thegreenguy

Today's ethical picks: green Ready Steady Cook, People Tree's 07 season, Goodsearch and local Fairtrade

Green Ready Steady Cook - set your eco PVR to record on 4th Jan, as the frantic food show features Penney 'No Waste Like Home' Poyzer (in green pinny) and Tracey 'Downshifting Week' Smith.

People Tree 07 -  next year's season from the ethical fashion label is all about 'change today, choose Fairtrade'. Expect a bigger menswear collection (at last!), new undies and a new brand called People Tree for Top Shop - for the first time, it'll be available to buy online at Topshop.com.

Goodsearch - the Yahoo-based, charity-giving search engine is now live. Grab the Firefox plug-in.

Fairtrade and fir-trees - an ultra local event tomorrow, two minutes from my house: St Paul's Church on Herne Hill (London SE24) plays host 1-3pm to Xmas tree sales and a Fairtrade food sale. No word on organic trees, but there's always 07, right?   

Eco diary dates: Xmas sales, tree-planting at Timberland and green chat at the Science Museum

Fashion Made Fair sale - 7-10th Dec - bargain buys from ethical clothes legends People Tree, Howies, Ciel, Enamore and more.

Eco Design Fair - 2nd Dec - green nirvana for Xmas present-buying

Timberland Forest Planting - 2nd Dec - buy anything from Timberland Regent St this Sat, like these boots, and it'll plant a tree on your behalf. Nice.

Green Xmas at Science Museum's Dana Center - 6th Dec - buy eco-minded goodies and hear chat from a recycling-loving designer and Peter from Junkk.com.

Ethical branding - can you think of a less sexy phrase?

I'm off today in London to the Ethical Branding conference (hosted by the publishers of Ethical Corporation mag, pictured) to press the flesh with corporate folk from thegreenguy regulars such as the Fairtrade Foundation, Cafe Direct and People Tree, but also to meet people from uber corps like Dell, Toyota and Unilever. I'll be blogging the day on the extended post of this story, so just click through and keep refreshing the page. Any questions you want asked, just post 'em in the comments. I'm also giving a talk about something to do with the interwob and people buying stuff at 4pm. Tomorrow, my boss at New Consumer - Mel Young- is doing one too on the question 'can you really sell ethics and sustainability to the media?'

Take your mama out all night at 10pm for Scissor Sisters climate webcast

Yes, listening to Take Your Mama can save the world.  So the Scissor Sisters hope. Tonight they're playing to a packed-out, Halloween fancy dress gig at the Brixton Academy to raise awareness of the fact that - as the Stern report's just rammed home - climate change is, like, kinda serious. I've been jammy enough to bag a ticket from the charity that organised the gig - Global Cool - but you can still get entry for the webcast by signing up on this page before 10pm GMT tonight. I'll have more for you soon on Global's future plans for hip, fun, awareness efforts. One of the pledges it asks in return for watching the webcast is that you switch your PC off at the plug tonight. According to this NEF report, one in five of us leave 'em on at night, releasing an unnecessary and deeply uncool 700,000 tonnes of CO2 each year.

Vote on this year's greenest festival, win tickets to next year's gigs

It's dark out, and festivals are probably the last thing on your mind. It's worth casting back to the summer, though, as the UK Festival Awards wants your votes in return for giving you the chance to simultaneously win free festival tickets and reward green gig organisers. Amongst the awards for Best Major Festival and Best Toilets, see, there's a category for Most Socially Responsible Festival. Shortlisters include Sunrise Summer Solstice Celebration for its composting toilets, WOMAD (pictured) for its bio-diesel generators and T In The Park for going in for carbon offsetting. By voting, you get entered for a draw to win entry to the awards bash and tickets to the winning festivals. The Socially Responsible page is buried on the awards' site, and you have to register with Carling.com, but I think it's worthwhile. [vested interest disclaimer: my girlfriend works for Shelter, which sponsors the award] [photo: gavinandrewstewart]

Today's ethical picks: win £50K for an eco invention, drive green, buy better gadgets

Powergen Energy Lab. Got a fantastic idea for an energy-saving device? Land yourself £50K and fame by entering this Bayliss-supported compo.
BP's Target Neutral. Sign up for BP's new scheme and it reckons if you pay £20 a year - it'll add 10 or 20p every time you fill-up - your driving will be carbon neutral: the dosh goes to emission-reducing and green power projects.

London goes green, invites you to Footprints of a Generation show

You'd think Londoners were pretty green, right? All those tube journeys, cyclists everywhere and fancy-pants new bus routes? Well, actually, no: our lovely capital needs an area the size of Spain to satisfy its resource gobbling. Things should get a bit better with the 2012 Olympics (pictured) - they were pitched as the 'greenest games ever' - but in the meantime there's Future London, a cool show next month with lots of tips on what you can do yourself.

Strip your music for Oxfam

Got some free time on your hands tomorrow night, want to save the world and just happen to live down Camden way? Head over to the Blag, which is playing host to the first Oxfam Stripped, a series of free gigs with bands 'stripping' down to play their tunes acoustically. I know, I hoped they were going to physically strip, too. Entry's free, but Oxfam are hoping you'll donate some cash to the developing world in exchange for the free tunes. Tomorrow's bands include the Noisettes (pictured),  Ben Lee Tyler and more; to get your band involved, email Stripped.

All aboard the Natural History Museum Ship

Here's one if you're stuck for something to do this weekend: meander over to the Natural History Museum and check out its climate change show, The Ship. As well as seeing the diplodocus in the main hall - does it get much better? - you'll have the chance to ponder Peter Clegg and Anthony Gormley's ice sculptures (above), discover Alex Hartley's Nymark island claim (in the news a while back) and watch a video of Siobhan Davies' excellent dance piece. They're just the highlights from the exhibition, which was produced by a posse of artists who visited the Arctic on the eponymous ship.

Today's ethical web picks

The Mazda Powered Westfield - I figured the last place you'd expect recycling and green stuff is at a sports car company. That, however, is exactly what Westfield is doing with this motor made from an old MX5, though I don't suppose the MPG'll be too green

Who Killed the Electric Car? - coming to UK cinemas next month: check out the trailer on the official site or YouTube

Organic Fortnight - the Soil Association's jamboree of all food and drink organic comes round again this Sept (2nd-17th) with foodie-friendly events across the country (check out the events' list here)