Get some fairtrade Christmas cheer and get £5 off when you shop at the Ethical Superstore, an ideal place to pick up fairtrade Christmas presents. Last day for Guaranteed Christmas delivery is 18th December. Use discount code X5WFF at the… Read More »£5 off at the Ethical Superstore
Ethan Miller writes an inspiring article for Yes Magazine entitled: Independence from the Corporate Global Economy. In it, he confirms that we don’t have to depend on big corporations to survive, we can take back the economy and create community. Ethan highlights the alternatives available to us:
Suppose we try a different story: instead of defining the economy as a market system, let’s define it as the diverse array of activities by which humans generate livelihoods in relation to each other and to the Earth. Extending far beyond the workings of the capitalist market, economic activity includes all of the ways we sustain and support ourselves, our families, and our communities. Peeling away the dominant economic story of competition and accumulation, we see that other economies are alive below the surface, nourishing us like roots. These are not the economies of the stock-brokers and the economists. They are the economies of mutual care and cooperation—community economies, local economies.
Many are familiar to us, though rarely acknowledged. They include:
Household Economies—meeting our needs with our own skills and work: raising children, offering advice or comfort, teaching life skills, cooking, cleaning, building, balancing the checkbook, fixing the car, growing food and medicine, raising animals. Much of this work has been rendered invisible or devalued as “women’s work.”
Read More »Livelihood, freedom & community through co-operation
Anna Shepard, Eco-Worrier, has been argueing with her boyfriend. They argue about how full the kettle should be, why the lights are on when no-one’s home, and which trainer brands are environmentally acceptable. What once were domestic squabbles about who… Read More »Bickering about the environment
Zoe Ball is going to be presenting an environmental television series. The prime-time week long series entitled Extinct will be aired on ITV in December, and will be co-presented by Zoe and Sir Trevor McDonald. It is thought that Extinct… Read More »Zoe’s gone green
The End of Suburbia – a 52 minute documentary on peak oil If you’ve been wanting to see The End of Suburbia, all 52 minutes of it are now available to view on YouTube. (via: Hugg)
The BBC News website features a series of photographs of life in a eco-friendly Celtic-style roundhouse. Tony Wrench and Jane Faith built the roundhouse 9 years ago in Pembrokeshire, and live a low impact life in it. The house is… Read More »Photos of life in an eco-roundhouse
Not long ago we featured a new website called VegBoxSchemes who make local produce easier to find. I received an email from them this week explaining how far much of our food travels to make it to Christmas lunch, along… Read More »Invasion of the foreign sprouts
If you’ve ever wondered whether there was a use for out-of-date condoms, non-clingy clingfilm or random odd gloves, you’re going to like Recycle This. Members post up questions and ideas about reusing and recycling random objects, and comments and ideas… Read More »Recycle This
Counting down…
Start as you mean to go on. Biome Lifestyle will set you up for a green Christmas with the Christmas Survival Kit & Advent Calendar. The advent calendar is stocked with organic sweets, eco-friendly Christmas survival tips and some small surprise gifts, and the calendar itself is made of sustainable materials and designed to be used year after year. Priced at £25.00. (Refills for the calendar will be available every year from Biome Lifestyle.)
Deck the halls…
There’s nothing greener than making your own Christmas wreath from plants in your garden, but if that’s not on the cards this Christmas, this reusable recycled tin wreath from Biome Lifestyle will do the trick too. The wreaths are made by a small co-operative in Africa, and the money goes directly to the co-operative to support local families and artisans. Buying fairly traded goods is a great way to give! Priced at £25.00. (via: The Green Guy)