Eco

UK AWARE 2010
Fri 16th and Sat 17th April
London Olympia
10am - 6pm

We should have known. From the moment Food, Glorious Food became the Food Industry, alarm bells should have started ringing. Like any other industry, say, the Film Industry, we should have anticipated the upheaval. The scams, the scandals, the marketing, the scares. Gimmicks, hypes, propaganda and the backlash of the media. It's almost worrying the paparazzi aren't involved!

Farming was once this country's most important industry. Then, for a variety of reasons, things got tough and the industry slid down the prosperity ladder. The wheel revolves - farming is heading upwards in a big, big way. But there a huge problem is looming! Shortage of people entering the industry!

‘Going green' is extending into new and unusual situations. In pursuance of ‘urban agriculture', people living in cities and towns have been encouraged to give serious consideration to installing a kitchen garden on balconies, flat roofs and other suitable high spaces. This initiative should be seen in light with statisticians' predictions suggesting that cities are more likely than rural areas to suffer the effects of any future food shortages. Now ‘greening up' is extending rapidly into country towns and villages - but not necessarily in order to produce food!

The Eden Project has just launched a brand new website; www.edenprojectshop.com. Everything on the site is made using recycled and refused materials and many are sourced locally to reduce the overall carbon footprint.

There are gifts for all the family. Don’t give the usual gifts this Christmas, treat your loved ones to a fantastic H Racer (£90) it is a real Boy's Toy.

Wellbeing Magazine talks to Amazon, Sky's 'green' Gladiator, about making lifestyle changes to improve the wellbeing of the planet.

There's something extremely satisfying about painting a wall ... and then another one, and then the whole room. But as you beaver away, lovingly transforming your immediate environment, do you spare a thought for the impact you may be having on the wider environment?

Bustling Central London, surrounded by congestion and commerce, may seem a surprising place to find an organic safe haven. But then, anything less than surprising doesn't seem to come naturally to Alara.

Why is it that women feel so responsible for Christmas? We want everything to be perfect and everyone to enjoy themselves. Be strong! We don't need to be worried into a state of panic.

Bamboo seems an unlikely material for socks, but the eco fabric is particularly effective for those with sensitive skin and skin disorders, and is known as the “breathing fibre”. Bamboo may also signal the end of smelly feet! Socks woven from bamboo have a deodorising effect due to the natural bacteriostatic bioagent of the fibre.

RRP 7 pair pack only £7.50
www.bamboo-textiles.co.uk