London’s liveliest ethical market is being held this weekend. So if you haven’t done your Christmas shopping yet, and you’re in London this weekend, head on down to Conway Hall, WC1 on Saturday and give fair trade, environmental and sustainable gifts this year. The Worldfair is celebrating it’s 21st year with a programme including live music, a fill of delicious food and the capital’s first green Santa’s grotto, as well as over 60 stalls selling ethical wares. And if that’s not enough to get you there, this might just do the trick: there will be free chocolate for all shoppers courtesy of fair trade producer Divine.

The Worldfair will be held on Saturday 15th December (Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, WC1, 11.00am - 6.00pm, nearest tube Holborn). The organisers of the event are Oxfam, War on Want and The World Development Movement.

If you can’t make it to the Worldfair and you still have some Christmas shopping to do, have a look at our big green Xmas gift list for some inspired green online shopping. But hurry, there are only a few more days to go before you miss the last posting date to get your gifts in time for Christmas.

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Like it or not, xmas means shopping to lots of people. In an effort to minimise the damage caused by excess consumerism, we can choose to give gifts that have a lesser impact on the environment, aren’t made in sweatshops or even better, go for something handmade. Of course, the most eco-friendly thing you can do it not go shopping this holiday season, but if you’re not going to go that route, here are some suggestion for gifts that are a lesser evil.

Electronics & Gadgets

This is a good gadget. In Stephen Fry’s recent review of it he declared: “Eat Trevor’s dust, Apple!” The Trevor Baylis Eco Media Player plays music, video and fm radio, and also functions as a torch, sound recorder, photo viewer, mobile phone charger, ebook viewer and data storage device. You can even record your old LPs onto it. It has a dual power system, so if you’re away from your power source (in this case your PC/laptop USB port) for a while, who cares, just wind it up. You get 40 minutes audio play time for each 1 minute of winding. The Eco Media Player features a 1.8″ screen, and 2 gigabytes of internal memory, which holds around 500 songs, and can be expanded by adding an SD Memory Card. £169.99 £134.99. Free shipping with promo code FSCS25 until 21st December 2007. I’m getting one of these babies for my birthday in a couple of weeks time, can’t wait!

Here’s a little something for boys of all ages. The H-Racer is the world’s smallest hydrogen powered fuel-cell car, a futuristic toy car containing one of the most exciting and advanced technologies of the 21st century. With new advances in technology, hydrogen is on its way to becoming the world’s next fuel. The H-racer is the working miniature version of what is being developed in real-size cars of the future, which are also called “zero emissions vehicles”. I can just see boys and their dads falling head over heels for one of these. £74.99 including delivery.

The Eton FR200 Wind Up Radio with Flashlight is ideal for camping, gardening and even in emergencies. The radio has a heavy-duty, splash-proof ABS plastic case, a long-lasting rechargeable battery pack and gives you access to AM, FM, and 11 International Shortwave bands, so you can stay informed where ever you are, even in emergency conditions. Just one minute of winding will give you approximately an hour of radio operation. A gift that will appeal to geeks, hunks or grandpas.£23.99.

Fashion
Handbags and gladrags tend to make an appearance at this time of year. This gorgeous bag wouldn’t be out of place now or at any other time of the year for that matter. The Fairtrade felt Flower Bag is handmade in Nepal by local village women. It’s fully lined and zips up, keeping keys and purses safe. Buying Fairtrade gifts is a wonderful way to give back something at Christmas time to people who work hard for wages that are much lower than ours. £18.50 including delivery.

Food & Drink

Food is such a great gift not only because it brings pleasure to the recipient, but also because it’s something that can be all used up, there’s nothing leftover to go to landfill. And what’s more of a luxury than beautiful and delicious cake and deserts. Tom and Ant’s organic cakes are a feast for the eyes, the taste buds and the stomach. This Christmas Celebration package contains a 10″ cake of your choice and a large mixed desert box, including brownies, chocolates and fudge. £55 including delivery.

Gifts for the Home

This is such a cool gift that it won the Gift Association’s Eco-friendly Gift of the Year Award this year. The Sun Jar is a traditional Mason jar containing a highly efficient solar cell, rechargeable battery and three low energy LED lamps. During the day, put the jar in a sunny location where the solar cell creates an electrical current that charges the battery over a few hours. At night, this energy powers the warm coloured LEDs in the jar, the light of which is diffused by the frosted jar. The jar is watertight so the jar can be put outside to benefit from maximum sunlight. Makes an excellent garden light, mood lighting or night light for children. £19.95.

