Sustainable Luxury

Grow Your Own Sports Car

2008-07-24T02:07:46Z

It seems like every car manufacturer is out there to prove that they can make a greener and more eco-friendly car. Though for the most part this has been focused on fuel consumption - creating hybrids, evs or hydrogen powered machines. Technologies which many would say are merely pushing the issues of negative impact around so that the cars look better but without actually reducing impact in the larger scheme of things.

But Lotus, who were involved in the design of the Tesla ev, have recently unveiled what really is a forward looking car which not only takes a more systemic approach to car design but also creates something which will actually make petrolheads go wow.

Welcome the Lotus "Eco Elise" concept car.

What makes it so special is the focus on the production methodology as well as the actual materials used. Working with a technology recently deveoped by Qinetiq, Lotus has chosen to make the Eco Elise out of natural fibres - namely locally sourced hemp and sisal. Now making a car out of natural fibres is nothing new - the Trabant, which was first produced in the 1950s, used a roof made with recycled cotton; but the beauty of the Eco Elise is that it really has been created with the 3Rs in mind.

The hemp body shell is not only more eco-friendly but also reduces the vehicle weight, increasing both fuel economy and performance. Other features are a roof embedded with solar panels to help reduce engine load and thus fuel consumption and an "eco light" - which recommends the best time to change gears to improve fuel efficiency. This alone is something I think can make a massive difference to fuel economy as it makes the driver more aware of how much fuel they are consuming.

The overall goal at Lotus is to improve their production techniques not just for the Eco Elise but for all their vehicle manufacturing by working with local suppliers, renewable energy, recycled materials, better waste management, etc.Lotus claims to have significantly reduced their energy consumption (Electricity 14%, Gas 30%, Water 11%) as well as increased the amount of waste recycling to 57%. Though it would be interesting to know what the other 43% is and how they are dealing with it.

There was no word on what the engine of the Eco Elise would be but of course Lotus is also experimenting with different power sources such as tri-fuel motors in addition to now much demanded hybrid engines.

Now of course the Eco Elise is not as eco-friendly as a bicycle but it is certainly a step in the right direction for automobile design.

Splitting Green Hairs

2008-07-12T09:07:49Z

I was recently chatting with the lovely Leonora from Treehugger about the greenness of green and how many of the companies which are generally considered green are being criticised for not being as green as they perhaps could be.

And this bothers me. Not because I think that the companies being accused aren’t green enough or even heaven forbid greenwashing, but because I think that those people criticising them are missing the bigger picture. Do we really need to tear apart the companies which are genuinely trying but are not yet perfect?

What these critics fail to realise is that not only is there always room for improvement but that no company no matter how green is ever perfect nor will there ever be a perfect company no matter how far down the green road they have chosen to or even be able to travel.The goals of sustainability are constantly moving. Sure it is likely that we will reach the goals of today, but by the time we have the goals of today will only be the starting point for a tomorrow with much different goals.
In fact if you want to go down the road of how green is green then you need to question the very nature of any and every company which creates goods to be consumed. The mere act of consumption could well be argued to be a negative impact venture. But the truth is we live in a consumer society and not everyone has the time, energy or knowledge to create self-sufficient lifestyles without any reliance on consumerism. If we did we would be living as hermits growing our own food and weaving our own clothes.

But it’s not just about consumerism as related to the basic necessities. The fact is we also live in a society where people work hard and like to reward themselves with little luxuries – whether it is a beautifully prepared meal with a nice bottle of wine, or an article of clothing which makes you feel good about yourself. These needs and desires are the things which for better or for worse define the vast majority of the population living in the developed world.

I am all for pushing companies to reduce impact and create a more sustainable future whether it is through an environmental or a social agenda. But what these critics are doing is forgetting that the companies they are lambasting are at least trying to make a difference. It may not be perfect but it is a step in the right direction and significantly better than the vast majority of companies which are choosing to do nothing. Surely their criticisms should not be focused on how green those few companies that are trying actually are, but on the vast majority of other companies which really don’t care, are simply complacent, or are engaged in greenwash without any real concern. Imagine if these critics took their efforts and instead of splitting hairs, chose to focus on those other companies. Wouldn’t it make a greater difference of good to take a completely non-performing company and make it perform rather than fine-tuning someone who is already moving towards a target?

