Exhibit with Care

Exhibitions are great ways to promote your brand, product or service - but they can also undermine your message if you don’t do it properly. By properly, we mean in an exciting and sustainable way.

For every tonne of waste that is produced at an exhibition, about 70% is made from materials which cannot be re-used or recycled and 20% of the waste produced is simply due to lack of proper planning about the amount of resources required.

Exhibitions need not be a heavy contributor to the local landfill site – here are some ways to enhance your event rather than hinder you message.

The stand – these needn’t be monoliths of plastic and steel, they can easily be constructed from recycled, recyclable and reusable materials.

- Cardboard engineering is so advanced now that the entire shell scheme can be constructed from this material, safe in the knowledge that this can be completely recycled after use, or easily deconstructed for future use www.re-sourceful.co.uk/Eco+Bannerstand.htm

- If you’re using wood then use reclaimed or sustainable stocks

- Carpet tiles are better that rolls because they’re easier to recycle

- If you’re offering food why not use utensils made from corn starch www.vegware.com/catalogue/cutlery

- You can also save energy and pounds with power saving spot lights

Marketing collateral – whilst you are bound to be giving something away to the prospective customer – brochures, samples, plastic pens – it doesn’t need to be junk. Make your giveaways say more about you – make them relevant and make them sustainable.

Exhibitions are about standing out, so make your marketing, your message and your promotional tools outstanding. We design and create marketing material and promotional products that grab people’s attention without compromising your values.

For example:

- Bags made from organic cotton, old t-shirts and even old advertising banners

- USBs made from recycled plastic and aluminum or actual twigs collected from sustainable forest floors

- Lanyards made from plant silk, bamboo fibre or old plastic bottles



Keen on Green

Re-Sourceful is exhibiting at Keen on Green, on Thursday 25th November at the Paintworks in Bristol. Keen on Green is all about how to exhibit in a better, more sustainable way and is showcasing a number of South West based environmentally focused suppliers.

For more info or to pop along, please drop Nick an email nick@re-sourceful.co.uk



p.s. If you haven’t yet sorted your fun, funky and ethical Christmas gifts for clients and employees, Re-Sourceful can help. There is still time to get your fairtrade hampers, recycled CD decorations and Reindeer Poo Christmas Trees http://www.re-sourceful.co.uk/Christmas

Waste Not, Want Not

It’s that time of year again, the nights are drawing in and before you know it you’ll be digging out your winter jumpers and bracing yourself for the cold. But it doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom - the season’s still abundant and fruitful.


Natural, sustainable foods: apples, blackberries, nettles, rowan berries, chequer berries, haw berries, sloes, chestnuts, walnuts and of course, mushrooms are all at their best at this time of year. With a little elbow grease and imagination, they can be transformed into fine delicacies and mouth-watering morsels. There are now plenty of resources to offer advice about natural food and foraging. The Channel 4 website is a good start and www.wildmanwildfood.co.uk has some useful links.


It’s not just hedgerow foraging that’s become increasingly popular, ‘Freeganism’ encourages its followers to find free food - be it produced, naturally sourced or deemed past its best by supermarkets and restaurants. The BBC’s very entertaining ‘Great British Waste Menu’ really highlights the issue. In Britain we throw away 3.3 million tonnes of food every year, most of which could have been eaten. The website www.lovefoodhatewaste.com has some great tips and recipe ideas about reusing leftovers and creating less waste.


It’s not just physical resources that get wasted. In the workplace we don’t always make the most of our human ones either. We’d love to help you to dig a little deeper to get more out of the natural resources around you. It’s amazing what you find when you take a little time to look a bit further afield.


Waste is very much on our minds this October as we work closely with a major telecommunications company to transform their unwanted stationery and promotional products into fully Re-sourced ones. It’s part of an internal campaign designed to encourage their own staff and customers to think again about waste. If you’d like to know more about what we’re doing to help them or have items waiting to be ‘recycled and renewed’, get in touch - we’d love to talk to you about our ideas.

