Clean and very, very green

I’m not the world’s biggest cleaning fan. But the fact remains, no matter how reluctant I am, that my duster and polish have to come into play at some point. In recognising that my furniture had accumulated a thicker-than-usual layer of dust yesterday, I headed down to the supermarket to see what I could buy to make my lovely furniture sparkle. Whilst I was perusing the cleaning products aisle, I got chatting to a slightly bewildered man who had been instructed by his wife to buy some eco-friendly washing powder for their new baby's clothes. It drew my attention to the ECover range, which includes natural cleaning products for the home, from furniture and multi-purpose spray to lavender room fragrances. All the ECover products are based on sustainable http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainability plant and mineral ingredients, chosen to work well and limit the chemicals in your home and the environment. All the products originate from ecological factories. They weren’t badly priced at all, and when you consider they have a minimal impact on the environment it makes a whole lot of sense. Having also checked out the company's background and ethos on http://www.ecover.com/ I’ll think i'll happily be cleaning with Ecover from now on.

Catching the Drift

When I first set eyes on a driftwood sculpture, dramatically perched in a family friend’s garden, I didn’t fully appreciate the incredible history behind drift wood. Curiosity led me have a bit of a search on the net, and I found a company called Natural Driftwood Sculptures www.driftwoodsculptures.co.uk. They source driftwood from British Columbia, Canada, and all the wood is Canadian western red cedar – the remnants of the early 20th century lumber industry which, amazingly, have been immersed in water for over 70 years.

The site explains that certain river valleys that had been logged were flooded to create reservoir lakes to produce hydro electricity. The western red cedar wood doesn’t rot as it contains the natural preservative plicatic acid (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plicatic_acid). It also contains phenolic resin, which prevents it being attacked by insects. Both these characteristics mean the wood is very well preserved.

The family which runs the company, has made a living out of collecting the driftwood, which is often difficult to access, via boats and mobile lifting equipment. The sculptures are sometimes bizarre, often outstandingly beautiful. Take a look.

The Root of the Matter

The Root Bench is one of those enchanting furniture pieces that truly captures the imagination. I found it while looking for early Christmas eco gifts on the site http://www.eco2you.co.uk/.

The Root Bench is one of several furniture pieces in the range which have a similar style and concept – all made from cast-off teak root from the island of Java in Indonesia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java. The natural variations of the wood mean each piece is unique with an intricate pattern of knots, gnarls and swirls. As the tree roots would normally be discarded at the end of the tree felling process – either to rot, or be burned causing further environmental damage - this production process means no harmful tree felling has taken place specifically to make this piece. With the rapid deforestation in Indonesia causing major environmental problems, not only for the country itself, but globally, this practice is one that makes good sense.

The finished Root Bench bears the lovely waxy texture that teak is so renowned for. If you're as taken by this piece as I am, check out the Root Coffee Table and Root King Chair in the same range. Simply beautiful.

King of Eco Candles

The Guardian’s on-line Eco-store has a great range of gifts, which are all - as the name suggests - eco-friendly. The Mayan Light Multi-Coloured candles caught my eye in the Eco Home section of the site - a rather jazzy mix of bright purples, blues, greens and reds. The story of their creation explains the wax is derived from the fruit of the Arrayan shrub, which is native to the Guatemalan Cloud Forest. Making candles from the natural wax is not an original concept as 1000 years ago the pre-Columbian Maya civilisation used the same wax to make their own candles. Today, the candles are part of the Guatemalan Cloud Forest protection project - their sale helps the indigenous communities of Guatemala to earn an alternative income, reducing the need to slash and burn more forest which contributes dramatically to climate change. The candles come with an explanatory leaflet about their production. Visit http://www.guardianecostore.co.uk/

Lindsay Lohan buys into ethical clothing

If you’re knowledgeable about ethical furniture, there’s a good chance you’re aware of the ethical clothing industry. It’s been debated in the press recently whether consumers are going to ditch their morals during the credit crunch, in favour of grabbing a clothing bargain – even if its manufacture was far from ethical.

Certain high-street stores for example have dubious practices going on overseas but, because of cheap labour, they can still make a profit by selling their clothes at attractively low prices in the UK. When finances are tight it’s tempting to buy into this, of course. But for anyone who’s strapped for cash right now, and wrestling with their ethical conscience, I’d encourage you to give second-hand clothing agencies and charity shops a go. I’ve had loads of fun recently digging out some stylish designer bargains and, by doing some research and looking carefully at labels, I can make sure I get all my clothes from ethical manufacturers. With the rise in popularity of vintage clothes on eBay, and the likes of Lindsay Lohan promoting ethical second-hand clothes at London’s Visa fashion swapping show earlier this year (http://www.visaswap.com/face.html), buying second-hand clothes is no longer frowned upon – quite the opposite in fact. It’s all decidedly chic.

ONE FRAME, ONE TREE

I’m a fan of photo frames as well as furniture, and I love displaying all my latest piccies prominently around the house. I recently came across a site called E photo frames http://www.e-photoframes.co.uk/ which has a strong environmental strategy at its heart and a fair trade ethos. All its frames focus on natural materials, like wood or silk, and for every frame sold E photo frames agrees to plant a single tree to help world forest restoration. The company is currently sponsoring tree planting in two regions of Thailand – one on the remote island of Golden Buddha http://www.goldenbuddharesort.com/about_us.html and another north of Thailand.

I’ve checked out their frames online, and the wood ones in particular seem very stylish and well made – take a look at the beautiful maple leaf design. So if you’re looking for a gift that has a bit of depth to it, perhaps for an environmentally-minded friend, it’s definitely worth a look. You also get an official ‘one frame, one tree’ certificate with your frame to acknowledge their commitment to the environment. The testimonials on the site suggest this is an established online company that is good to deal with.