Triodos Webas 2008

2008-06-20T10:06:24Z

Yesterday evening was spent with the gorgeous Jenny White from Eco-Boudoir at the Triodos Women in Ethical Business Awards ceremony at St Luke's. Socialising with a whole room full of inspirational people not only determined to save the world but who were prepared to question our way of doing business and all while dressed head to toe in the best of ethical fashion from slickly tailored suits to slinky silk dresses.

The event was a welcome change from the weekend where people seemed unwilling/unable to address the situation at hand. Though I suppose that is to be expected where one event was focused on people seeking to somewhat ethically climb the corporate ladder and those entrepreneurs who are truly inspired to change the way we do business.

The finalist put fourth for the awards were very strong and show the level of dedication that is working to change the world. There were more established names such as Safia Minney (People Tree), Renée Elliott (Planet Organic) to lesser known but no less inspiring names such as Julie Brown (Growing Communities). But with any award ceremony only a few actually get to walk away with an award and this year's deserving winners were

Ethical Business Award - Susie Hewson (Natracare)
Ethical Entrepreneur Award - Solitaire Towsend (Futerra)
Ethical Small Business Award - Judith Fearne (Brown Cow)
Eve Reader Award - Lucy Wisdom (Sumatran Orangutan Society)

It is always inspiring to attend events like this and meet genuinely nice people who care about what they are doing. Speaking with them helps to give me belief that perhaps we can make a difference.

No Photoshop Please

2008-06-17T02:06:58Z

The Telegraph and a number of other London papers are running with an story from Heat Magazine entitled "Stars Without Make-up". The premise is an evolution of the Dove Real Beauty adverts. Although instead of using everyday people they chose to use a few celebs to show that life is not all glamour but really the clever hand of an adept Photoshop artist such as Pascal Dangin at work.

Does this signify a move towards more natural beauty? I certainly hope so as personally I think that many women wear far too much make-up anyhow. Even though many of the participants in the shoot were more critical of their photos without make-up, I think that they are looking at them with an eye focussed far too intently on their flaws, no matter how minute, and oblivious to the overall image. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder I know, but I think the level of make-up in their "made-up" pictures detracts from their true beauty. The pictures speak for themselves.

Claudia Winkleman discusses the dilemma she faced before agreeing to the shoot in her column for the Independent.

Myleene Klass

Claudia Winkleman

Honda FCX

2008-06-17T12:06:59Z

Seems like Honda is releasing the first few production units of their new FCX Clarity hydrogen fuel cell vehicle hot on the tails of BMW's Hydrogen 7.

But the debate is still on as to whether this is a good thing or not. Aside from all of the difficulties associated with storing and transporting hydrogen, it is really more of an energy carrier than a fuel source in its own right. The claim is one of Zero Emissions and sure the FCX doesn't produce emissions directly itself but it still needs to be turned into hydrogen in the first instance and there is the rub. So unless that is being done with electrolysis generated from renewable clean energy then there will still be emissions produced during production.

But like so many other alternative fuel vehicles, only a small hand full are being released and then only to those select few scattered primarily in Hollywood. But with hydrogen fuelling stations few and far between it wouldn't do you and I much good anyhow. I had a chance to sit in the Hydrogen 7 a few months back and I seem to recall the BMW rep saying that there was only one fuelling station in the entire UK...

Where was the passion?

2008-06-16T10:06:35Z

I recently had the privilege to be invited to speak at a conference on Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability with Jem Bendell and Marco Bevolo. The event was being held by a number of different MBA schools from around the world and boasted some top speakers working in the field. I was excited.

Here was a chance to not only speak alongside established practitioners and thinkers, but to be in an environment buzzing with the change leaders of tomorrow; Graduates filled with boundless enthusiasm, perceptive visions, and genuine concern about society and the environment.

And yet I can’t help but walk away from it having felt not only a little disappointed, but worse angry about our direction for tomorrow. Not so much from the quality of the speakers or the organisation of the event itself; but rather bowled over by the mindless acceptance and utter lack of passion present at the event.

I was looking forward to insights about problems faced in trying to make Social Responsibility a priority and a lively debate about the issues and how best to tackle them. I wanted to walk away feeling challenged, having had my thinking notched up a few levels and expanded with a new found ability to look at problems while dreaming up creative solutions. Not placid agreement and a let’s all sit around the fire and sing Kumbaya feeling. Where was the energy and belief?

