Hippyshopper

Spruce up your drawers or cupboards with Ceramic Rose pulls

Natural Collection has a great set of porcelain Rose drawer pulls. These 4.5cm ceramic roses are the biggest steal imaginable at only £1 each (!!) so if you've got a chest of drawers or some cupboards that are in need of some new jewelry, these are available in cream, fern, aqua, rose, white and ink, and will put a whole new complexion on the situation. Also you can feel good about that they're hand-made by skilled craftsmen in Rajasthan, so you're making your world nicer as well as theirs. [GT]

Rose drawer pulls

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Boston goes solar with... garbage collection?

Boston's latest idea for reducing in-city litter is solar-powered self-compacting trash containers. Basically, you throw in your garbage, it crushes the contents down periodically, and therefore smells less and needs emptied less often - as infrequently as once or twice a day instead of a dozen to fifteen times. They also don't spill, unlike the traditional wire basket variety, and hold five times as much trash: 150 gallons versus the typical 30 gallon. [GT]

Boston installs solar compacting public trash-cans [via Boing Boing]

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Kshocolât from Glasgow

Kshocolât bills itself as Glasgow's "Chocolate deli", and given it has flavours ranging from Chilli Pecan to White Chocolate with Pepper and Lemon, that doesn't sound too far from the truth.  Available from Heavenly! and Harvey Nichols online, plus Kshocolât actual shops in Glasgow and Edinburgh.  Chocolate naturally produces endorphins and has a low glycemic index; it's only cheap sugary+fatty chocolate-flavoured candy that makes you fat and unsatisfied.  You should always splash out on the good stuff because it goes a long, long way and you enjoy it far, far more.  [GT]

Kshocolât [via Cool Hunting

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First Flush Sale from Thunderbolt Tea

Thunderbolt Tea has a very limited amount of Orange Valley First Flush, FTGFOP1 (which is extremely high quality) on for the unreal sale price of $18 USD for 500 grams. At one gram per cup, that's a lot of tea - and this tea normally goes for $20 USD for 250 grams. Thunderbolt is terrifically fair trade in that you're ordering directly from India, and while the Orange Valley isn't organic, their Arya Ruby is (except it's sold out. Strictly, so is the Orange Valley, but they just discovered a few extra bales and are making them secretly available. Gettem while you can since they'll go fast-astic). [GT]

Thunderbolt Tea Orange Valley First Flush, FTGFOP1

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Boycott the 'Shameless Seven' in milk and soy

The Organic Consumers Association is expanding its boycott of Horizon and Aurora Organics to include Silk soy, White Wave soy, and milk brands owned by Aurora. Aurora provides milk to Costco's "Kirkland Signature, Publix's "High Meadows", Giant's "Nature's Promise" and Wild Oats. "[M]ost or all of their milk is coming from factory farm feedlots where the animals have been brought in from conventional farms and are kept in intensive confinement, with little or no access to pasture." The soy is from Brazil and China, where human rights and environmental standards are not as they should be. So if you buy these products, ask your local store to join the boycott, and stop buying it yourself. You can also send a letter to the Shameless Seven CEOs. [GT]

Boycott the Shameless Seven - Organic Outlaws Labeling Factory Farm Milk as 'USDA Organic'

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Green Building Company's one-stop shop for water saving

If you're renovating and want to install water saving WCs, taps and fittings, the first place to look for inspiration is the Ultra-efficient toilets, bathrooms and water-saving section of the Green Building Company.  Another good place to look is recently-mentioned The Green Parent magazine, which we mentioned just the other day - more advice from the Green Parent after the jump.

<p>The Green Parent says: We use 70% more water today than we did 40 years ago; 95% of water delivered to our homes goes down the drain; a garden hose can use almost as much water in an hour as an average family uses in a day.

