Archive for Shopping
Chrissie Hynde launches new eco clothing line that will be The Talk of The Town
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If you grew up in the same era as I did and music played a significant part of your life, you’ll already be very familiar with Chrissie Hynde the vocalist who founded the band The Pretenders in 1978. Since their first album in 1979 The Pretenders have remained a going concern for over 30 years now although there have been lineup changes Chrissie Hynde has always remained at the front of a band who were hugely popular in the 1980s. Hynde’s public profile has been high for many years and not just due to her music, as she has been an avid campaigner for animal rights groups and has been an active part of PETA and Viva! for many years. It’s always great when a musician has something to say about social issues of any sort especially when their time is also spent actively supporting groups that benefit the world as a whole. Hynde has long been a dedicated vegan and has even opened her own vegan restaurant back in her hometown of Akron, Ohio.
Chrissie has also had some high-profile romances including Ray Davies of The Kinks, Jim Kerr of Simple Minds and renowned artist Lucho Brieva. In fact her most recent relationship with producer/musician JP Jones has resulted in the two of them launching a brand-new eco-friendly line of clothing. As you would expect the new clothing line contains numerous items that are not just environmentally friendly but also stylish with more than a hint of rock ‘n roll.
The company is called Fairground Luck and will contain no animal skins and all products will be made in an eco-friendly fashion. While the high-end line is targeted towards musicians essentially anything could be worn by anyone such as stylish T-shirts, skinny jeans, faux leather jackets and cowboy boots. Chrissie believes not enough choice exists when one comes to choosing clothing with a rock sensibility. She adds:
“Like most women, I love fashion and clothes. I love handbags and shoes. Everybody will be able to find everything they love in a non-leather version, fashion should be fun. I’ve thought about this for years. How to get non-leather cool boots and stuff. Ask EmmyLou Harris what her favourite boots are, and get Todd Oldham to design them”
The product line will definitely have a certain amount of flair attached to it seeing as famed designers Todd Oldham and John Bartlett have worked with Hynde on the entire product catalog. Fairground Luck does not yet appear to have a website that is live but I’m sure that will follow in the weeks ahead. But in the meantime I suggest you stop your sobbing, keep your brass in pocket because these new clothes will be the talk of the town. If you’re a Pretenders fan you know what I’m saying!
Arsenal Football Club’s new shirt a return to tradition and it’s greener too
Posted by: | CommentsThere are few things I obsess over more than football (soccer) and the club I’ve supported since I could walk - Arsenal. The team from North London are one of the better sides in England and boast a tradition that is rich in success and heritage. One thing I’ve noticed in recent years is the home playing shirt moving further and further away from the normal shirt I grew up with. Very simple really, red shirt with white sleeves and a white neck, it’s the shirt they wore with perfect consistency throughout the 70’s,80’s and into the 90’s but recent marketing opportunities (the home shirt usually is updated every other season) has seen stripes on the shoulders, across the chest and down the sides of the shirt. My team were looking less distinctive and many supporters (myself included) were tired of the ‘progress’.
This July the club announced a return to tradition as the shirt manufacturer Nike promised a shirt that would fully embrace the tradition of the club, and yes they really delivered. Better still the Nike shirts are the most environmentally friendly club shirt in world football! Nike also make the shirts for some other teams but we have no need to mention them of course..so back to the shirt.
Theo Walcott (in red) on target this week in Arsenal's new eco-friendly shirt
The new kit highlights Arsenal’s old school design and adds lightweight design and recycled fabric. The shirts use recycled polyester fabric and each shirt uses up to 8 plastic water bottles from waste recycling sites in Japan and Taiwan. After being cleaned fully the bottles are reduced into very small flakes, then melted into a yarn and spun to make the kits. In addition the revised process for manufacturing the shirts is proving to be more environmentally friendly, using 30% less energy versus making traditional polyester shirts and shorts.
It probably comes as no surprise to learn that the shirts being eco-friendly has far more impact than just the 11 players who will be wearing it throughout the season. Replica shirt sales are big business not just in the UK but worldwide, in fact since moving to their new stadium which greatly enhanced revenues Arsenal have moved into third place amongst the wealthiest football clubs on earth and amongst the ten most valuable sporting club franchises in the world. Sales of replica shirts are estimated to reach 400,000 in the UK and in excess of 2 million globally. When you add on those numbers the value of the new kit design from Nike is that much more significant. Indeed there is an entire culture around football shirts, just check this site more information.
Nike have reams of information about how the shirt stretches more and breathes better, though I must say I’m more concerned with how great it looks and the fact that it is a greener product than a year ago. I’ll give my final verdict on the shirt a few months into the season and see how it makes us play. I really hope it’s a lucky shirt, I’d hate to have to shun something so eco-friendly! After two games we’re second in the league so I’m hopeful.
Landmark change in energy strategy for Canada, will the US follow?