For many of the speakers, as talented and knowledgeable as they were, it seemed the conference offered nothing more than a vessel for them to promote and dare I say even greenwash their companies to the polite and tacit approval of the audience. Are these students not supposed to be the policy makers and thinkers of tomorrow? Did nobody feel the need to question and challenge what was being said?

One speaker talked about the five pillars of business and how really there was actually a sixth called CSR. Am I alone in thinking that, although he talked the talk, that he didn’t really understand or even believed in it? Social Responsibility is not something that can be used to prop up a falling structure. How can feelings of responsibility and care permeate a company’s beliefs and hence steer decisions if it isn’t the very foundation upon which those pillars are all standing? It’s not about top down or bottom up or even sideways integrations of policy. It is about total holistic integration of policy – about belief in what you are doing and why you are doing it. It is not about ticking boxes so that you can give yourself a self-congratulatory pat on the back about all the world saving changes you are doing.

Nor did I understand why everyone was so happy to mainly hear about the pressing need of CSR when surely our point in attending was because not only do we already knew that but because we fully embrace it. Our point of being there was not to be convinced but rather challenged with new thought directions and to be given the opportunity to discuss issues of implementation.

Those in attendance are supposed to be the bright minds of our Sustainable Future. Where was the debate? The passion? I expected to see people standing up to challenge the way we do business; pushing society to do better and try harder. Is that too much to expect from this supposed elite crop?

I only ask that if this is the future of Social Responsibility, then what are we creating and what hope is there for tomorrow?

Organic Soy Wax....

2008-04-05T12:04:17Z

When we first started producing our candles we were really the only company on the market. But now there are countless so-called natural candles on the market, many of them preaching about the fact that they make organic candles.

Well as somebody who has been creating 100% natural candles for over four years, let me tell you a secret.... there is no such thing as an organic candle!

For a product to be classified as organic it needs to have a minimum 70% organic ingredients. This is something which is impossible in a candle since the largest single component is the wax.

But now you are probably wondering why not use organic soy wax?

The simple truth is that there is no such thing as “organic” wax. We use the closest thing to organic wax in our candles possible and even though the wax is GM, herbicide and pesticide free it can not truthfully be called organic. The reason for this is that the base ingredient when creating either soy or palm wax is vegetable oil. While it is true that you can have organic vegetable oil, in order to turn it into a solid wax it is necessary to introduce hydrogen and it is this process of hydrogenation which prevents the wax from being classified as organic. Thus even though the wax may have started from an organic source, it can not be labelled as organic. Organic standards were originally created for farming where hydrogenated food is known not to be good for you, but fortunately we don’t eat wax!

Though I have never heard of anyone doing it, I suppose one could in theory produce organic bees wax; but could you imagine what a logistical nightmare that would be? One would first have to grow organic flowers in an enclosed environment and ensure that that your bees only fed on them…. and that would only be the start of your complications… but if you do hear of anyone doing it please let me know!

Bio-Degradable Plastic?

2008-03-23T05:03:45Z

I've talked about why we don't use glass in our personal care products but the next question is why don't we use bio-degradable plastics? As for glass, the issue is not quite so straight forward.

The bio-degradable packaging industry is still very much in its infancy. Issues abound such as the compatibility with the ingredients of the personal care products which they would contain. Also at hand are the issues required to actually manufacture a bio-degradable bottle and more importantly dispose of it.

My feeling is that the current methods for producing and disposing of a bio-degradable bottles outweigh any benefits gained. The story may be different if we were able to use starch-based plastics but at the moment this is not an option due to compatibility issues.

This leaves us with oil based bio-degradable plastics which are actually more harmful to the environment. In order for something to bio-degrade it needs the right environment (sun, oxygen, moisture etc). Things which are not always available in a waste environment and would prevent the plastic from degrading. But even if it were to degrade it still takes a significant time, years in fact, and we are still faced with the by-products of the process which includes Carbon Dioxide - a key contributer to global warming - and not to mention the other toxins which are leached into the ground during the process of bio-degrading.

Another issue with bio-degradable plastics is the disposal in a city environment. Currently I am aware of no city council which is able to actually deal with these plastics properly. Throw them in the compost that is collected by the council and they will be pulled out for being plastic. Throw them in the plastics recycling and they will contaminate the recycling process and render the entire batch of bottles being recycled useless!

