It's Blog Action Day

Here at Jamble nearly all of our news and articles are foucsed around the environment, so its good to see other getting involved with the environment, and today, on blog action day, over 16,000 blogs have posted an article on the environment.

The aim of the day is to discover the effect of thousands of voices talking about the same issue on the same day and will be taking place again next year, although with a different theme.

blogactionday.org

Eco-friendly outdoor gear store opens in Boulder

Outdoor gear company REI have a long history of being green and even have their own brand range of eco-friendly products - and now they have a new eco-friendly store in which to showcase their products.

The new store in Boulder Colorado is the company's new prototype green store and makes use of several eco-design features.

The rubber flooring is made of recycled waste such as tires and tennis shoes, the benches, perimeter wall and free-standing fixtures are made from pressed bamboo sheets and steel and many of the building materials were locally sourced.

The lighting system is designed to make use of natural light and reduce energy, and the atrium skylight also has solar cells built in, so as well as providing natural light it also helps generate electricity for the store.

The green initiatives don't stop with the store of course, as staff recycle and compost waste items, and REI are also active in the local community, and help organize activities such as beach clean ups and trail building with local non-profits.

So, good stuff all round. An eco-friendly store, selling eco-friendly gear and encouraging customers to get out and about and help protect their local environment. To check out their products and read more about the green store head to rei.com

Future Friendly launch daily green tip widget

Being green can sometimes be a bit of an effort - especially when you're trying to encourage others to pick up green habits, so now a consortium called Future Friendly has launched a green widget to help give you a daily green kick up the backside.

The downloadable desktop widget - 'the daily seed'- gives tips on how to live a more sustainable life, such as using less packaging, less energy and so forth.

Future Friendly, a group that includes Global Cool, Wastewatch and Waterwise, have also launched the Future Friendly Awards, aimed at 'community heroes' who are helping others to go green.

Download the widget from: www.futurefriendly.co.uk

Sundance channel launch eco-mmunity map

The Sundance TV channel, which spawned from the famous Sundance film festival, has launched an interactive eco-community map to highlight green organisations, events and indivduals across the world.

The map is partly designed to promote the channels 'The Green' TV show which features eco-documentaires and features on eco-personalities, but users can also post their own green map markers.

The markers are split into several categories, including organisations, individuals, events and green actions, and although the majority are currently placed in the US, the map could soon become a useful travel resource for discovering green organisations, accommodation or festivals.

The eco-mmunity map search engine can also help you find specific groups or organisations - pop in magazine for example and you'll discover the location of Jamble Magazine (we're currently the only green organisation in the UK on the map)

Sundancechannel.com

Wales to host giant Fairtrade picnic

A series of Fairtrade picnics will be held across Wales this weekend to raise awareness of Wales’ bid to become the world’s first Fairtrade nation, and in an attempt to break the world record for largest picnic.

The current world record for the biggest ever picnic is 8000 people in Tenerife, Spain in 1999 – the Spanish picnickers weren’t dining on Fairtrade foods, however.

The Fairtrade scheme, which guarantees a fair wage and safe working conditions to producers in developing countries, now includes a wide range of products such as honey, chocolate, fruit juice, flowers, cosmetics, and of course, coffee.

Cardiff was granted the title of the world’s first Fairtrade capital city in 2004 due to its support of the scheme, but Wales still has some way to go before it can become a Fairtrade country.

To claim the title three further Welsh cities will have to reach Fairtrade status and the majority of Welsh universities and councils must support the scheme. The Welsh Assembly Government is also aiming to encourage half of the population – around 1 ½ million people, to buy Fairtrade products regularly.

Wales fairtrade

Bio-diesel Earthrace boat on its way to UK

Plans were announced this week for a European promotional tour of the spectacular looking, bio-diesel powered Earthrace boat.

Earthrace, a wave-piercing trimaran that reaches speeds of 45 knots, was built for an attempt to sail around the globe in world record time, but was recently forced to abandon the attempt due to storm damage.

Instead of returning home to New Zealand, however, the boat will now visit around 40 European cities, including Cardiff, Edinburgh and London, in order to raise awareness of alternative fuels.

The boat's skipper, Peter Bethune said “The vision of a world using fuel produced from sustainable sources is an idea whose time has come. By demonstrating the power, reliability and environmental safety of biodiesel, Earthrace is committed to transforming this vision into reality.”

The Earthrace project, however, has received plenty of criticism, much of it due to the current controversial status of bio-fuels; but few will argue that Earthrace is an impressive looking vessel.

Source: earthrace.net

Saving Planet Earth by Tony Juniper

The BBC’s excellent Planet Earth series, which broadcast late last year, won several awards for its groundbreaking nature photography and stunning wildlife footage - and in June the BBC will air a follow up programme, ‘Saving Planet Earth’, based on the premise that unless action is taken now, photographs and documentary footage will be all that is left of many of the world’s most endangered species.

The programme will feature celebrities including Jack Osbourne and Graham Norton, as they learn more about the threats to the world’s wildlife, such as hunting, pollution and loss of habitat.

And while the celebrities attract the audiences, the tie-in book by Friends of the Earth director Tony Juniper is designed to offer the facts.

The book is essentially a ‘beginners guide’ to extinction - and together with some great photography, features stories from around the globe of endangered and extinct species.

Saving Planet Earth makes it clear that activities such as whale watching, snorkelling over coral reefs and safaris could all become rare events, but the book is not pessimistic.

Instead, much of the book has a positive and inspiring focus on what can be done, and what is being done to protect wildlife, such as captive breeding programmes and the increasing adoption of wildlife reserves.

Both the programme and the book make it clear, however, that to reduce the current rate of extinction of around one species per hour, action must be taken now, and according to Tony Juniper, this is well within our means:

“Humans are creative and resourceful beings. Over millennia we have solved apparently impossible problems and overcome insurmountable challenges. The saving of planet earth is easily within the abilities of the human race.”

Proceeds from the book will be going to wildlife charities. You can buy Saving Planet Earth from Amazon

bbc.co.uk/savingplanetearth