Biome recommends...

I have found an easy and absolutely free way of supporting your favourite charity!

aGoodCause.com collaborates with more than 30 charities and relief organisations and more than 900 e-shops. When I shop with one of these shops via AidMaker, a small piece of software, I automatically donate money to my chosen organisation. Donating money in this way is completely free! The shops then send a fixed amount of the price paid for the goods to the charities or relief organisations. We can all make donations in this way by downloading AidMaker at www.agoodcause.com

Biome Lifestyle plan to join agoodcause.com’s e-shop members so we say download it today and help make a difference!

Eco Clubbing!

A new eco-friendly opened in London this summer called Surya, Islington. The club is so environmentally sustainable that it will even donate electricity to its neighbours!
That, at least, is what Surya's owners are claiming:

"Each week millions upon millions of exuberant human beings head out of their houses and into nightclubs to expend large amounts of energy on the dancefloor," Dr Earth said in a statement. "[But] clubbing remains one of the few areas of society untouched by the green message."
According to its statement, Surya is powered by sustainable energy - in particular, wind and sun power - and, in fact, generates enough electricity to pass on to its immediate neighbours.

Besides solar-energy panels, a wind turbine, waterless urinals, low-flush toilets and eco-friendly air-conditioning units, Surya also boasts a high-tech alternative energy dancefloor. It will, the club says, use "materials such as quartz crystals, ceramics, cutting-edge technology and the dancing motion of clubbers to generate part of the club's energy requirements". Fascinating!

Biome Lifestyle would be thrilled if the answer to the world's environmental crisis just meant putting your dancing shoes on and grooving the night away!!

Don't stop dancing - you'll make the lights go out!

Action Aids Child Poverty Day

On October 17th, ActionAid is holding Child Poverty Day. They are encouraging everyone to bring in their own packed lunch that day or hold a school dinner event at home or at work. Simply get together with colleagues or friends and tuck into a classic school dinner or make your own lunch and give the money you would have spent to ActionAid.

If joined with enough friends or colleagues, the event could be really good fun and I am sure will bring back lots of ‘school dinner memories’!

The Child Poverty Day site even has recipe ideas from celebrity chef Antony Worral Thompson for some great lunchtime ideas.

Biome Lifestyle will certainly be joining in on the day – although we’re only a small team, we know every little helps!

Untouched World

I feel ethical fashion still has a slight ‘hippy’ stigma attached. However, the range of ethical clothing brands are growing rapidly and some of my favourites include Ciel, Howies, Eco-boudoir and Noir (the latter though is a little out of my price range!).

However, whilst reading one of my favourite magazines Healthy and Organic, I was pleased to come across a fashion website I previously hadn’t seen Untouched World. Apparently it was the world’s first fashion company to be recognised by the United Nations.Looking round the site, they have some lovely items ranging from everyday wear, yoga wear and evening wear.
They say “Untouched World™ is an ethical lifestyle fashion brand based on the New Zealand lifestyle. It grew out of a desire to create a positive, sustainable future. Social, cultural and environmental sustainability is built deep within the DNA of Untouched World™. We believe you don’t have to give up quality, luxury and great design to be good to the planet and look after its people. We design ethical luxury fashion without compromising performance and style”

Great philosophy!

I think I know what I’ll be asking for Christmas now…!

Save the orang utans!

I have just returned from a wonderful trip to Vietnam and Borneo. I visited some suppliers in Vietnam to check up on the factory status and conditions (thankfully all still tip top!) and then headed to Borneo for some jungle trekking, wildlife spotting and scuba diving.
Our first stop in the Borneo was at the Sepilok Rehabilitation Centre, for orang utans.
It was an amazing experience, one I will never forget. Seeing the Orangutans being nurtured back into the wild was truly special and is all thanks to the hard work and dedication by the staff at the centre.

Sepilok Rehabilitation Centre in the Malaysian Sabah District of North Borneo was founded in 1964, to rehabilitate orphan orang utans. The site is 43 sq km of protected land at the edge of Kabili Sepilok Forest Reserve. Today around 60 to 80 orang utans are living free in the reserve.
It really is a wonderful experience so I thought I would share some photos with you below… enjoy!

Biome Lifestyle are considering adopting a Sepilok orang utan - so watch this space!