Meet Polar Guides Brother + Sister Team Eric and Sarah McNair-Landry

Thu, 02 Dec 2010 09:07:33 -0500

Polar guides par excellence having grown up on Baffin Island, in the icy Canadian North, learning snow skills from their professional Polar guide parents from an early age. Their mother Matty McNair is considered to be the top woman polar guide in the world and in 1997 led the first women's expedition to the North Pole. Eric and Sarah are now literally walking in their parents footsteps, leading expeditions to the poles while championing environmental causes, both at home and out on the ice. They have been]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

Meet David Radparvar of Hip Ethical Products Brand Holstee

Thu, 18 Nov 2010 10:44:00 -0500

Holstee in 2009 after being inspired by sustainable pioneers Patagonia and the work of micro-lending guru Mohammed Yunus. Putting these two influences together the Radparvar brothers developed their business model to create sustainable fashion accessories while lending 10% of their sales, via Kiva.org, to the people around the world who need it most. David and Mike, with their third partner Fabian, ]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

Meet Rachel Botsman and Roo Rogers Authors of What's Mine Is Yours

Thu, 04 Nov 2010 10:17:02 -0500

What's Mine Is Yours is an exciting new book about the power of Collaborative Consumption that we recently reviewed on TreeHugger. The authors are collaboration expert Rachel Botsman and social entrepreneur Roo Rogers, founder of OZOcar and OZOlab. Together they have put together a book that maps out the amazing social and su]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

Meet Dru Lawson of Solstis Electric Bikes

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 03:46:25 -0500

Solstis Bikes. This is the year in which Dru left ethical fashion behind to pursue his aim of giving people a wider choice in sustainable transport. Dru has set up Solstis in London as a retailer of electric bikes and motorcrafts that caters for every type of biker from the city commuter to the trail racers. Solstis supplies electric bicycles, scooters and powerful motorbikes such as the Zero S. With sustainability deeply embedded into his famil]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

Meet Katherine Ponte of Online Ethical Design Store ECOSTASY

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 07:00:46 -0500

ECOSTASY with the mission of promoting what she calls "earnest green consumerism". Motivated by a deep respect for indigenous peoples and their precious natural habitats Katherine has created a business that supports sustainable economic development in local communities while also providing high quality designs for our homes that will be treasured and valued for years to come. Katherine sources the majority of the ECOSTASY collection from artisans and designers in Read the full story on Planet Green

Meet Amisha Ghadiali of The Think Act Vote Campaign

Thu, 12 Aug 2010 07:00:54 -0500

Ethical Fashion Forum and creating her own jewellery line called Amisha.Elegance.Rebellion. For Amisha ethical fashion is the area which brings all her interests together: human rights, environme]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

Meet Laura Rudoe of Evolve Beauty

Thu, 17 Jun 2010 11:05:54 -0500

Nude Skincare brand a few years ago British ethical entrepreneur Laura Rudoe has now developed her own range of organic personal care products called evolve beauty. Rudoe noticed that, while Nude was providing healthy organic competition for the high end mainstream cosmetic brands, there was a gap in the market for, as she puts it, "a more affordable alternative to conventional beauty & toiletry products." Believing that natural and ethical skincare should be accessible to everyone Rudoe has developed a wide ranging brand, featuring skincare]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

Meet Melissa Sterry Founder of Design Innovation Initiative New Frontiers

Wed, 31 Mar 2010 17:55:02 -0500

How do we bring sustainable solutions into the mainstream? Design scientist Melissa Sterry believes designers and engineers hold the key to innovation. She has set up the New Frontiers initiative to promote innovation through design education in the UK.

As the founding director of Societ�s, a platform to launch groundbreaking new initiatives in design, media and the visual arts, Sterry has been a champion of design innovation for many years. Now as co-founder of New Frontiers, together with sustainability consultant Matt Prescott, she is forging a collaborative path to "to help evolve and embed]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

Meet Andrew Harding of Nature & Kind and Conscious Ventures

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 14:46:50 -0500

British entrepreneur Andrew Harding founded responsible travel company Nature & Kind to support independent travellers who want to plan their own unique and inspirational journeys. This can range from cultural discovery tours, to volunteer programmes, to well-being activities such as yoga and life coaching.

Recently Andrew has made further inroads in to the LOHAS sector with his new business Conscious Ventures, an incubator and consultancy practice providing business planning, strategy and funding to LOHAS entrepreneurs. Belo]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

Meet John Grant, Author of Co-opportunity and The Green Marketing Manifesto

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 15:55:20 -0500

We were delighted to catch up with green guru John Grant this week just as his new book Co-opportunity is published. Having won awards in 2008 for his previous publication, The Green Marketing Manifesto, now, in 2010 he is asking us to "join up for a sustainable, resilient, prosperous world".