Staycation – it’s the place to be

It’s summer holiday season - time to escape the daily commute and consider what holiday destination is going to revive body and soul. The charge for the airport and a sun-packed beach holiday somewhere in Europe is on the decline, with the merits of staying in the UK and exploring more of what’s to offer on our shores being discovered.

Poor exchange rates, airlines strikes, collapsing holiday package firms and the fragile economy have all contributed to 2010 being the year of the Staycation. And with the options at home getting better every year, the only thing that can’t be relied upon is some sunshine.

We all know that flying isn’t great for our environment and although we can offset our air miles, we could just avoid them all together. And taking the environmental benefits of staycations one step further are the numerous Eco Getaways now on offer across the British Isles.

From glamping in Powys to a romantic stay in a yurt in Cornwall to a forest log cabin retreat in Argyll to a family Centre Parcs holiday – check out the Green Tourism Business Scheme for a host of ideas on places to stay and visit that are eco focused. And while you’re there why not check out the National Trust website for loads of ideas on where to explore and enjoy.

Everyone deserves a holiday and a respite from the daily chores and exploring our home with a different hat on, offers a fulfilling and varied alternative to the traditional European beach break. And who knows, you might just feel more refreshed avoiding the joys of the airport!

Back at work refreshed and revitalised, give Re-Sourceful a call and we can help refresh your summer promotions in an eco friendly way. We have all manner of ethical promotional ideas and gifs – from biodegradable flying discs and organic cotton beach bags to recycled umbrellas, just in case!

Enjoy the summer!


http://www.glamping-uk.co.uk
http://www.centerparcs.co.uk
http://www.forestholidays.co.uk
http://www.yurtworks.co.uk
http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/
http://www.green-business.co.uk

The Legacy Business

Many of the business and brand owners we talk to share the drive to leave a healthy and prosperous organisation behind them when the time comes to pass their baby on - a ‘brand’ that delivers on its promises with integrity and purpose. This will be their legacy.

With the World Cup in South Africa now a distant memory, it’s a good time to revisit their promised pre-event legacy commitments. The doom-mongers predicted a World Cup dominated by crime and unfinished stadiums – what we witnessed was a country that embraced the tournament with infectious enthusiasm and a spectacle to make Africa proud and strengthen any potential bid for the 2020 Olympics.

One definition of a legacy might be ‘the memory of what we leave behind after we’ve left the stage’ and whilst no one underestimates the ongoing challenges facing South Africa, the greatest legacy after the tournament is not an improved transport infrastructure nor several outstanding stadiums, but the memory of a nation coming together to host a World Cup (vuvuzelas included!) that changed global perceptions of both country and continent.

As Danny Jordaan, the tournament chief exec asserted, ‘the doubters are the believers today’. The ‘Greatest Show on Earth’ comes to London in 2012 (2 years this week) and it’s paramount that our great nation delivers on the event and the ‘afters’ to match. After all, legacies are a pre-requisite of global events as much as for well-intentioned business.

Many UK based organisations will be supporting London to deliver on its promises and we should all consider the kind of legacy that the business we own or work for leaves after us. Re-Sourceful can help you to purchase and promote in a better, more ethical manner and that is a crucial part of any businesses legacy.

More for Less

Q: What do the recession, the price of oil, the Queen’s Speech, the government’s new budget and English football all have in common?
A: They’ve all been good news masquerading as disasters.

Wherever you look, it seems the message is now the same: we urgently need to achieve more with less. Actually, despite what many politicians and pundits tell us, this is not a cause for doom and gloom at all. In fact it is a supremely worthwhile message at this critical time.

We need to achieve more with less because we have been wasting just about everything: not just money and fossil fuel but also time, human creativity, trust, opportunity and freedom. Our profligacy with all these resources has not only been damaging to our environment, it has also crippled our relationships and emptied our bank accounts. Finally, it has made us all begin to eye each other as competitively as the last survivors in a lost lifeboat.

