Decorating?

Check out local Stroud author Lynn Edward’s Handbook for Eco Paints and Finishes at £9.95 from http://www.thegreenshop.co.uk/.

It gives a comprehensive introduction to the range of natural and eco-friendly, non-toxic paints and finishes available in the UK. The manufacturers of all these products are mindful of the health of our bodies, of our living spaces, and of the wider environment.

Auro Natural paint is available from http://www.ecotopia.co.uk/

It's Autumn!

Even though many of us are in denial, there is no doubt about it - it was the first day of Autumn yesterday! Though everyone has been saying that it’s been like Autumn for the last few months as summer has been so wet and cold, there is no smell in the world like that of a proper Autumn. It hangs in the air bringing an earthy smell and hues of burnt orange and gold. This is definately my favourite season!

Check out http://www.moreeco.com/ 's top 5 Green Tips for Saving Energy and Cash this Autumn

1. Save up to 10% on your water heating!
Chances are you can turn down the thermostat on your home’s water heater a few degrees, and still have plenty of hot water for everyone’s daily shower, not to mention the dishes and laundry. Lowering the temperature from 140 to 120 would reduce your water heating costs by 6 to 10%. Give it a try!

2. Get an Energy Monitor
According to the Energy Saving Trust, 8 out of 10 of us Brits do not understand their energy bills or understand what energy rates they are on. Get a closer handle on your home energy use with an advanced energy monitoring device.

3. Unplug Unused Chargers
Even when they aren’t charging anything, plugged-in mobile phone, laptop and other chargers continue to draw electricity. Briton’s throw away about 8% of our annual electric bills this way, wasting millions of pounds. The solution is simple: just unplug them, or plug them into a standby buster and flip that switch when your device has pulled enough juice.

4. Turn fallen leaves into compost
Rake up and shred fallen leaves and add them to the compost bin. Besides autumn leaves, you’ll find other carbon-rich materials in your garden. Look for waste-material that are brown in color such as sawdust, straw and dried grass clippings. Even your teabags, coffee grains and newspapers are great to add.

5. Out with the old and in with the new or freecycled!
Freecycle any of your old summer clothes that you will not wear anymore and help benefit someone else. If you fancy an item for your winter wardrobe check out moreeco’s list of ethical clothing retailers such as Adili, Seasalt, Gossypium and Green fibres and earn yourself points, as well as free carbon offsets on all purchases.

Big Carbon Experiment - Families Wanted

Save Energy and Win an Eco-hamper

Gloucestershire residents are being asked to take part in an exciting new energy saving competition. Communities will go head to head in the competition to see who can reduce their energy consumption the most over a 6 month period. Winners will be awarded an Eco Hamper for each household as well as tickets to travel to an International Awards Ceremony in Brussels .

All participants will receive a variety of energy saving gadgets and eco goodies throughout the competition, including energy saving lightbulbs, eco kettles and hot water tank jackets, and will have the chance to win spot prizes of standby saver gadgets, water powered clocks, fridgesaver plugs and wind up radios and torches. Competition organisers are looking for 10-15 households in each of the following areas:· Cam Parish · Stroud Town · Wotton Town · Cirencester Town · Gloucester City · South Gloucestershire · Tenants of Fosseway Housing Association · Tenants of Gloucester City Homes · Tenants of Cheltenham Borough Homes · Tenants of Two Rivers Housing · Tenants of Stroud District Council

To take part or find out more contact the Severn Wye Energy Agency ( www.swea.co.uk) on 0800 512 012. If you are not in one of these areas but would like to be involved, please contact Severn Wye Energy Agency to find out about other projects in your area

Check out the Energy Saving Trust Website

The Energy Saving Trust are a non-profit organisation that provides free impartial advice tailored to suit you. It's advice can help you save money and fight climate change by reducing carbon dioxide emissions from your home.

Other useful stuff you can find on the site includes:

• Guides to grants
• Calculate and reduce your carbon footprint - There are so many ways to reduce your impact on climate change - use our new carbon cutter to create a personalised action plan that suits your lifestyle.
• Simple measures to get started - 10 things you can do today
• Free home energy report

Great site with some good info!

Green Loyalty Scheme @ www.bemoreeco.com

Check out this fab green rewards site at http://www.moreeco.com/

What is moreeco?

MoreEco is a shopping reward site that searches the internet for the best organic, green, environmental, and natural online retailers and negotiate with them a reward level which can be passed on to the moreeco registered users.

Once you have chosen your shop click through and then you are then on the retailer’s own site and will be dealing directly with them from that point.

Why use it?

You get loads of green stuff for free and unlike the green rewards site, http://www.moreeco.com/ only uses green retailers and checks out their ethical credentials too. Everyone's a winner!

Flight offsetting tool

Found this piece on the www.bemoreeco.com blogsite, which i thought was really useful.

Calculate your flight emissions with this neat tool

This is a handy new tool from Carbon Planet. It lets you enter in your next flight details and work out how much CO2 your trip will cause. Not everyone on the plane, just you. Though it does assume a full flight. As we know, this isn’t always the case.
Anyhow, it’s a good estimate and it even divides between economy, business class and first class.
So try it out before your next trip, then use a CO2 offsetting program to fly carbon neutral.

Also be sure to read the two supplement pdf guides on Greenhouse Gas Flight Emissions and the Myths of aviation CO2.

Get a free ecotopia.co.uk reuseable bag by entering 'give me a free bag' in comments box at checkout with any purchase! A cool design means that these bags can be used for more than just shopping and at 24litres (34cm x 22.2cm x 32cm) they are large enough for a wide variety of uses.

*while stocks last

I am loving Bags of Change (http://www.bagsofchange.co.uk/) which tackles both ethical shopping and that eco hot potato, the plastic carrier bag.

Instead of reward points, Bags of Change awards shoppers a discount off ethical local and online , sustainable, organic and fairtrade goods when they use one of the hemp and organic cotton bags at a participating retailer.

Great concept and the bags are so funky!

Go free range and save a hen!

Why not adopt some hens, save on the food miles and do something good for sustainability - and give a second chance to some of the 20 million battery hens currently living in dire conditions, with no possibility of exhibiting natural behaviours.

The Battery Hen Welfare Trust website has loads of useful information on the adoption or sponsorship process and the rewards of keeping chickens. A great organisation that works with battery farmers to make positive changes within the industry, they've rehomed over 97,000 hens to date and can count Jamie Oliver and poet Pam Ayres amongst their patrons.