Turn on the tap and water flows out. It is all too easy to take water for granted rather than think of it as a precious resource. However, increased demand and low levels of rain fall in recent weeks mean than more than 13 million households in the UK are banned from using hosepipes this summer and further restrictions may be imposed if the fine weather continues. Families are high consumers of water, with baths at bedtime, paddling pools during the warmer months and the often continuous washing cycle, so how can we reduce our consumption and help teach children the true value of water?

1) Toilets use more water than any other household appliance. In fact over 30% of the water we use in our homes is for flushing the toilet. This equates to two baths full per day for the average family. However help is at hand in the form of a volume reduction device that can be placed in the cistern. Products such as the Hippo, www.hippo-the-watersaver.co.uk and the Save-a-Flush, www.save-a-flush.co.uk can be used to limit the amount of water needed to flush.

2) Encourage bath sharing, often great fun for those involved and a great way to cut water use. And of course, showers offer a much more efficient way of getting clean using two thirds less water. Water-saver showerheads are available from www.greenbuildingstore.co.uk. These deliver a lower flow rate and still give the feeling of a good shower.

3) Encourage kids to turn off the taps whilst brushing their teeth by setting a good example. An incredible six litres of water can be wasted by leaving them running.

4) Water butts are a great investment for the water conscious family. Children can fill their watering cans using the tap at the base, recycling rain water and keeping the vegetable plot well hydrated at the same time. Watering in the early morning or late afternoon helps to prevent water loss due to evaporation.

5) Drought resistant plants can be grown by budding young gardeners. Try African lily, buddleia, lavender, rosemary, thyme, evening primrose and tulips.

For more green living advice check out the latest issue of The Green Parent magazine at www.thegreenparent.co.uk.

FOR FURTHER DETAILS CONTACT: Melissa Corkhill on 01273 401012 or via email at editor@thegreenparent.co.uk.

Ultra-efficient toilets, bathrooms and water-saving section of the Green Building Company | a href="http://www.thegreenparent.co.uk">The Green Parent

See also the Hippyshopper Water saving gadget roundup

Natural linen MacBook covers from Wrappers

If you splashed out on a new MacBook, you'll likely welcome the chance to save a few quid and still have a snappy, professional looking cover - and did I mention it's got a nice natural fiber surface and is made right here in the UK? Wrappers has MacBook linen sleeves in brilliant white Coconut, hot Horizon pink, slaty Out of the Blue, lilac Raspberry and oatmeal Honey. Instead of a stiff exterior, the linen is pumiced into 'a unique peach skin finish', which is layered over poly fill and with a microfiber navy blue inside. No velcro, no zips, just good tailoring: all for £16. [GT

Wrappers MacBook linen sleeves

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Swing bags at Oliver Heath's EcoCentric store

Oliver Heath at EcoCentric has some fabulous felt Swing bags in a summery dark rosy pink, lime green and an olive brown. The felt is made from 100% pure wool and dyed synthetically, but with dye that conforms to "the strictest health, environmental and fire safety standards." If you're dressy or a Frank Zappa fan you can doll it up with a little green rosetta (or cream, pink or multicoloured blue-green-brown-cream). The bags are £25 and the rosettas are £15. (If you were a subscriber to the EcoCentric newsletter you'd be able to get 15% off both, plus 10% off all cardboard playhouses. Plus the newsletter is printed on 100% recycled electrons.) [GT]

EcoCentric Swing bags

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Nokia protoypes easy-disassembly mobiles

Hippyshopper emeritus Adam of thegreenguy attended a smokin' hot - or should it be cool green - Nokia demonstration of a mobile that pops into its constituent parts: screen, keypad, battery and circuit board... in seconds flat. It's prototypical now, but should lead to a world where there is less high-tech debris being shunted off to poorer countries where they're disassembled by the poor or elderly. From an economic perspective, if it means more components recycled into new products, with less impact from production, everybody wins. Britons discard a shocking number of mobiles every year, as demonstrated at the Dead Ringers? exhibition, and all progress on this front is huge. [GT]

Introducing active disassembly, AKA gadgets that'll recycle themselves [via thegreenguy]

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Styles Farmhouse English ice cream in cow and sheep