Posted by: | CommentsExcellent news this evening which speaks to the magnitude of change certain nations (in this instance Canada) are making to the way energy is produced. While every gesture aimed at emissions reductions is needed this will reverberate around the parliaments and congresses of other industrialized nations. Canada has today announced they will be phasing out all of their older older coal-fired power plants which will have significant impact in reducing the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions. The decision signals a true landmark in converting Canada to plants that are natural-gas fueled which offers a far cleaner alternative. A national move toward natural-gas fired plants would suggest a strategy that ideally will cause other nations to both review and consider their future policy.
Canada makes moves that will eliminate coal fired power stations
These new mandates are expected to be in place within 9 months, which in turn will insure that electricity producers are forced to react to the changes. The result - older coal reliant plants will be phased out, newer constructions will be forced to match the lower emissions outputs of the natural-gas solution to avoid similar closures. At present Canada has more than 50 coal-fired plants that produce almost 20% of the country’s electricity and account for some 13% of the total emissions. Each plant is built and designed with a prescribed ’service life’ before entering the national grid, more than 2/3 of these plants would normally not be phased out for another 15 years but if needed changes to emissions can not be made they will need to shut down much sooner. Environment Minister Jim Prentice said
“Our regulation will be very clear, When each coal-burning unit reaches the end of its economic life, it will have to meet the new standards or close down. No trading, no offsets, no credits.”
The timing of these announcements does of course come at a calculated time as the media and environmental activists fill Toronto for this week’s G8 and G20 meetings. The PR maneuver is only a tactical piece of the matter however, the measures would reduce emissions in Canada by an incredible amount - the reductions would be the same as removing over 3 million vehicles from the road. Also encouraging is that this bucks the trend where Canada simply follows the changes made in the USA, almost taking the role of a regional apprentice. These regulations far outweigh current regulations and intentions in the US which should be applauded. Better still would be if decision makers in Washington look to Canada’s approach as something to follow and emulate making the continental improvements more far reaching. As ever politics play a huge part in such decisions but it would be wrong to see this as just a marginal decision, its an historic step in the right direction. I hope Washington will follow the lead taken (quite dramatically) by Canada.
Findings for this report courtesy of Reuters.
Eco-ideas to brighten your day, eco-boots, eco-lawn and an algae lamp
Posted by: | CommentsWelcome back to the blog! I feel I’ve been writing a great deal recently about fairly weighty topics, but with the current crisis in The Gulf of Mexico it has been difficult for me to research other issues. For a change of pace today I’d thought we would take a look at some of the more innovative and creative green inventions that I have come across recently. These might not be the breakthrough inventions for this century but every little bit helps!
Hiking gets greener with these boots
Do you like hiking? Is throwing on a pair of boots and climbing hills and traversing trails your idea of a good day out? If so then you may be interested in these rather fetching orange (yet green) boots. All the energy you expend shuffling up and down rock trails and riverbanks generates a lot of energy and heat down in your boots, now at last you can out that energy to good use. These boots designed by Gotwind store energy in batteries located in the soles of the boot (the warmest area) and the energy stored can be used to charge your phone! Really! After you have a good charge built up you can plug your phone into the heel and walk while you talk, all without the use of any electricity. According to the maker a 12 hour ramble equates to an hour of power, so boot up and learn more via their official site.
If hiking is not really your cup of tea but you still like to enjoy some green grass under 
your feet on your own property you might take a lot of pride in your lawn? I’m always amazed by the time, money and chemicals people spend to have the greenest lawn on the block. Unfortunately maintaining a pristine patch of grass often means the use of gas or electricity to constantly trim the grass, excesses of wasted water and fertilizer use. In fact keeping a nice lawn maintained is a fairly eco-unfriendly practice. It doesn’t have to be that way though, via Wildflower Farm its now possible to install an eco-lawn. According to the company it can make a huge difference to a traditional lawn, the seed blend results in grass that will grow more consistently regardless of sun or shade and require much less watering. They also claim that it requires substantially less fertilizer and treatment to achieve a healthy green and finally it grows in a way that results in shorter blades so that what they call ‘the carpet effect’ and doesn’t need cutting if you choose to do so. I love a beautiful lawn too and this looks like a greener way to have one. For more information visit the Wildflower Farm website.
Algae lamp is amazing
Science was never my strength and thankfully there are many people who offset this weakness of mine. I don’t truly understand how our final invention works but that doesn’t detract from how remarkable it is. What would you think of a lamp that consumes no electricity or batteries and relies on algae to create the current to power the lamp. Here is the part when I get confused…it seems professors at Stamford came upon the discovery that living algae during the process of photosynthesis create a current of energy. This lamp creates that living phenomena and can be used as a household lamp, apparently all the owner needs to do is breathe into the chamber, the combination of CO2 and sunlight will do the rest as the algae then create the energy the energy current! If I didn’t visit the website of the designer I wouldn’t believe it was even possible. The designer is based in the Netherlands and you can learn more here.
Three amazing innovations - I feel humbled.