New reports from wind industry "indicate failure of market-led approach," say Greens

Two new reports to be presented at the British Wind Energy Association’s Offshore 09 conference will indicate severe problems facing the offshore wind industry - problems which the Green Party says are "attributable to a fundamentally inadequate approach by the Labour government."

Climate and Capitalism Conference- 12th September

Planned for Saturday September 12, Climate and Capitalism is the first seminar organised jointly by Green Left and Socialist Resistance, the ecosocialist currents in two of Britain’s left parties, the Greens and Respect. This energetic and open day of discussion will bring experts, campaigners, radical activists and others together. The event will be in the Euston Friends’ Meeting House, London, NW1 .

Incognito a 100% natural protection from moquitoes

Holiday time is upon us once again, time to pack the tent, book the train or bus and wobble off precariously off into the countryside on the bike to enjoy the wide big outdoors and dodge the dusk arrival of the bugs that bite. Anyone who has ever been camping in Scotland can tell you that midges can take all the fun out of an adventure. Luckily there is now a 100% natural, and vegan, solution to 90% of the problem.

£100m Green Deal to Slash SME Energy Bills

The Carbon Trust is to improve access for small and medium businesses to over £100m in interest-free and unsecured loans, it was announced today, 29th June. The move is intended to help more businesses survive the recession by cutting both their energy costs and their carbon footprints.

A roadmap for a low carbon future beyond 2050

The UK lacks a coherent energy system that can effectively meet future energy needs while preventing rapid climate change, according to leading scientists. The Low Carbon Future report is based on a discussion meeting held at the Royal Society and calls for a new vision for energy generation that is based on the long term replacement of fossil fuels through the development and deployment of new technologies.

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Green house building and building services
Campaigns, charities and involvement
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Energy saving and suppliers
Ethical business
Fairtrade / buy local
Financial services, banking and ethical investments
Food, drink and nutrition

In the home, in the office
Good reading — on and offline
Telecoms, IT and electrical goods
Holidays and responsible travel
Plants, gardens and countryside
Recycling, repairing and re-using
Training, education, professional courses
Transport — personal and public

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Previous headlines

Organic ‘mainstream agriculture in waiting’

The Soil Association welcomes a new independent report by the University of Reading, funded by the Soil Association and the HCD Memorial Fund, which compared yields from post-war agricultural techniques with organic farming. The report showed that a comprehensive organic agricultural system can meet many of the UK’s food requirements, but its bad news for those who love a cheap bacon butty.

Role of HFCs in climate change likely to rise

EnvironmentalResearch Web. By 2050 hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) emissions could contribute up to 45% of the global warming effect of carbon dioxide emissions. That’s according to researchers from the Netherlands and US, who’ve looked at the effects of growth in demand for refrigeration and air conditioning in developing countries and replacement of ozone-damaging hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) with ozone-friendly HFCs as a result of the Montreal Protocol, an international treaty drawn up in 1987 to protect the ozone layer.

57 Fairtrade beauty products hit the shelves

From today(24th June) the public will be able to buy Fairtrade certified beauty products including lip balms, face masks, body butters and shower gels from 5 companies including Boots, Bubble & Balm, Essential Care, Lush and Neal’s Yard. Each beauty product contains one or more Fairtrade certified ingredient such as cocoa butter, shea nut butter, sugar or brazil nut oil, benefitting disadvantaged producers from countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. To date, 57 beauty products have been licensed by the Fairtrade Foundation and it is expected that many more will follow.

Brown told: ‘Rich don’t have the answers to the crisis’

Campaigners today criticised Gordon Brown for refusing to send a cabinet minister to the United Nations summit on the economic crisis, but personally attending the ’outdated and elitist’ G8 meeting in July.

Survive or thrive the coming climate change

“Adapting to the new climate of the 21st century will be costly, sometimes impossible and potentially hugely destabilizing to society” argues Professor Neil Adger at the University of East Anglia, in his lastest book, Adapting to Climate Change, published this week by Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research with Cambridge University Press.

British Climate Change Act doomed to failure claims study

Environment ResearchWeb: The UK Climate Change Act of 2008 recommends reducing carbon emissions by at least 80% by 2050 and 34% by 2022 but these goals are just too ambitious according to a new study. The Act is also "fundamentally flawed" and would require decarbonization rates that are simply unrealistic.

Global Fairtrade sales increase by 22%

Despite the global recession, worldwide sales of Fairtrade products grew by an impressive 22% in 2008 as consumers spent an estimated 2.9 billion Euros on Fairtrade products globally. The United Kingdom overtook the USA in 2008 with a 12.5% year on year growth to make a total market of Euro 880,620,304.

Avoiding a green bad deal

Investing our hopes in green growth or new technological fixes will not avert the climate crisis. So what will? To inaugurate Red Pepper’s new series on transitions to a world after fossil fuels, Oscar Reyes, from Carbon Watch, looks at the democratic deficit in the power sector

Japan’s emissions 8% target: far too little, far too late

Japan’s announcement to reduce its emissions by only 8 percent by 2020 completely lacks ambition and stands in the way of a fair global deal, which should save the world from the catastrophic impact of climate change, says the World Wildlife Fund.

Global Natural Cosmetics Market: The Battle of the Standards Gains Pace

The final version of the Cosmos standard has recently been announced. The launch comes after six years of negotiations between the leading natural & organic cosmetic certification agencies in Europe: Soil Association (UK), BDiH (Germany), Ecocert (France), Cosmebio (France), ICEA (Italy) and Ecogarantie (Belgium). Combined, these agencies provide certification to about 1,000 cosmetic companies and 10,000 products.