It's a tad on the difficult side to get ice cream that is not made with cow milk, but, when you do, it's usually brilliant. Styles Farmhouse Ice Cream, for example, has all-new, naturally low fat Slim Ewe which is only 68 calories per 100ml! Comes in Mint Choc Chunk, Dutch Chocolate, Real Strawberry and natural Vanilla. So you won't feel too deprived when you look at the cow ice cream flavours, ranging from Masala Rum & Raisin to Stem Ginger - since although they will be happy, they will also get fat. Course, for the Chocolate Orange With Countreau, it's probably worth it. Send over one of each! [GT]

Styles Farmhouse Ice Cream

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The Green Parent on holistic pregnancy

The latest issue of The Green Parent, available in Sainsburys, Waitrose, newsagents, health food stores and baby shops, focuses on holistic birth, with pieces on travel with children, how to create a family garden, and a green examination of cotton.  A good deal for £3, for the piece on travel alone.  They also have a Green Parent book of their own out, describing how to go from before birth all the way through those tempestuous teenage years when they rebel by eating at McDonald's.  (Luckily for you, even McDonald's is starting to go green.)  [GT]

The Green Parent

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Go InsideOut with Breathing Space garden offices

InsideOut garden offices are constructed from environmentally friendly larch cladding from managed forests in Scotland and Northumbria, to your personal specifications. Are you an artist who needs natural light? Your design could have a Velux roof light. Are you a musician that needs to blow that sax really hard and loud? Get soundproofing. Concerned about heating bills? Aren't we all! InsideOut spaces are constructed to need minimal heat and be comfortable year round. You can even have a full shower if you want the office to double as a guest house - or make it a full granny flat to accommodate your particular needs. If you have chemical sensitivities like I do, your best option may be to have your own little safe house, yet still be close to your family. Sounds much nicer than the last chemically-clean abode I had, which I refer to as "the concrete bunker"! [GT]

InsideOut garden offices, leisure spaces and granny flats

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Old Money recycled currency stationery

While tidying the prodigious collection of familiana in my to-be-in-laws spare room, I discovered a packet of Old Money. No, not cash - that is, not anymore. Dolphin Blue Tree-Free stationery are made from kenaf, denim trimmings and old bills. Rather than dump bleach into the environment, all products are left their own low-key and lovely colour of ivory, pale blue or pale green respectively. Writing on the latter is a particularly luxurious experience (though one wonders how many recycled $20 bills are in there and therefore what the cocaine content is). [GT]

Dolphin Blue Tree-Free stationery

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Handmade Hammocks

You woke up, and the sky was golden-edged, the butterflies were rosy and dipping mysteriously above your garden, and the air was clean as freshly-laundered sheets. So of course you called in sick - if you'd gone to work it would have made you sick. Your hammock called, and you tumbled drowsily into it. What would make this better? If it were a bespoke hammock from Handmade Hammocks Hammock Specialists. These are fair trade, with FSC hardwood - comfortable and beautiful. Affordable, too - the Sobrini shown here goes for £39.99 (though extra should you need a frame, installation kit, etc) with next-day delivery and free shipping. [GT]

Handmade Hammocks Hammock Specialists

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Review: the Bodyflik

The Bodyflik is a gadget making the rounds lately, and has generated enough net buzz that I was curious as to whether the thing actually worked. At £5 for the large or £4 for the 'sport' version (small enough to conveniently tote to the gym, if it indeed did help you dry off more easily with less recourse to towels, it would be a total steal. Less damp towels means less laundry, and less mould in the bathroom, both of which would be cheap at twice the price. Plus, being brightly coloured (and recyclable) they're just plain happy looking. So do they work?

