Newcastle Green Gathering is back, bigger, better and, erm, greener than ever! It aims to raise awareness of environmental issues and living ethically by providing a creative and educational environmental at an arts and music based event.

There’s a Kids Area and Healing Zone as well as a plethora of local and national bands performing - ensuring there’s something for everone to be entertained by. As well as this there will be a whole host of stalls and pitches around the site in Exhibition Park inspiring the ethical consumer and green living enthusiast in all of us.

 As the official site says;

‘The festival will be taking place in Exhibition Park, Newcastle Upon Tyne on the 30th & 31st August. Featuring 5 stages of local and national music, arts, community groups, alternative therapies, stalls, food, drink (please note – no alcohol to be brought onto the site - drinks available through event bars) and much more. All dedicated to making sure that everyone in the city and beyond can make small but practical steps to change the environment we live in for the better; and have a great time while learning a bit as well.’

For more information check out the Green Gathering website

Photo: BBC

So what exactly is the Wottle…? This would perhaps have been a valid question a few weeks ago, but for the up to date, green-living, environmentally friendly eco-drinker, Wottle is the new buzz word.

For those who are not yet in the know, the Wottle is a brand new refillable water bottle, the inspired result of a collaboration between Brita UK and Orla Kiely, the prominent contemporary UK designer.

Brita proudly presents the Wottle as ‘the world’s first designer reusable water bottle’, intended to be a handy way to always have Brita filtered water with you when you’re out and about and on the move. And for fans of Orla Kiely, her signature leaf design is instantly recognisable, which ensures that this funky little bottle is fashionable too.

The only question which may need to be adressed is what other than its designer kudos makes the Wottle stand apart from your average water bottle, any of which are admittedly as refillable as the next container, pouch or tin can canteen…?

What we really love about the Wottle is that it is launching a massive campaign to encourage everybody to do their bit when it comes to reducing waste created by massively popular disposable water bottles. Back in February, the Mail Online reported on the Environment Minister’s estimation that us Brits throw away around 10 million water bottles a year, equivalent to about one water bottle per head, per fortnight, for the entire UK population. So although your average bottle is refillable, the unfortunate fact is that people just aren’t reusing or recycling, which really is bad news environmentally.

The Wottle can be seen as following in the footsteps of the highly sought after ‘I Am Not A Plastic Bag’ canvas tote bags created by prominent designer Anya Hindmarsh, which contributed massively towards the campaign against the disposable plastic bags. High profile designer Katherine Hamnett is another big name in fashion who is beginning to realise that organic credentials and sound ethics really does stir up public interest, and has brought out her own line of very recognisable male and female slogan t-shirts which shout out their ethical ideologies in print as well as in through their production methods.

With such high profile associations, this stylish little bottle is unsuprisingly being hailed in both eco-friendly and fashion circles as the ultimate portable water solution for 2008, not to mention for years to come.

So whether you fancy a Wottle for its eco-friendly and sustainable recycled and recyclable credentials, or are more concerned with combining your Brita filtered water with up-to-date Orla Kiely style, it really does strike us as a great idea.

The only question left now is: ‘Have you got the Wottle’?!?

You can buy one of your own soon, at Ethicalsuperstore.com.

Summer is a great time of year to get stuck into the gardening or to flex those green fingers down at the allotment.

The National Allotment Gardens Trust shares our love for all things home grown, and is celebrating National Allotments Week with the nation between the 11^th and 17^th August. Sadly the week is drawing to a close, but at last the rain has stopped and the weekend is almost upon us, so it’s time for us all to get our wellington boots and trowels out and get digging.

This week’s allotment promoting activities are all about getting people out and about, encouraging good health, exercise and local community education. And a handy added extra is that if you’re growing your own vegetables there’s no need to be buying them – a great credit crunch busting move!

If you’ve got your own allotment already and are hoping for some added inspiration, you can buy all sorts of clever garden gizmos online. One of our favourites is the paper potter, a handy device for making eco-friendly, fully biodegradable seedling pots. There are plenty of other great outdoor accessories and gadgets that can be bought online too, from solar powered lights to unmissable novelty water cans!