OK, here’s the shocker: doing more with less is not an austerity agenda; it is, in fact, an agenda for abundance.

Wasting less money, energy, stuff, time, trust, space and creativity means competing less for dwindling resources. This is being re-sourceful. When we are more re-sourceful, we enjoy more freedom. We get more for less – more of what we really want: productivity, reciprocity, time, enjoyment, kudos, trust and happiness.

If you think this is overambitious or that it simply can’t be done, call Re-Sourceful and we’ll show you how.

The Bath Prize

The Bath Prize is a unique annual painting competition designed to stimulate new work, recognise and reward the best, and display it in the City that inspired it.

This year Re-Sourceful is sponsoring a new category, ‘Reclaimed, Recycled & Environmentally Aware’.

To find out more visit http://www.thebathprize.co.uk/

Time To Think

You may have been one of the lucky ones who recently got their hands on ‘National Trust: The Album’. The album, created by former Pulp front man Jarvis Cocker, is a mix of British natural sounds, such as birdsong and crashing waves recorded at a range of National Trust locations.

The idea came about after some research carried out by the National Trust highlighted the everyday distractions of our modern technology driven lives, and how we as a nation struggle to concentrate for prolonged periods with the constant interruptions of mobile phones or email alerts! We seem to think better with the sound of birdsong or the sea in our ears.

The National Trust approached Re-Sourceful for some help to bring this project to life. Clearly we were delighted to be involved on the design of the CD, the sleeve and it’s production.

Considering the nature of the album and Jarvis Cocker’s involvement, Re-Sourceful created a vibrant album cover that reflected a quirkier National Trust than many of us are used to. This design approach fed on to the CD itself and of course we produced the sleeve from FSC certified stock.

The album has been incredibly well received with over 7000 downloads from the National Trust website. As Jarvis Cocker comments. “I hope this album is a "Holiday for the Ears". It's not really meant to be listened to intently, like a piece of music, but more as something to have on in the background to aid relaxation or contemplation.”

If you weren’t lucky enough to lay your hands on one of the albums, don’t fret you can still download it from www.nationaltrust.org.uk/soundsalbum.

Re-Sourceful thoroughly enjoyed helping the National Trust bring this project to life and aiding the relaxation of the nation! We don’t just develop and source cool eco products - we are creative thinkers and designers too! Get in touch if you have anything you’d like our help with.

http://www.re-sourceful.co.uk/blog/?catname=blog

Be The Change

With the election just around the corner we thought that we would promote positive change (don’t worry we’re not going to get all party political).

We’ve got 20 copies of ‘Be The Change’ to give away to Re-View readers. The book is a collection of interviews with some of the world’s most inspiring social entrepreneurs, environmentalists and policy creators - we’ll even get, author, Trenna Cormack to write a personal message inside each copy.

Here’s a couple of snippets to whet your whistle:

‘On 7th July 2005, Gill Hicks was a passenger on the London Underground, when a suicide bomber blew up her carriage. She lost both legs…..After the bombing, she left her high-flying career at the Design Council, and is now an ambassador for the charity Peace Direct.’

‘You can make a lot of speeches, but the real thing is when you dig a hole, plant a tree, give it water, and make it survive. That’s what makes the difference’. Wangari Maathai

All you have to do get a copy is to look around your workplace and come up with an idea that would change it for the better, ‘Turn Me Off’ stickers on all your plugs, for example.

Post your ideas to our blog and the best 20 will be contacted.

Time is of the essence

With the evenings drawing out and light waiting for us at the end of the working day, it suddenly feels like there is a lot more time to play with. With the clocks springing forward later in the month, the opportunities to put this time to good use seem endless.

There’s the garden and allotments that can be tended, the run in the evening light around the park and the much needed post-work drink in the beer garden. But one of the most valuable uses of our time is to donate it to someone else.

Rather than giving money, or old clothes or unwanted toys and books, the most valuable commodity we can donate to the plethora of deserving causes is our time – and it doesn’t need to feel like a chore. Why not match your passions, interests and skills with a volunteering opportunity to suit?

