Dear friends,

Spring doesn't seem to be arriving and we are still suffering the winter glooms…

This week we will all follow Livia’s last chapters of her Green Carpet Challenge on http://www.vogue.co.uk/blogs/livia-firth/ as she gets ready for the Oscars! We all learned a lot about what’s out there if you want to dress ethically and elegantly and look forward to expand this concept on our “12 Degrees of Ethical Fashion”project.

Keep in mind that Fairtraide Fortnight is still going on until March 7^th so make the most of it and take part in THE BIG SWAP! http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/thebigswap

Last but not least, we just heard that the Church of England took the unprecedented step of selling shares in Vedanta Resources, the controversial mining company threatening the Dongria Kondh’s sacred mountain. We wrote about this issue on our blog before and also, forgive us the association, it “rings” like Avatar… Please log on Survival International’s website (www.survivalinternational.org) to learn more and write to India’s environment ministry  as they consider whether to allow the mine to go ahead.

Have a nice week.

Your Eco Team.

Dear Friends

From February 22^nd to March 7^th is FAIRTRADE FORTNIGHT and we hope you will take part in the Fairtrade Foundation’s biggest campaign of the year!

This year you can act with THE BIG SWAP (http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/thebigswap) a very simple and yet effective step to making the world a fairer place.  To help you take part, Eco Age is showcasing some fun Fairtrade products like the Emma Watson new range for People Tree, the Little Green Radicals baby clothes and Divine Chocolates…

We read an interesting article in the New York Times by Thomas L. Friedman http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/17/opinion/17friedman.html which we suggest you read … we like his suggestion to substitute the term “Global warming” with “Global weirding”…

Have a nice week!

Your Eco Team

Dear friends,

According to the Independent on Sunday, a poll has confirmed that public confidence in the climate change consensus has been shaken following last week’s attacks and campaign against man-made global warming.  It emerged that one in four Britons – 26% - now says they do not believe in global warming; previously this figure stood at 15%.  This is worrying but at least gives us a reason to exist – go Eco Age go!

This week “Food Inc” premieres in the UK, a wonderful movie by our “heroes” Michael Pollen and Eric Schlosser and beautifully directed by Robbie Kenner.  We urge everyone to see it and think about the way we eat and buy food. As Patrick Holden, director of the Soil Association, reminded us last week from the pages of The Guardian: "The paradox is there's this view that organic is elitist, it's expensive, it's a lifestyle choice for people who can afford it. As far as I'm concerned it's not elitist to believe everyone should have the right to high-quality, nutritious food from sustainable farming systems. What's elitist is that a handful of corporations have got a vice-like grip on the farming systems and food."

And well done to Survival International, not only for their protest outside Tiffany’s last week, but also for the victory in Peru: the Peruvian government has now banned oil and gas companies from exploring some parts of the Peruvian Amazon inhabited by uncontacted tribes, after lobbying from Survival and others. The tribes could have been decimated if exploration had gone ahead.

Have a nice week everyone and Happy Valentine’s…

Your Eco Team

Dear friends

We read with interest and pleasure yesterday on the front page of The Observer that Miliband “declares war on climate change skeptics”.  We will look forward to seeing how he does it and for how long. Well done for the moment!

This week we would like to dedicate these few weekly lines to Howard Zinn - passionate activist, historian, one of the greatest men and minds of his generation, and a dear friend, who has died aged 87.  At first glance, this does not relate directly to Eco Age, climate change or sustainability, but in fact it does.  A lot.  As Howard always reminded us “If there is going to be change, real change, it will have to work its way from the bottom up, from the people themselves. That’s how change happens.”  His film “the People Speak” will hopefully premiere soon in the UK (www.howardzinn.org) and in the meantime, faced with the inexorable question of what to do, no one puts it better than our friend Brenda:  “we plan on doing as he did faced with loss: redouble our efforts, fight harder, laugh more, agitate, organise”.

 Have a nice week.

 Your Eco team