Check out the Ethicalsuperstore.com blog for further thoughts and comments on National Allotment week.

And if you’re not fortunate enough to have your own allotment, you can still order locally grown fresh fruit and veg online, which we think is a great idea.

Photo credit to Lucy Crosbie. Here’s the original.

There has been a significant amount of excitement reverberating around the office today, as this brand new Morphy Richards Ecolectric Toaster burst onto Ethicalsuperstore.com.

So it looks good, but what exactly is so ethical about this particular eco-friendly toaster?

Well, this little toasting device is truly cunning in the extreme; whilst being aesthically pleasing for those who like to have a trendy kitchen, more importantly the rather snazzy design incorporates a smoothly sliding fully closing lid which keeps the heat in and cooks your toast extra-fast. When monitored with the assistance of a handy Ecosavers Energy Monitor , second for second it does use around the same amount of electricity as the average conventional toaster, but the significant fact is that our new favourite domestic appliance cooks a fantastic slice of breakfast perfection in less than half the time. Ergo – less energy consumption, top notch eco-friendly energy-saving credentials, and great for people such as myself who are rather impatient for their hot and crunchy snacks…

And we should know - a significant proportion of this morning was dedicated to ‘crucial product testing’ and ‘vital experimentation’, involving a rather large loaf of bread which was quickly browned and subsequently demolished.

The results of our rigorous research were conclusive - this new energy-efficient Ecolectric Two Slice Toaster is a must.

And to add to all of this toastalicious excitement, here are our top ten toasty facts for you to consider:

• 1 -  Toast cannot be faxed
• 2 -  Toast can never be eaten raw
• 3 -  Toast is biodegradable
• 4 -  Toast will not stick to sellotape
• 5 -  Toast could be made into a hat
• 6 -  Toast is not USB compatible
• 7 -  Toast could be Mr. T’s surname
• 8 -  Toast is not to blame for the weather, blame it on the boogie
• 9 -  Toast can be used as a frisbee
• 10 - Toast is its own plural

For these and more insightful toast related facts check out toastfacts.co.uk. And get munching!

As a chocolate lover myself, when I stumbled across a copy of ‘Sweet Dreams: The Story of Green & Black’s’, I had no option - I just had to read it.

I never would have thought that the story of the development of a business would have been so interesting, but with a front cover that looks like a bar of chocolate, and the words ‘Green & Black’s’ emblazoned across in gold, I still found reading this book an irresistable prospect.

What starts out as an introduction to Craig and Jo, the couple who conceived and developed this internationally recognisable chocolate brand, soon morphs into descriptions of business plans and market analysis. However far from being turgid or overly detailed, the book manages to maintain the personal voice it starts out with, whilst not once loosing the readers’ attention. One device it uses is in-setting the main text with interesting little asides, from recipes for chocolate brownies to memorable words of philosophical wisdom, and from chocolate tasting techniques to facts about growing cocoa beans.

I also particularly enjoyed the parts of the book which they dedicated to describing the trials, tribulation and most importantly triumphs of their fair trade cocoa farmers in Belize, the country which Lonely Planet descibes as ’so laid back it’s almost comatose’! As someone who has spent quite a lot of time in this wonderful little Central American country, Craig and Jo’s account of this element of their business further opened my eyes to a really interesting part of the world, and how much working with a company which believes in fair trade really has helped the people there.

The book also addresses a couple of popular questions which surround the Green & Black’s brand, namely why is it only the Maya Gold bar which carries the fair trade certification, and what motivated the takeover by Cadburys? I’m not going to give away any of the answers now – but give this book a try, you won’t be disappointed!

This publication should come with a health warning however  - this book is likely to encourage excessive chocolate consumption.

If like me you are unable to resist chocolatey temptations, there is no longer any need to leave the comfort of your armchair to achieve your chocolate hit, as these days you can buy Green & Blacks online. Fantastic.