One organisation that can assist you in achieving this is TimeBank – http://www.timebank.org.uk/ - a national charity that connects people with voluntary opportunities that fit with your interests and suit your lifestyle. So whilst it’s an opportunity to get involved and support local well deserving projects it’s also a chance to do something you enjoy and perhaps develop skills that have laid dormant for a while – sounds like a good use of time.

Beyond the individual this also offers a great opportunity to business to give back to their local community. Harnessing the skills within the business and giving employees the opportunity to get involved in something beyond their core working responsibilities, not only motivates staff but also reflects well on the brand.

At the same time why not review how your organisation promotes itself and if you use promotional gifts, ask what they really say about you as a brand. If the answer is ‘not much’, take a look at our charity products - http://www.re-sourceful.co.uk/charity - to see how we can help you say more about your brand.
Time is of the essence – make the most of it.

Flying the Flag

Continuing with our theme of love for February, we’d like to share some of the brands that light up our day and confirm our belief that you can place ethics at the core of your business without hampering your success and if done properly, enhancing it.

Triodos Bank – a bank that only invests in ethical and sustainable organisations that have a positive impact on people and the planet. And they’ll tell you exactly whom they are lending to. With confidence and trust in our banking system at an all time low it’s nice to know that there are organisations within this sector with an ethical mission that gives our money the chance to do some good rather than just paying some rather debateable bonuses!

Phillips - as a world leader in healthcare, lifestyle and lighting, Philips links its sustainability and ethics programs with the company’s core strategy. Even more importantly, Philips grades its success by measurable results - by 2012, Philips aims to generate 30 percent of total revenue off Green Products, further increase energy efficiency of the company by 25 percent and double the company’s investment in Green Innovations.

Wholefoods – since launching in the 80’s they have become the world’s leader in natural and organic foods by staying true to their original commitments of seeking out the finest natural and organic foods available and supporting sustainable agriculture. Through their Whole Planet Foundation they aim to alleviate poverty by empowering a community of micro entrepreneurs.

Google – they may slowly be taking over the world but they are doing so without compromising their ethics and through Google.org - the company’s philanthropic arm, which uses the power of information and technology to address some of the world’s most challenging problems: Climate change, poverty, disasters and disease - they have committed over $75 million in investments and grants in various projects around the world.

GreenKnickers – these guys confirm you don’t need to be big to be successful and ethical. Their materials are certified and sustainable, they use recycled packaging materials and they make you think when you get dressed in the morning - GreenKnickers prove that ethical products can still be fun, beautiful and sexy!

These are a few of the brands that we love, who else should we be shouting about?

What Eco Products Do You Love?

As February is the month of love we thought we’d share some of the eco and ethical products that we love here at Re-Sourceful.

1. Green Knickers – as it’s Valentines, what better eco product than pants that are 100% recycled, 100% local and even have an organic cotton gusset! http://www.greenknickers.org/
2. Green Flower Pen – once the ink runs out, plant the biodegradable pen and a plant will grow. With every pen bought, we will give a donation to Tree Aid.
3. Elephant Poo Paper Roses – 12 odourless paper roses that will last longer than your normal Valentines flowers.
4. Banner bags – re-using old advertising hoardings and producing unique and stylish courier bags. You can even use your old hoardings left over from an event that were destined for landfill and turn them into something desirable.
5. Vinyl Record Bowl – retro bowls made from 12” vinyl records. Each bowl still carries the original label and looks pretty cool.
6. Green Bannerstand – exhibitions needn’t produce a whole host of waste. One way to cut down on the waste that you make is to use Eco Bannerstands that are recycled to begin with and 100% recyclable at the end of their use - and you can print all over them.
7. Eco USB Wristband – colourful and 100% recycled wristbands that provide the perfect place to store documents when on the move.
8. Hot Water Bottle Bag – reclaimed and unique, these bags will keep you warm on these cold February nights!
9. Circuit Board Business Card Holder – it’s cool, it’s stylish and re-uses materials that had nowhere else to go. What more could you want?
10. Fire Hose Belts – when fire hoses reach the end of the road for their primary purpose they used to go to landfill. Now though, they can be transformed into numerous cool accessories like this belt.

