Tesco Green Clubcard Point Rant

I am a Tesco shopper, mainly as it is one of the closest large supermarkets to my home. I have always used reusable carrier bags, since before the launch of Green Clubcard Points. At my local Tesco however Green Clubcard Points are not what they seem, as often I have left the store without the points being added, whilst this is not an issue for me (it's just an added benefit to being green), it just seems that Tesco are not keeping their promises, and that some who solely make use of the Green Clubcard Points offer as their main reason to reuse bags will simply stop. Going on the 4% rule (which normally refers to restaurants), where only about 4% of people actually complain, the other 96% might just simply never return or in this case reuse bags. Whilst I am criticising Tesco in relation to one store I'm sure this is just an oversight by some staff, and the green efforts by Tesco are highly commendable.

On a another note, Sainsbury's were giving out free bags for life all weekend. They might still have some left in store tht you could blag. Their efforts have helped to reduce 750 tonnes of plastic bags going to landfill.

What Kids Think?

I recently received an email from digforfire, a Sheffield based marketing agency promoting a new microsite from ibuyeco, the carbon neutral car insurance company. I wrote about ibuyeco in late September. The email outlined the purpose and feel of the new site, as I have not found a site sharing the views of children on climate change just yet, I thought this was a bit different. This is how senior account executive, Sally Rushton pitched the microsite to me;

"Climatekids.co.uk is a microsite where real kids get the chance to express their fears and views on climate change. You’ve heard the viewpoints of the scientists and politicians, but it’s really interesting to hear about it from the people it is going to affect the most. We hope that as well as raising a few smiles, the kids’ message will also make people stop and think about the damage we’re doing to the planet and how it will affect future generations."

You can find out more at Climate Kids with subtle ibuyeco promotion, but that's what microsites are about.

Buy One Get One Tree

Innocent the ethical smoothie maker have launched a campaign to plant at least 100 000 trees in Africa (where they grow their mangos) and India, that's enough to cover 200 football pitches. From each 1 litre pack a tree will be planted by entering a unique code on the back of the pack, registering takes less than a minute and you can gift your tree to someone else if you wish, especially coming in to the Christmas season.

You can keep an eye on the treeometer on the home page of the microsite which keeps tally of every tree planted real time, 87 763 as I look now, and details the latest planters name. If you want you can travel to the virtual forest and search for your tree.

I love this new sustainability effort by Innocent, they are a leading brand and have ethics and sustainability at the core of their business practice, they have 100% recycled packaging (not kids cartons ... yet), all their bananas are Rainforest Alliance certified, and after releasing their huge carbon footprint label are now working with our suppliers and bottlers to achieve a reduction of 15% in 2007.

"It may all sound a bit Miss World, but we want to leave things a little bit better than we find them. To do business in a more enlightened way; where we take responsibility for the impacts of our business on society and the environment, and move these impacts from negative to neutral, or better still, positive. We call this our drive for sustainability."
Innocent Drinks

Click here for why trees are good and why Innocent is ethical.

The tree planting project will be carried out by Carbon Clear, an offsetting company, whose projects include retrofitting mini-taxis in the Philippines and low smoke cooking in the Sudan. Whilst I fully support the project I am sure we are all aware of the Coldplay incident which has tarnished the reputation of carbon offsetting via tree planting in the last few years (their offsetting was provided by Future Forest, a British company, recently renamed CarbonNeutral). I'm sure however the project will be managed efficiently by both Carbon Clear and Innocent for the long term under the scrutiny of Innocent drinkers and Innocent themselves.

Tesco currently have innocent smoothies at 2 for £4.

Picture: Tidal Surge Batters England

The south east of England yesterday saw the largest tidal surge in half a century, the waters were nearly 8in (20cm) lower than originally feared and passed without causing major damage. In 1953, 307 people died, when high tides and a storm saw a tidal surge of 3.2m (10ft 6in).

Picture: Rachel Temple