Eco-Living

he Fairtrade Foundation exists to ensure that producers are guaranteed a minimum price for their goods irrespective of world prices.

This means that Fairtrade goods are often more expensive than those without the Fairtrade logo. Although people are now arguing that supermarkets are fueling their excessive profits by adding large mark-ups to these products This premium that the producer charges covers the basic food, housing, health and education needs of the local communities in countries such as India and Brazil. The Foundation awards a consumer label, the Fairtrade Mark, to products which meet internationally recognized standards of Fairtrade.

he modern, environmentally friendly and durable alternative to hardwood is bamboo flooring. Being a grass, as opposed to timber, gives bamboo the edge as not only a building product (being strong and at the same time flexible), but also as a sustainable resource: wood takes approximately 15-20 years to reach maturity, whereas the non-harmful harvesting of bamboo takes a mere 3 to 5 years. Bamboo has traditionally been the material of choice in most of Asia, and it is only recently that its benefits and environmental properties have begun to be used more fully in the west.

hinking of renovating? Here are 10 tips for making environmentally friendly choices.

By Adria Vasil

Source: Canadian Living 

You know the basics of being a good green citizen: Screw in some compact fluorescent bulbs, lower the temperature on your thermostat. But if you're thinking of renovating, here are 10 ways to turn your home into an earth-friendly paradise.

rom green energy to composting and saving the Great Bear Rainforest, here are eight amazing things Canadians have done for the planet.

By Kat Tancock

source:  CanadianLiving.com 

As I write this, it's a balmy early spring day in Toronto...or, at least, it feels like it. But it's wintertime -- one of the warmest winters anyone can remember, at the beginning of what climatologists are predicting will be the warmest year on record.

Whether 2007's unseasonably warm winter across most of the country -- not to mention storm after storm pounding the West Coast -- is a direct result of global warming is difficult to prove, but the fact that climate change is both a reality and a threat is moving into common acceptance. And Canadians care -- a January 2007 poll by the Globe and Mail and CTV showed that 26 per cent of Canadians consider the environment the top issue facing the country, and 62 per cent were willing to accept slower economic growth as a trade-off for reducing global warming.

But what are we actually doing to help preserve the planet for future generations? Quite a bit, in fact. Here's a rundown of eight great things Canadians have done for the environment, plus suggestions for how we can achieve even more.

his issue is as relevant to other parts of the developed world, just as it is to the UK....The fad in drinking water from bottles is killing off the planet as detailed by scientists.

The bottled water craze may be very fashionable, but it is no healthier than ordinary tap water and according to analysts is 10,000 times more expensive to produce.

This situation is having an alarming affect on the environment as to the resources required to extract the water from the ground, package it and distribute around the globe. In the UK alone this business is worth £2billon.