The world is full of great green products, and with business and promotional gifts the eco and ethical options available are growing all the time. At Re-Sourceful, we are always on the lookout for new and interesting green products to add to our range. Take a look at our site and see how we can help you communicate in a more resourceful way.

Please tell us about the eco products that you love – February is about all types of love after all.

Resolutions – are yours still going?

With February drawing near, for many those well-intentioned New Year resolutions are already distant memories. Whether it was to get in shape, cut down on chocolate or read more books, the majority of us will be struggling to keep up with our optimistic aims for 2010.

Resolutions should not just be for personal improvement however; they should also consider ways in which to improve our businesses. This applies to the business owner as well as all of the company stakeholders - and 2010’s business resolutions should be eco inspired. Here at Re-Sourceful, we have a number of ambitions for the New Year and our no.1 goal is to help more businesses promote themselves in the correct way – which is relevant, ethical and eco aware.

Here are a few suggestions that your company could resolve to achieve in 2010 to get your business greener:
1. Get an audit – review your company’s energy use, wastage, recycling and look at the alternatives. Simple, eco and cost-effective measures can be introduced for most business operations making your business a more sustainable one. http://www.c-changesc.org/
2. Look at your suppliers – do they employ ethical and eco practices in supplying their products and services? If not, switch to someone who does.
3. Do your desk research – when considering your suppliers remember your basic stationery. Pens, usb’s, staplers, rubbers, notepads, mousemats – they can all be green.
4. Encourage employee participation – any green resolution has a greater chance of succeeding if your employees buy into it. Or better still; suggest it in the first place. Encouraging your employees to suggest the eco aims of the organisation and then making these part of your sustainability plan, proves you mean business.
5. Company travel schemes – incentivise employees to get out of their car and find an alternative way to work one day a week. 1 in every 2 of us drives to work each and every day. If we all left our cars at home for just one day a week and used public transport, rode our bike or walked instead we would have cleaner air to breathe, less traffic, and a smaller carbon footprint to boot. http://www.cyclescheme.co.uk/

So if your struggling to maintain your personal resolutions why not focus on your business ones? Re-Sourceful can help you in achieving a number of greener business objectives and where we can’t we can normally recommend someone who can.

Please give us a call if we can help you in 2010 and use this blog to share your company’s green business objectives for this year.

It’s a time for giving....

Christmas is the most thoughtful time of the year, and if you’re lucky you’ll be surrounded by your loved ones, enjoying a mince pie and some mulled wine. So why is it that year after year Christmas becomes an increasingly thoughtless affair?

Just like Valentines Day we’ve been swept away into believing it’s necessary to buy the commercial tat and cringeful cards that spill out of shop window displays. The pressure to conform means that any festive holiday is more about the price tag and less about a certain thing called love. We all love uniquely, so why do we give so commercially?

A not-for-profit group called Present Sense was set up last year by a group of women fed up with the commercial pressures that Christmas now brings. The group encourages adults and children to think more carefully about how to give presents in a sustainable way. Present Sense, which now has followers from 46 countries holds workshops to educate people in the art of sustainable creativity, encouraging us to think differently about ‘used’ presents and seeing the thought and love that goes into a present instead of the price tag.

At Re-Sourceful we’re delighted to hear about groups like Present Sense who really embrace the creativity and thoughtfulness of true giving. We believe that this shouldn’t just apply to Christmas gifts but any type of giving, and this includes all year round promotional gifting. Re-Sourceful encourages and assists companies in operating this way, giving them a chance to say much more about themselves as on organisation.

From everyone at Re-Sourceful we wish you a very merry Christmas and look forward to an eco-friendly 2010!!