I hummed and hawed about putting this item on the gift list. It is a piece of furniture, and I’ve never bought anyone a piece of furniture for Christmas, but if you’re one of those couples who buys something together for your home instead of a gift each, or if you have a son or daughter (or friend) who’s just bought their first home, this may be just the thing you’ve been after. They’re called Rock’n'roll shelves, a unique shelving system made in Sweden from unbleached high density paperboard. They are paintable, washable, not inflammable and fully recyclable. I think you’ll agree that they’re also beautiful. £189.99 for a pack of 5 rolls. To make the pictured configuration you’d need two packs.

Kids Stuff

“He thought he could fly up in his spaceship and just grab the star. But his spaceship had run out of petrol last Tuesday when he flew to the moon.” A quote from How to Catch a Star, one of my daughter’s favourite story books. Rockets and spaceships play a big part in children’s fantasies, and this really cool Paperpod Rocket is eco-friendly too. It’s not just a toy rocket, small astronauts can actually fit inside it for planetary exploration missions. It’s made from recycled cardboard, is a blank canvas for budding artists to decorate and personalise, and can be folded away at the end of play. This really appeals to my motherly side, and to the side of me that likes a tidy living room once the kids have gone to bed. £29.99.

The Lorax is a classic in every way. Who doesn’t love Dr Seuss? And this is no ordinary Dr Seuss book, in this book Dr Seuss gets serious and spells out an ecological warning that is as relevant today as it ever was. A great book to get children into the ideas of environmentalism and earth stewardship (although sometimes I think it’s the kids that get it, and it’s the grown-ups who should be reading books like these). By buying a child a copy of this book, you’re passing along an important message in a most enjoyable way. £3.99.

This is the best value wooden kitchen that I’ve come across. I bought one for my daughter 18 months ago and it’s stood up extremely well to being played with on a daily basis. I heartily recommend this all-in-one kitchen for its durability, for being fantastic value for money and for being compact enough to be wheeled into a corner at the end of the day. The kitched includes cooker, hob, washing machine and sink. £79.95.

Book Recommendation

This great read has been the top-seller in our bookshop since I reviewed it back in June. In “How to live off-grid“, Nick Rosen goes into every detail of off-grid living. He provides not only the inspiration to get off the beaten track and find your own space, he also provides countless resources to help you do just what he suggests. To gather the information to write this book, Nick took to the road with his wife and baby daughter in a converted care bus fuelled by vegetable oil and sun. They toured the UK meeting with off-gridders of all sorts. Yurt-dwellers, communards, utopians and rural squatters were all on Nick’s path, all living happy and comfortable lives completely off-grid. Their stories are fascinating, inspiring and sometimes quite far-out. But they all have some lessons to pass on to those of us who until now have only dream about being self-sufficient. £9.09.

Stocking Fillers

Multi-Striped Organic Cotton Socks - treat their feet! £5.95 £4.75

Divine Fairtrade Milk Chocolate Coins - pennies from heaven. £1.99

Felt Finger Puppets (set of five) - These cute little guys will provide hours of fun for the little people in your life. £5.95 £2.35

Swedish Firesteel - For outdoors enthusiasts, these are really cool little gadgets. No need for lighters or matches. With one of these you can pretend you’re Ray Mears. £14.95 £11.95

Forest friendly Butterfly Castanets - For the littlest of people. Brightly coloured butterflies that make a delightful clackety-clack in small hands. £2.49 including delivery.

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Although somewhat dubious, there is an argument for the ethical shopper to visit Primark: with the often stupid amounts of money saved on their goods, you can put more into your fund for the groundbreakingly green products that are inherently more expensive; things like Worn Again shoes.

So it was with a sense of conflict that I decided to venture into the Primark flagship store yesterday, reminding myself of the above argument but ultimately aware of its desire to join in the fun and bag a bargain. But, at the back of the store, a little bit of internal peace could be found: Primark have launched a range of organic cotton sheets and pillowcases! This complements the organic cotton tees, boob tubes, bras and briefs already on sale.

Organic cotton’s a fantastic thing to support, not just to benefit yourself by having something pesticide-free against your skin for a change, but also because it’s a huge help to the environment, health and livelihoods of those in developing countries. Organic farming maintains the quality of the soil, whereas pesticides strip it of its nutrients. But the really shocking fact is that 20,000 farmers die every year by ingesting the pesticides as they spray. If you want to find out more about the effects take a look at this.

Priced at £8 for a fitted double sheet and £4 for a pair of pillowcases, they’re really quite reasonable, and rather attractive in their natural cotton colour, although it seems they’ve still been dyed. But it’s great to see them taking the issues seriously. And of course, as well as supporting high street ethical fashion by voting with your wallet, you can have even more positive influence if you ask to speak to the manager and tell him how pleased you are, or drop them a line at enquiries@primark.co.uk.

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