As co-founder of the progressive co-operative ad agency St Luke's in the 1990s, John Grant is in his words, "a veteran of parallel co-operative systems". The rest of us are beginning to follow his lead, embracing the idea that working as a t]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

Meet Dan Burgess of Naked Planet

Wed, 06 Jan 2010 19:57:19 -0500

Dan Burgess is the founder of Naked Planet, an innovative communications agency in London that works with brands to help them create more sustainable initiatives within their business. Inspired by both his kids and the possibility of a sustainable future, Burgess is convinced that there are serious business opportunities in doing good stuff. His mission is to convince big brands of the same thing. With clients as wide ranging as Nokia, Coca Cola, Freecycle and Read the full story on Planet Green

Meet Change Maker Ana Joanes, Director of Fresh, the Movie

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:56:45 -0500

Ana Joanes is the director and producer of Fresh, one of the most inspiring movies recently made about our food system and what we eat. The documentary looks at the current unsustainable state of factory farming in the US and how the industrialization of food has created severe environmental problems. Fresh, however, is not a tale of doom and gloom, in fact quite the opposite, as it focuses on the farmers, thinkers and business people across America who are re-inventing our food system through local and organic family farms.

Fresh is Ana?s second documentary by her production company Ripple-Effect films, the first]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

Meet Tamara Giltsoff of Abundancy Partners

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:56:48 -0500

Tamara Giltsoff is a highly respected sustainability strategist who has worked for brilliantly innovative companies such as live|work in London and OzoLabs in New York. Now Tamara has teamed up with two other pioneering sustainability thinkers John Grant and Jules Peck to form Abundancy Partners, a consultancy that aims to "radically innovate and evolve our communities, businesses and other institutions... to deliver a more prosperous and sustainable way of life for all." Tamara Giltsoff will be a familiar name to many readers of Planet Green's siste]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

Meet Sven Segal of Po-Zu Footwear

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 17:59:07 -0500

Biodegradable shoes, edible shoe cream, indigenous rights, these are just a few elements of Sven Segal's Po-Zu brand that make it stand out from other footwear companies. The distinctive design qualities of Po-Zu shoes include the latex rubber sole, the comfy coir foot mattress which gradually molds to the shape of your foot, and the cozy wool fabrics and leather detailing of the uppers, all of which can be composted back into the earth at the end of their life.

As Po-]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

Meet Green Business Consultant Tyler Moorehead, of GreenUnlimited

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 13:05:47 -0500

Anyone working in the field of sustainability in London over the past few years will have heard the name of green business consultant Tyler Moorehead mentioned on more than one or two occasions. Her passion, energy and fresh ideas for connecting businesses and organizations with their environmental roots mean that she?s in high demand. After 20 years of working in media and digital business on a wide variety of business development projects she has now set up GreenUnlimited, a consultancy which aims to help environmental and ethical businesses achieve their full potential.

It was her five year stint as publisher of the The Ecologist magazine that lent Tyler her authoritative voice on sustaina]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

Meet Ethical Fashion Designer, Christopher Raeburn

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 17:49:11 -0500

Christopher Raeburn's debut at London Fashion Week's Estethica show this February drew audible gasps of admiration from more than one or two trained fashion eyes.

We don't like to admit it, but design talent is not always at the forefront of our enthusiasm for ethical fashion. We are often excited by the materials, the concept, or the Read the full story on Planet Green

Meet Stan Stalnaker of Hub Culture

Thu, 28 May 2009 13:06:44 -0500

Hub Culture founder Stan Stalnaker is running circles around traditional business. While many companies are frantically trying to work out how to fit the digital communications revolution into their traditional business structure, Stan is moving fluidly from the digital space to the physical space and back again.

Hub Culture has evolved from an online network to real physical shared workspaces in cities around the world, where you can work, have meetings, host events and generally tap into an amazing network of innovators and entrepreneurs. Through Hub Culture pavilions, Stalnaker aims to create a conscientious collaborative work environment that attracts a wide rang]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

Meet Change Maker Michael Pawlyn of Exploration Architecture

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:14:25 -0500

Over ten years ago Michael Pawlyn joined the celebrated British architecture firm Grimshaw specifically to work on the now eco-iconic Eden Project in Cornwall. The experience of developing such an innovative structure inspired by nature made a considerable impact on the architect. In 2007, Pawlyn left Grimshaw to focus on using Biomimicry—design that imitates life?in sustainable architecture. So he set up Exploration and within the practice's first year he created waves with the incredible Read the full story on Planet Green

