This is the second in our series of monthly ideas for going green and I’m going to take a look at money and how our daily finances impact the planet. The way that we save, invest and use our money can have a positive impact on the environment and climate change. Read on to find out more.
There are a growing number of companies that provide financial services and products that either invest in activities to combat climate change or actively avoid investing in activities which would otherwise have an adverse impact. When choosing insurance look to Climate Sure, which offsets the carbon you use for the activity you are insuring. They calculate the CO2 that a car insurance customer produces when driving and pays for this to be offset by Climate Care. Carbon offsetting is considered a cop-out by many environmentalists and I agree that we cannot continue to live a high carbon lifestyle, paying to assuage our guilt and expect everything to be okay. But, arguably this is better than using your standard insurer and having no idea what happens to the premiums you pay every month.
Triodos is where we do our banking at The Green Parent, it’s an award winning ethical bank that offers a secure home for your savings and investments and offers fantastic customer service. The Co-operative Bank has a strict ethical policy, turning away some £10 million worth of business last year because it did not meet with the bank’s ethical requirements.
If you are planning to move home this year, Ecology Building Society will be able to ensure that your mortgage investment is used to support sustainable living projects. More information about mortgages and also savings accounts can be found on their website.
A good book to read is The Simple Living Guide: A Sourcebook for Less Stressful, More Joyful Living by Janet Luhrs, with chapters on work, money and family. We also found the Money as Debt short film fascinating and enlightening. It explains how much of today’s money does not actually exist in a clear and concise manner, encouraging the viewer to completely rethink their beliefs about money and the banking system.
Finally, now is a great time to take a different approach to money – think about bartering skills between neighbours and friends, borrowing and lending items rather than buying new, joining the Freecycle movement, getting involved with your local LETS scheme. The New Economics Foundation have plenty more ideas on their website. Got any more ideas for getting creative and green with your money? Share them with us.
As an Aquarian who loves New Moon energy, I am doubly excited about this coming Sunday’s new moon in Aquarius. I expect it will herald a time of change, great insight and visionary thinking. We are being encouraged to take a good look at our lives and ditch out-moded ideas and beliefs.
For the last week or so I feel like a door has opened and I am being invited to take a look at my life from a new perspective – v. interesting! So we can use this time for a psychological clear out, harnessing the power of the new moon. We could choose to release unhealthy relationships, addictive behaviour, workaholic tendencies and poor dietary habits and are more likely to be supported and find great ease in making these transitions.
Aquarian energy is rebellious and risky so keep a check on your actions and ask the opinion of friends if you feel unsure about the changes you wish to make in your life. The rebel archetype is combined with a desire for unity and peace though, so decisions will probably be for the greater good.
The New Moon is the darkest phase of the moon, a time to plan ahead and plant ideas to come to fruition later. As the moon waxes and the light energy increases, the moon growing full again, so the seeds that we have planted in the time of darkness begin to grow too. Very exciting! Drop me a line to let me know what dreams you are hoping to manifest.
This gorgeous illustration is by Jude Cowell – an etching from her Secret Moon Art series.
Just a quick post to say hello and to update you on everything that’s been going on here over the last week. We’ve got a brand new website and a lovely glossy new edition of the magazine has just hit doormats and shop shelves all around the country. It’s our ethical fashion special so there’s lots of gorgeous clothes in there plus articles on Slow Fashion (not an oxymoron!) and eco textiles such as nettle fibre.
We so enjoyed putting this issue together and it’s always exciting to receive the print edition when its published. For this edition we launched a reader panel of lovely readers who tested out chocolates, natural shampoo and green laundry products. They did an excellent and extremely thorough job and you can read their opinions in this latest edition. A big thank you to Kate, Claire, Naomi, Lisa and Rachel.
Other features include how to go Zero Waste and an article on celebrating Candlemas with children. We also have an article on how to support our sons’ emotional wellbeing, which is full of hand-on advice and tips that you can use at home. Another feature takes a nose through an attachment parent’s bookshelf and recommends the best reads for conscious parents. Oh, and there’s lots more inside!
Our new website has taken off and just flown – so many visitors in this first weekend – it’s astounding! And very rewarding. The guys at Erskine, who designed it for us have been absolutely brilliant and have completely above and beyond the call of duty; logging into our forums and answering questions all weekend and just generally being all round stars, as well as superb web designers. So a massive and heartfelt thank you to Simon, Glen, Greg and everyone else at Erskine for our gorgeous new baby.
