I am literaly jumping up and down here I found a reference to purchase a green car on Clean Green Cars
So if youre thinking about a new purchase take a look at this guide first wonderful
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For those of you who buy your milk in plastic cartons for convenience or in the belief that organic milk only comes in that form think again ! I moved house about 6 weeks ago and was determined to start having milk delivered. I rang the dairy and made my order and just as I was about to put the phone down asked if they did organic milk. To my suprise they did and sure enough the next day I had organic milk in a resusable bottle delivered by an electrical vehicle by a local company. How green is that ?
So for those of you who wish to banish those plastic cartons from your life and have 5 minutes to spare get the yellow pages out now. You will be supporting a local company local farmers and reducing waste at the same time. Not to mention the social benefits of having the milkman/lady in your community-but thats another story.
Kate
GreenFinder
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The other week I was at a conference in Glasgow and took the opportunity to go and visit Entrading a new green/eco/ethical/fairtrade/organic/generally very nice shop. I had read about it the week before so I had to go!
What a fabulous place its not massive but packs in a lot of great products and a cafe. Unfortunately I didnt have time to try the food which was a shame as the food at my conference wasnt very good. I was very good and restricted myself to buying a Seasalt top and a candle but was very tempted by the Gossypium undies and the Lavera perfume (I never knew they did perfume). Im pretty sure that my boyfriend will love their organic Glas-gu t-shirt as well.
I could have bought loads more stuff: stationery bags presents for all my pregnant friends a washing machine paint all sorts. Ill definitely be making lots of return visits whenever Im in Glasgow and hope to try some of the yummy-looking food next time.
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The Ethical Company Organisation (who produce the Good Shopping Guide and the Gooshing website) have recently completed research on the ethical status of major UK supermarkets in a study which looks at 12 areas of concern. Some of these areas are animal welfare environmental impact and human rights.
Probably not that surprisingly Sainsburys Marks and Spencer and Waitrose scored the highest with their Ethical Company Index scores and Iceland Tesco and Asda lagged behind. I was surprised to hear however that there is a huge difference between those high and low scoring supermarkets.
The Ethical Company Organisation also tell us that Sainsburys is the only supermarket to agree to a full Ethical Accreditation to be carried out by a 3rd party.
Last year I vowed to kick the supermarket habit and only buy our groceries and household goods from the farm shop independent shops the market and the organic veg box scheme. Quite honestly though this turned out not to be as easy or as sensible as I first thought. You see there is a Sainsburys supermarket just 2 or 3 minutes walking distance from my house and so if I run out of organic / local milk or bread for example to avoid going to Sainsburys I would have to get a bus into town or drive to the farm shop or wait until the following Thursday for the veg box scheme! There is a milk delivery service but this seems very sporadic.
In this case walking to the supermarket to buy Rachels or Yeo Valley organic milk (not necessarily Sainsburys own) surely has to be the most efficient and environmentally friendly way doesnt it?
I feel that these initial findings from the Ethical Company Organisation are very encouraging and if we selectively use supermarkets to demonstrate that we want local and organic products from them then they obviously listen. We could be cynical and say its a marketing ploy and their heart isnt really in it but in some ways I dont think it matters as long as the end result is the same.
The Ethical Company Organisations full supermarket research findings will be available in the 6th edition of The Good Shopping Guide in October so maybe we should reserve judgement until then?
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Ladies if you have never been to a car show then may I suggest you high tail it to the next one that comes to town. Its pretty amazing to see whats up and coming in the automotive world and not to mention fun (plus the place is just swirling with men!).
I was lucky enough to be a guest of General Motors at the Los Angeles Car show a couple weeks ago. Myself and other green bloggers (Hank Green of EcoGeek.org Justin McHale of Planet Green/Treehugger.com and Nick Aster of Triple Pundit.com and the magazine Mother Jones) along with a number of auto-bloggers were given the opportunity to preview most of GMs vehicles before the show opened to the public. This gave us a chance to get up close and personal with the cars and the team of engineers.
While walking around with all the guys and doing some comparative shopping one of the guys actually said it must be hard writing about cars for women? I giggled (like a girl) only because I felt the question was a little awkard. Was he implying women could car less about cars because we are.well women!
I told him no actually its not in case he hadnt heard women buy cars too! It was also pretty exciting to see two of GMs engineers who were working on the hybrid technology and the battery for the Chevy Volt where women!!

The car show proved General Motors is the leader in automotive technology. In fact I had heard from a luxury car maker that many are waiting to see what GM comes up with as far as alternative fuels ESPECIALLY concerning the Chevy Volt (an all electric car). GM is putting the most money into research and development. Say what you want about coporate giants like GM but we have to recognize that the building industry and transportation are the two largest contributors to global warming so we need to be happy when they join the environmental agenda. Besides the Chevy Tahoe Hybrid didnt win Green Car Journals Green Car of the Year 2008 for no reason!
(In case youre wondering who judged the competition it was a very distinguished panel.)
Im not surprised they won considering they had the most cars nominated out of any car maker.
As much as we would like to see less cars on the roads lets face it thats not going to happen anytime soon. So all we can do is make sure the vehicles we are buying are the most fuel efficient if not fuel free (the Volt will be!) because at the risk of sounding too girly there are so many other things I could be spending my gas money on.like shoes!
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From the age of 12 when I decided to become a vegetarian I understood and felt very strongly about the power of the consumer. Back then it was more about boycotting things (well asking my mum not to put meat in my dinner) rather than using my pocket money to protest because really how much weight can you throw around with a few pounds a week?
Nevertheless now that Im grown up with a proper bank account rather than a piggy bank those values are still important and this is why the Big Green Purse instantly appealed to me.
The aim of this book is to highlight to women the power of their spending and how they can use it in a way that is positive for the environment and for their health.
Although most of the facts and figures relate to American laws and culture the points in this book will still ring true in other countries as it tackles the issues of every day life.
The beginning of the book starts with some inspiring stories of how consumers have already effected change in the manufacture of products such as cars nail polish and tea. Diane then asks her readers to pledge to shift $1000 of their annual spending to green products. Thats roughly

Yesterday I popped to our local supermarket to stock up. Usually I would avoid shopping on a Saturday at any cost but after a really busy week I realised that I wouldnt be able to make much of the carrots apricots and butter which was all we had in our fridge. So off I went to Sainsburys with my usual collection of (cotton canvass etc) tote bags.
When I was paying at the checkout the lady on the till asked

Whether youre a die-hard green consumer or just dipping your toe in the water the check the temperature weve got a treat for you on Sunday.
Ever wanted to figure out whether muddy carrots are worth the bother?
Can a natural deodorant survive a salsa class?
Will clothes swapping ever beat clothes shopping?
Two years ago shopaholic and supermarket addict Kate Lock set herself a series of eco-challenges from kicking her Tesco habit to composting her kitchen waste.
And her new book

As you know from my previous posts Im a big fan of charity and thrift shopping. For me its the greenest option buying pre-loved things means they have an intriguing history as well as low low energy consumption. So if youre not familiar with the joy charity or thrift shopping check out this great giveaway from the The Thrifty Chicks to get you started
Over to you The Thrifty Chicks Denver Correspondent.
The Thrifty Chicks are in the midst of a week of FREE Thrift-ya-aways! Thrift-ya-aways are items that Shopping Golightly of The Thrifty Chicks purchased at a charitable thrift store. This could very well be the first give-away of non-celebrity non-antique second hand items.
These items dispel the myth of