances are chosen. This deodorant smells great.

Degradable Refuse Sacks
At the end of your festival experience, clean up your living area with 100% degradable refuse sacks that will degrade to just CO2 and water after its useful life.

To buy this kit will cost you £59.99 (a saving of £10 compared to buying each product separately), or you can win a kit by entering our giveaway offer. To stand a chance of winning, simply click here to enter the competition. Good luck!

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Photo by PJBert_2332

The National Caravan Council have launched a green caravanning website to encourange caravanners to go green, and to encourage non-caravanners to look at caravanning as a relatively low-emissions way of enjoying a UK or European holiday. The site compares the CO2 emissions of different combinations of car type and caravan size on four different popular routes and also has some handy tips for caravanners who want to lessen fuel consumption and CO2 output.

1. A perfect match - chose a towcar that is the right match for your caravan so you are not constantly changing gear. There are outfit matching programs used by caravan dealers to help you with this.

2. Watch your speed - towing at 40mph, where appropriate, will use much less fuel than when towing at 50mph (or more).

3. Lighten up - the more weight that you carry the more you have to accelerate and brake in speed changes.

4. Be cycle savvy – cycling when on holiday is a virtually zero emission way of getting around. But irregular-shaped items, such as bicycles, on a roof rack increases wind drag. Rear-mounted carriers are more energy efficient. (Don’t be tempted to carry them on a rack on the front of the caravan as this might adversely affect noseweight and the balance of your caravan.)

5. Box clever - the use of a profiled roofbox may enhance the aerodynamic properties of the towcar/caravan combination and reduce fuel consumption. Remove roof bars when not in use, otherwise solo consumption will be worsened.

6. Be a considerate caravanner - try to travel at less busy times. If caught in a traffic jam or causing a tailback, try to leave the road and allow the flow to stabilise. The ability to pull up and take time out is one of the major advantages for a caravanner and a goodwill gesture to other road users!

7. Turn off – switch off your engine if there is clearly no movement ahead – not just when towing.

8. Stop starting - in a long tailback, try driving slowly forwards in a low gear, thus reducing the need to brake and avoiding stop/start motoring. It’ll reduce brake and clutch wear, too.

9. Service station - ensure that your car and caravan are serviced regularly, so that both are in optimum condition.

10. No pressure? Check tyre pressures regularly - correct tyre pressures on your car and caravan reduce fuel consumption and prevent adverse tyre wear and handling problems.

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This blog post was written by Stephen Knight, webmaster for Volunteer Latin America, an independent and ethical organisation committed to helping protect Latin America’s flora and fauna, its biodiversity, and to offering the most cost effective way to become an environmental or humanitarian volunteer in Central and South America.

Whether you are planning the trip of a lifetime, a gap year abroad or just a holiday break, you can make a difference when you travel, not only for yourself but for the people and places you visit.

Being a responsible traveller means more than just offsetting your carbon emissions, it requires thought and preparation. Responsible travel is based on the principles of sustainability and it requires you to examine the environmental, social and economic dimensions of your trip. Thus, responsible travel is all about minimizing the impact of your travel and maximizing the benefits for local economies, environments and host communities.

Making informed choices before and during your trip is the single most important thing you can do to become a responsible traveller.

Give some serious thought to your packing list. Your hi-tech synthetic travel jacket might keep you snug, but is it also warming up the planet or exploiting the people you plan to visit? Your soap and shampoo may smell wonderful but are they biodegradable? Try and ensure your backpack contains as many ethical products as possible (i.e. environmentally-friendly, fair-trade, not tested on animals etc).

Travel lightly and leave any excess packaging at home (i.e. plastic wrapping) - your hosts shouldn’t have to deal with your rubbish.
Click here to read more…

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