But all is not lost. We are now starting to see Post Consumer Regrind (PCR) or recycled plastics appearing on the market. While there are still very few bottle manufacturers actually working with PCR plastic, it currently seems the best option for getting our product to market.

So rest assured we are actively investigating PCR packaging and hope to be able to repackage our entire personal care range in it the not too distant future....

From Glass to Plastic

2008-03-22T08:03:55Z

One of the questions I am most often asked about my packaging is why I don't use glass bottles which are infinitely more recyclable and hence people assume more environmentally friendly than the plastic we currently use. Unfortunately the issues are a little more complicated than that.

The primary reason for plastic is that glass is a safety hazard and in many countries can't be used in the bathroom. There are still occurrences where glass does find its way into bathrooms, such as in small vials, but by and large glass is a risk in a slippery environment where one would likely be walking in bare feet.

The second reason why we don't use glass is weight. Glass bottles are significantly heavier than plastic bottles and this has repercussions on transport in regards to the amount of space a consignment will take up as well as the required energy to move it. More packaging is required to safely pack glass and waste due to breakages will still be an issue.

This brings us to plastics which are far lighter and less prone to breakage than glass. But plastic is not just plastic. There are countless plastics available for use but the only two plastics which really warrant any discussion are PET and HDPE. Both of these plastics are suitable for use in the personal care industry and more importantly they are the two plastics which are most readily recycled on not just a European but also a global scale.

However of these two plastics, PET is the plastic of choice for not only it's ease of recycling but also the number of facilities able to recycle it. Recycling facilities for HDPE are still not as common which would require the areas that do recycle it to ship it great distances.

Thus our “current assessment” says that PET is the most environmentally friendly choice. Though we are keeping our eyes on the issue as it is swiftly changing as new technologies in plastic develop.

Of course the next question is why don't we use bio-degradable packaging? Well the answer to this warrants its own topic!

Chanel on Fashion & Elegance

2008-03-21T10:03:17Z

Words on fashion from the Grand Dame herself in her first TV interview. A fascinating look at the woman who arguably started it all.

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The Reason Greenwashing Works...

2008-03-21T01:03:54Z

Unfortunately it is hard becoming harder and harder for consumers to distinguish between products which really do what they say and those that are merely marketed with a bit of Greenwashing.

Yet the reason that Greenwashing works is that they are often telling you the truth. But just what is that truth? In reality we need to look at the words we use to define what we do. Perhaps words such as Organic and Natural really should be stricken from the green speak lexicon?

After all, technically speaking Petroleum is both Natural and Organic if we look at the definition of the words.

Natural - existing or produced by nature. Thus many toxins are considered to be natural and certainly crude oil is as we extract it from the ground. And one must not forget that even artificial can be labelled as "naturally derived."

Organic - compounds which are derivatives of carbon and this includes hydrocarbons such as petroleum.

So just because something is natural and organic, it doesn't mean its good for you.

Clooney presses Omega

2008-03-15T02:03:18Z

I was interested to read on the BBC that George Clooney was taking a stand against Omega for whom he is a spokesperson.

As I am sure you know, China has a strong trade relationship with the Sudanese Government which has been accused of backing the numerous atrocities taking place in Darfur. I think it is commendable for Mr Clooney along with Steven Spielberg to take a stand and draw people's attention to this issue. Pressure needs to be put to bear on those who put so little value on human life.

I only think that it's a shame that sports at this level have become so embroiled with international politics. I always thought that the idea of having an Olympic Games was so that countries could put aside their differences if for only a moment.

It is unfortunate in this day and age that this is no longer the case.

What's the worst that could happen?

2008-02-17T01:02:52Z

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Sustainable Luxury

2008-02-01T05:02:01Z

I remember a time when a luxury product was more than just a brand that cost a little more. Luxury goods used to be about craftsmanship and durability. You spent a little more on that leather bag because you just new it would still be around in 5-10 years time.

Yet over the last few years luxury has shifted farther and farther away from being about quality to being about status. Sure there was always status involved, but now it has become the driving force, and luxury no longer means it is any better than mass market - only more expensive. Luxury has become disposable.

Yet you would hope that in this day and age where people are more concerned about waste and the environment that they would again look towards true luxury. Jem Bendell and Anthony Kleanthous recently co-wrote a report called Deeper Luxury in conjunction with the WWF which is about the luxury industry and how companies need to once again look at creating sustainable luxury.

A wakeup call that we hope the industry won't sleep through.