Archive for the ‘General’ Category

As mentioned a few weeks ago Green Tulip is proud to be a member business of the alliance 1% for the Planet.  The first of the charities that we have just made our donation to is Young People’s Trust for the Environment (YPTE).

YPTE is a charity which aims to encourage young people’s understanding of the environment and the need for sustainability.  They want to give young people a real awareness of environmental problems, such as disappearing wildlife, the pollution of soil, air and water, the destruction of rainforests and wetlands, the spread of desert regions and the misuse of the oceans. And by raising their awareness they will hopefully encourage the leaders (and consumers) of the future to live in a more sustainable way.

My donation will pay for 200 children to receive a free talk (in their own school) from one of their Education Officers about the issues surrounding sustainable development.  The Education Office will work with the school to fit their talk around the topics that the children are studying – making it relevant and interesting to the discerning audience!

More information on YPTE can be found on their website and there is also a comprehensive database of information that can be downloaded for free (over 3.3 million pages were downloaded in the last year so it is obviously a resource that is being well used).

I’ve read a lot of blogs, articles etc in which people come up with (mostly) great suggestions on how we can all do our little bit to live in a more sustainable way.  However one I read recently really made an impression on me…

“I wish for the return of people that can fix appliances and tech items like computers, TV’s, microwaves, etc. so we can stop throwing them out just to buy new ones. It is extremely hard to find anyone with the knowledge and skills to fix even a toaster now, and it contributes to our whole ‘throw it away and buy more’ mentality.”

I’m sure there are a few ads in local parish magazines for Mr (or Mrs!) Fix-Its but I agree they are really hard to find.  And because of that it can seem easier to go out and buy new.  Wouldn’t it be great if there was a central ‘database’ of local people who could offer these services – making it simplier and quicker for us to do the right thing (which is of course what we all want).

If you know of a website that does this do let me know and i’ll mention it on the blog…

You may have noticed the 1% for the Planet logo on the Green Tulip website.  It’s a charity that I signed up to soon after launching Green Tulip having heard about it from one of my suppliers.

1% For The Planet is an alliance of businesses that understand the necessity of protecting the natural environment and we all pledge 1% of our sales to charities that promote the preservation and restoration of the natural environment.

What I like about the alliance is that we can choose which charities we support so are able to select those that fit with our own personal priorities or are working in our local area.  I’m just finalising details of which charities I am supporting for this year and will post details of each one in the next few weeks…

We’re pleased to introduce our new ‘Bambu Boutique‘ as part of the Green Tulip website. We’ve been running Bambu Boutique as a separate website for the last 18 months, but felt it was sensible to bring it into Green Tulip so customers get the chance to shop across our wide range of ethical gifts as well as the beautiful bambu range. We hope you agree!

We also have many new bambu products from the 2010 range arriving in the next couple of weeks.  First onto the site are the new coconut bowls – each one is unique and we think they will quickly become a best seller…