I tried to take the weekend off and managed to abstain from computer usage until this evening. It’s all just so exciting – have so many articles and reviews, news stories and posts that I want to include on the site. So just watch this space and if you have any ideas or things that you would like to read about – post a comment below and I’ll see what I can do.
Today’s pic by the way shows some of the gorgeous childrenswear at Frugi – and they’ve currently got a sale on too!
Happy Sunday evening!
Melissa
When making plans for the coming year it is common to think of our resolutions from a negative point of view – what we are going to give up or stop doing. We reckon that approaching things from a positive mindset makes plans much easier to carry out. So we have come up with a year’s worth of fun green things that you can do as a family and will unveil a new action you can take every month.
Taking positive action is a great way to involve the whole family in the quest to reduce your environmental footprint. Try incorporating our monthly ideas into everyday life and at the end of 2009 we reckon you’ll be happier, healthier and greener!
Get Involved
We’ll start with something nice and simple and for January we recommend joining forces with others. Living a clean, green life is much easier, more fun and definitely more effective when practised as a community. Working within a group you can share your experiences with others and find out what works, and what doesn’t, quicker, it gives the opportunity to forge links with others, share skills and learn new ones and also encourages new friendships to blossom out of common interests.
Start Small
Find out about local initatives at the library or through friends and neighbours. If there isn’t anything locally then you might be inspired to start up your own group. This needn’t be a huge undertaking – many successful groups have started off small, meeting fortnightly or monthly in a member’s sitting room. Some issues that you could tackle are; council’s recycling facilities, setting up a food co-op or greening up an area of wasteland locally. Organisations such as Friends of the Earth, Wildlife Trusts and Greenpeace also have local groups. Green Drinks is a network of like-minded folk who work in the environmental sector who get together regularly to catch up and make new contacts. Or get busy outside through your local green gym, organised by the British Trust of Conservation Volunteers. Of course, often the easiest and most sustainable place to start is with your own neighbours – perhaps you could set up a car share or recycling rota.
Good luck and be sure to share your success stories with us!
Well, a very happy and green new year to everyone. I am really excited about 2009 – it feels like a time of great change and potential. I am looking forward to continuing to share the positive message of The Green Parent magazine, bringing inspiration on parenting issues and green ideas to an even wider audience. We have lots of fabulous things planned for this year along with a new website, launching next week that will be packed with articles, comment, reviews, competitions and much much more. The next edition of the magazine is also out next week and has some great new features including a reader’s panel where our lovely readers share their opinions and ideas.
I hope that the festive season was full of light and joy for all. We spent most of our time celebrating with family and friends which was absolutely wonderful and has reaffirmed a resolution that I made to myself at the Celtic New Year in November that I should spend more time enjoying my loved ones company and less time fretting over work, household chores, shopping and other activities that involve separation rather than connection.
After all the festivities Jez and I found ourselves with a free weekend (children happily ensconced at their grandparents) and we indulged in a spa weekend, which was out-of-this-world. We ate, slept, went for long walks and lounged around in hydrotherapy pools for two days. I think it will be become our new New Year ritual and maybe we’ll have to commemorate the Chinese and Islamic New Years in Feb and March, respectively, in a similar fashion!
I am leisurely re-reading Tom Hodgkinson’s How to be Idle at the moment and I think this has, in part, affected a sea-change in my previous workaholic state. I’d recommend every time-poor, overstretched person get a copy of this book and take it to bed at some inappropriate time, like in the middle of the afternoon. It’s quite revolutionary!
Anyway, love and light for an abundant, healthy, happy and slow 2009,
Melissa
Welcome to the new blog from the Green Parent office. Here we'll talk about what's going on in the small and quite leafy headquarters of the UK's leading green lifestyle magazine. We'll share news that interests us and talk about green issues and natural parenting. We'll share advice and information from our own experiences of living a green lifestyle. And we'll even tell you what we are reading, eating, drinking and thinking. Hope you get plenty of food for thought here.
The Green Parent is the UK's leading green lifestyle and natural parenting magazine. A truly inspiring read, TGP is like nothing else on the newsstand, with insightful intelligent journalism covering topics from babywearing and attachment parenting to home-education and alternative medicine. Each issue features regular columns on Organic Gardening, Seasonal Food and Drink, Green Travel, Ethical Fashion and lots more. Read more about Green Parent »
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