The Better Way to Spend a Penny

Every week seems to have a theme these days, be it National Curry Week, National Story Telling Week or National Eating Out Week, yet one of the most important has just passed largely unnoticed.


National Ethical Investment Week took place between the 8-14th November and aimed to educate people about the green and ethical options available to them and illustrate how we can still get a good return on our investments whilst having a positive impact on our environment and society.

The week is coordinated by UKSIF, the sustainable investment and finance association, who promote responsible investment and seek to ensure that individuals can reflect their values and beliefs in their investments.

With confidence and faith in our financial institutions at an all time low, considering how your money is put to use is all the more important. Rather than letting your savings and investments sit idly in funds that are supporting who knows what, why not look into the vast array of ethical investments available that will still give you a good return and also do some good for others. The question is, ‘why wouldn’t you’?

Re-Sourceful have been fortunate enough to work with two leading financial organisations in ethical investments, Triodos Bank and The Co-operative. We have helped them to promote their message with our ethical products rather than using plastic promotional tat – why wouldn’t you?

To find out more about National Ethical Investment Week check out the website at http://www.neiw.org/

Happy Birthday!!!

Happy Birthday!!!

We’re very happy to say Re-Sourceful is two whole years old this month.

Started back in 2007, with a range of 30 products, Re-Sourceful has grown significantly and can now boast over 150 beautiful, durable and useful promotional gifts.

Having worked for ten years in the industry, we knew how important it is to connect people with brands but believed there was a better way to do it than simply with throwaway tat.

After a lot of discussion, debate and deliberation we came up with the idea of a catalogue of positive promotional ideas, and Re-Sourceful was born.

The main aim of Re-Sourceful is to provide positive promotional ideas that allow business to say more about themselves and that have a positive impact on lives at home and abroad.

We’ve been busy these past two years and have helped a wide variety of businesses celebrate their ethical credentials and approach. From Sun Microsystems to UK Film Council to Manchester University to Triodos Bank – we’ve helped all manner of companies communicate their commitment to the planet.

Re-Use
Waste not want not. It’s a great mantra. It’s not just the environmental benefit of this philosophy that gets us excited though. We love the creative challenge of coming up with new ideas for reusing things.

For example – our recycled courier bags. Made by re-using advertising banners, every stylish bag is a unique statement that stops unnecessary waste going to landfill. http://www.re-sourceful.co.uk/BAUMM+bag

Re-Cycle
Recycling just one plastic bottle saves enough energy to power a 60W light bulb for six hours. It’s amazing how much energy and resources can be saved through recycling. Products made from post-consumer waste help to keep rubbish out of landfill in the UK and also contribute less to the depletion of the world’s non-renewable resources. Awesome.

Such as our Eco USB Wristband – made from 100% recycled plastic and aluminium. A pretty nifty way to carry around all those important files! http://www.re-sourceful.co.uk/Eco+USB+Wristband

Re-Think
It’s ideas that we love, and it’s ideas that can change the world. We think that applying a bit of lateral thinking to a problem can result in some of the greatest ideas.

If you’ve got any eco promotional ideas or have a problem that needs some re-thinking, let us know.
http://www.re-sourceful.co.uk/

Better put a pocket or two

What better way to kick-start the new season than with a heart-warming exercise in social responsibility, brought to you courtesy of broadband provider TalkTalk who decided to literally give back to the world in an ingenious way.

The company hired a team of former pick-pockets who for the whole of August have been roaming the top tourist spots of London and expertly putting money into the pockets and open handbags of an unsuspecting public.

The initiative, whereby notes of £5 to £20 are ‘put-pocketed’, is designed simply to ‘brighten up people’s lives during the credit crunch’.

If stand-out comes from being out-standing (and we think it does), TalkTalk’s latest campaign is a huge success, as you only have to Google ‘talktalk’ and ‘putpocket’ to see the masses of publicity they have received all over the world.