Not only do they work, they work better than advertised. I recommend you dry your hair first so you're not getting little streams down your back, but after that, a minute or two of flicking the Bodyflik over yourself should significantly reduce how much time you spend toweling and how soggy the towels are afterward. One woman also says they're great for finishing off her pottery - the smooth curves are ideal for creating clean lines. The small one is nearly as effective but much more convenient, so I'd recommend you go for both. P + P is only £1.25 worldwide no matter how many you buy; order now and stuff stockings with them this Christmas. [GT]

Bodyflik

See also our feature on water saving: Water saving gadget roundup

Give the best gift of all: free food to the hungry via Hunger Site

The Hunger Site is, as I've mentioned before, one of the single best things the internet has ever done. Commemorate this by pitching in for their 7th anniversary: head over and click to give someone in need free food. So far this July, as of now, 2,880,793 cups of food have been given. Wow! [GT]

The Hunger Site

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Cosy Slug Hutt eco-friendly slug trap

Do not give your beer to ungrateful slugs. It will only kill them. Instead, get a sustainable, eco-friendly Cosy Slug Hutt. Walk around your garden at night and note where the slugs are coming from. Place the Cosy Slug Hutt where the slugs are thickest and they will creep demurely within. Then you can just scatter them into your local rubbish tip and know you're contributing to the cycle of life instead of just poisoning a pest. Everybody wins! [GT]

Cosy Slug Hutt

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Compost me, Belu water bottle

One of the top three worst issues with water bottles is the actual empty bottles.  They're large, they pile up, and recycling them poses various issues.  Enter the Belu water bottle, made compostably of corn like the BioBag, and filled with spring water from Shropshire.  Just pitch it in your composter when its done and away you go!  Not only that, but every bottle you buy pays for a Third World citizen to get free fresh water for an entire month.  Belu is available at Waitrose and Tesco.  [GT]

Belu [via thegreenguy]

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The Magic of wooden Mushrooms

John Cole was on tea break at his logging job when he felt like messing around with some of the scrap wood, and he carved a large wooden mushroom. He took it home to his wife, who promptly demanded more. "If you did me another three," she said, "I could have a fairy ring." Since then it's burst out into a full career in his company The Magic of Mushrooms, with John making a variety of mushroom garden art, mushroom tables and chairs, and sculpture. His work has been written up in the Sunday Telegraph. [GT]

The Magic of Mushrooms

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Use BioBags; avoid lead poisoning

The FDA just released a report finding that some PVC lunchbags transfer small amounts of lead onto the food they hold. Which is a good reason to go over to something like BioBags, which are made from completely biodegradable materials so you can compost them, and plus they're basically made of food in some cases (corn starch) so if your lunch isn't substantial enough, you could try eating them. (Disclaimer: BioBags are not actually food.) [GT]

BioBags

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Oerlemans organic frozen foods

It seems logical that 'fresh' - that is, unpreserved by freezing, canning, dessication or other means - food should always be, well, 'freshest'.  However, if that food is trucked hundreds or miles, or worse, flown, it's surprisingly easy for frozen to be fresher.  This is a good reason to buy local - fresher food tastes better - but failing that, Oerlemans Foods UK has a wide variety of frozen fruit and vegetables which are grown both holistically and organically.

Oerlemans crops are systematically rotated to allow the ground a good chance to recover, and also to promote natural pest suppression.  If you grow just the one thing over and over, bugs that like that one thing tend to come party.  Mix it up and voila, the bugs are naturally less happy.

Some Oerlemans products are also available in bulk for catering, ranging from 2.5k bags of cauliflower to 10k bags of cubed tomatoes.  So you can go green at your next garden party.  [GT]

Oerlemans Foods UK

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The Green Board Games Company

Green Board Games focuses on board games that use recyclable or recycled materials plus wood from managed forests. All games conform to safety standards from Europe in general and Britain in particular, so you know if your baby chews on one that the most she'll get is a board game with a couple of teeth marks. Games range from science themed products like Aquasaurs to Wikki Stix in neon and with alphabet games. [GT]

Green Board Games

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Book STEPS - the Irish holistic mail order book service

Booksteps is a mail-order service in Ireland that specializes in "practical solutions for living and growing, learning and working in harmony with our environment.&q