Meet Polly Higgins, Planetary Rights Activist

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 11:58:21 -0500

As a barrister in London's law courts, Polly Higgins is used to making a good argument and bringing justice to bear. But when it comes to the environment, the courts just aren't a big enough loudspeaker for Higgins, so she's taking her own brand of planetary justice to the masses. How? Last December, on the sixtieth anniversary of the U.N.'s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Higgins put out a new call—laying down a Declaration of Planetary Rights. While traveling to Ireland to present her plan at the UN Climate Change Conference, she gathered supporters along the way, and launched a website, Read the full story on Planet Green

Green City Guide: Rotterdam

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 09:41:40 -0500

Rotterdam, with the largest port in Europe and industrious inhabitants can be described as Amsterdam's more competitive and slightly tougher sibling. The second largest city in the Netherlands, it took a beating during World War II, and there is only a small section of the picturesque old town left. Large avenues—created by bombing lines—dominate, and post-war regeneration and redevelopment continues to push creative and cultural boundaries.

In true avant-garde style, the city is no stranger to innovative eco-initiatives. According to the Read the full story on Planet Green

Meet Ethical Fashion Designer Anton Jurina of Armedangels

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 15:33:11 -0500

Celebrated for its funky organic-cotton t-shirt graphics and activist messages, German ethical fashion label armedangels, which was founded by Martin Höfeler and Anton Jurina in 2007, is more than just two people who launched an eco-friendly company. The duo has also fostered the creation of a 6,000-person online community that is actively involved in the creation of the brand: Community members can submit t-shirt designs, become models, or activate their inner guerilla to help spread the message about the fashion industry?s eco-sins, such as child labour, wage exploitation, and environmental pollut]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

Meet Andy Middleton of Adventure Company TYF

Thu, 08 Jan 2009 13:41:03 -0500

When Andy Middleton started a tiny windsurfing school in the 1980s, all he wanted was to spend as much time on the beach as possible. But his enthusiasm just couldn't be contained. Today, Middleton's company, Wales-based TYF, is a full-blown, international adventure and education business that works with everyone from school children to CEOs. Meanwhile, Middleton himself has also become a popular eco-motivational speaker.

Today, he lives in a self-built, eco-friendly house on a Welsh cliff overlooking the sea. Taking groups into the natural beauty of the Welsh coastline to heighten their sense of awareness of and connectedness to the environment is his true passion. But this enthusiasm for positive change also translates to the classroom (he lead]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

Meet Change Maker Tamasyn Gambell, Eco-Luxury Textile Designer

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 11:42:56 -0500

High-street fashion accessories are a fun, fast, and cheap way to get your retail kicks, but there's a dark side to the business of disposable fashion, says textile designer Tamasyn Gambell, who used to work as a designer for fast-fashion chain H+M. Shocked by "the amount of waste and lack of innovation" she encountered while working at both the high and low ends of the fashion industry, Gambell recently stepped off the fast track and into the slow lane, with the launch of a new namesake design studio. The silk scarves her label produces are woven by a cooperative of women in India then hand-printed in London with certified organic dyestuffs and a seaweed-based binder. Below she explains how she se]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

Meet Change Maker Marcus Hill of London Bio-Packaging

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 13:47:03 -0500

Like many an environmentalist, Marcus Hill was irritated with packaging waste. The needless waste...the landfill contribution...urghhhh! But instead of getting frustrated, Hill fought back by founding London Bio-Packaging with two partners. Based in the UK, the trio was determined to make a positive impact on the catering industry, and so set their sights on a very specific goal: food and beverage containers. Today, they supply a wide range of products made from bio-plastic and recycled paper and even provi]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

Green City Guide: Amsterdam

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 10:47:11 -0500

Amsterdam is just as well known for picturesque canals and a world famous flower market as it is for a risqu� red light district and hazy coffee shops serving legalized marijuana. However, it's not all sex, drugs, and cut flowers in the Venice of the North.

Most destinations are easily accessed by foot in the compact city. Which is a good thing: Trying to find a parking space is no easy task. Cyclists benefit from the numerous bike lanes and public transportation is efficient and easy to navigate.

Here are 10 tips that will take you off the very well beaten path (Amsterdam is the 5th busiest tourist destination in Europe) and direct you towards the eco-gems. For the most recent green happenings in Amsterdam, scroll through Read the full story on Planet Green

Meet Change Maker Marcus Morrell of Arup and Big Picture TV

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 13:11:23 -0500

Everyone has the power to make positive change; Marcus Morrell proves it. Based in London, Morrell is a double-threat when it comes to change-making actions. In 2003, he created Big Picture TV as a platform to air sustainability issues. Today, the site streams nearly 400 video interviews with green experts, thinkers, and activists. More recently, Morrell signed on as a foresight analyst at Arup, where he lends his own expertise to one of the largest structural engineering firms in the world.

How did you get into this line of work?
Having s]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

Recent Posts By Planet Green's Leonora Oppenheim