The search is on for the UK’s most inspiring, female-led ethical business, with the launch of the Triodos Women in Ethical Business Awards (WEBA) 2008, in association with eve magazine. If you’re a woman who runs or owns a business that’s based on sound ethical principles and you’ve been trading for at least 3 years, you could win yourself an outfit from fair trade and organic fashion retailer Adili, a years’ worth of clean, green electricity from Ecotricity and a weekend break at Pelham House Hotel in Lewes, East Sussex. There is also an award category for female eco-entrepreneurs. Entry is free and all applicants will be invited to a free business master class from Lynne Franks, where the cream of UK ethical business will share the secrets behind their commercial success. All short-listed candidates will be entered into the eve magazine award, voted for by its readers. Applicants should call 0117 980 9631 or visit Triodos for more information and to apply. All entries must be received by 14 February 2008.

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The German Atomic Forum has been awarded the Worst EU Greenwash Award 2007 for “the most audacious attempts to gain unjustifiable green credentials”. It was nominated for a campaign that set out to improve the image of nuclear energy, using the slogan: “Germany’s unloved climate protectionists”, and depicting nuclear power stations in unspoiled and unpolluted natural environments.

“The German Atomic Forum took advantage of the public’s concern about climate change to promote nuclear energy,” says Ulrich Mueller from LobbyControl. “The one-sided ads use idyllic pictures of nature to gain public acceptance of longer lifespans for old nuclear power plants, ignoring the associated risks. The victory of the German Atomic Forum for worst greenwash shows that the public will not be conned by these attempts to gain unwarranted green credentials.”

The Worst EU Greenwash Award was a special award attached to the Worst EU Lobbying Awards. The winners of the lobbying awards went to BMW, Daimler and Porsche for attempting to delay and water-down the EU mandatory targets for CO2 emissions from cars.

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Have you ever wondered where all the stuff is now that you’ve received as Christmas presents over the years? From your childhood, through your teenage years and into adulthood? How about everything you’ve ever given anyone else for Christmas? I’ll bet you don’t have a clue where most of it is now, or how it ended up. “The Story of Stuff”, a new short film released today online, takes you on a provocative tour of our consumer-driven culture — from resource extraction to gadget incineration — exposing the real costs of our use-it and lose-it approach to stuff.

Throughout the 20-minute film, activist Annie Leonard, the film’s narrator and an expert on the materials economy, examines the social, environmental and global costs of extraction, production, distribution, consumption and disposal. Her illustration of a culture driven by stuff allows her to isolate the moment in history where she says the trend of consumption mania began. The “Story of Stuff” examines how economic policies of the post-World War II era ushered in notions of consumerism — and how those notions are still driving much of the U.S. and other global economies today.

According to the film, consumer mania may have been born from the post World War II era, but economic manipulation has driven consumerism to where it is today. From the limited life cycle of personal computers to changes in footwear fashion, Leonard demonstrates that products are either designed to be regularly replaced or to convince consumers that their stuff needs to be upgraded. This notion of planned and perceived obsolescence drives the machine of consumerism year round.

The film features Leonard delivering a rapid-fire, often humorous and always engaging story about “all our stuff — where it comes from and where it goes when we throw it away.” Written by Leonard, the film was produced by Free Range Studios, the makers of other socially-minded, web-based films such as “The Meatrix” and “Store Wars.” Funding for the project came from The Sustainable Funders and Tides Foundation.

This film provides the missing links in our understanding of how consumerism works, and why it is causing such damage to our planet and to people who are involved in production of our stuff, who we aren’t even consciously aware of. I heartily recommend seeing this film.

Here’s a taster:

For the full 20-minute film, visit The Story of Stuff website.

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