We at Re-Sourceful like to spend our days coming up with innovative ideas that raise the profile of your brand whilst supporting charities and worthwhile causes and not taking anything from the planet. So if you're looking for an idea that gives back as well as putting your brand on the map, why not give us a call.

www.re-sourceful.co.uk

The Less Plastic Pledge: bio plastic frisbee

The Less Plastic Pledge: bio plastic frisbee
www.re-sourceful.co.uk

Reclaim your lunch hour

In honour of the beautiful weather that we’re enjoying in the UK at the moment, the Re-Everything team today made a concerted effort to close our laptops and leave behind our blackberries to sit in the park and enjoy an hour of well-deserved sunshine.

With only 16% of employees taking a ‘proper’ lunch break (and by that we mean about an hour away from your desk at least three times every week), and the average break lasting no more than 27 minutes, the glorious sunshine is the perfect opportunity to grab your workmates and get outside.

It's really important to take breaks with colleagues (you’re allowed to ban work talk!) - sitting in the park or outside a pub, going out to buy sandwiches - because good social relationships lead to better working relationships.

Food is also a fantastic excuse to get to know people too. Perhaps other people in your office are just waiting for someone to be the first to take the lead and begin a Friday lunch club?! Don’t be shy!

If you’re stuck for inspiration, have a look at http://www.thebiglunch.com/. The Big Lunch is the baby of Tim Smit of the Eden Project and his idea is that on Sunday 19th July the people of Britain stop what they're doing and sit down to have lunch together.

You can organise a party for your street, and ask everyone to bring something with them, whether that be food, music, entertainment, or even plants they’ve grown in their garden. Register your lunch at http://www.thebiglunch.com/, and that way Sue and Bob from number 32 will know what you’re planning and can offer to bring one of Sue’s fruit cakes.

We think its an absolutely brilliant way to get to make new friends and have a bit of a giggle, so we’re going to throw a Big Lunch here for our neighbours.

To find out more and organise your own Big Lunch, go to http://www.thebiglunch.com/. But don’t let it stop there, make lunchtimes a habit and enjoy them. They’re your time so don’t waste it!

We also think it’s a great bit of joined up, joined in thinking on behalf of the brands that are involved. The Big Lunch is sponsored by Mastercard (click here to see their lovely advertising on YouTube) and supported by EDF Energy, Royal Mail and The Post Office.

If you have, or know of, a brand that is looking for a clever piece of integrated thinking to link their CSR strategy to their brand values and do great things for their reputation, email us at ideas@re-everything.com

Bruce Almighty

One of our favourite people at the moment is Bruce Parry. Not only have some of us harboured a healthy respect for him since the first series of Tribe, but last week he came to a book-signing session at one of our local bookshops, and since then, admittedly, that respect has become more of an unhealthy obsession.

In Bruce’s latest series, Amazon, he has travelled the length of the largest river in the world, living with shamans, cowboys, loggers, gold prospectors and conservationists.
His aim was to understand the importance of this great eco-system to the people who rely on it for survival, the impact of economic ‘development’ on the land and people, and the significance of their destruction to the rest of the world.

The Amazon is home to many of the world’s most precious commodities, such as gold, oil and timber, and naturally, there are many parties trying to capitalise on this wealth. In episode 5, Bruce and the team spend a few days with the LPA, a research group dedicated to understanding the interaction between the Amazon forest and the regional and global atmospheres. These scientists are trying to re-value the Amazon in a revolutionary way, as a carbon sink, in order to protect it from further destruction.

As awareness of climate change continues to build, we have begun to get used to the idea of trading in carbon. The Amazon rainforest could play a crucial role in the fight against climate change, if only we valued it properly.

Is it possible that we can change the things we do and do not consider valuable? It would require a global shift from coveting material possessions and wealth towards an emphasis on human life, the environment and a collective ambition to create a more sustainable world. According to research groups, that is exactly what is happening. Generation Y, those born between 1978 and 1998, already have a value system completely different from the generations before them. According to a study by workforce consultancy Talentsmoothie, this new generation of graduates ‘place more emphasis on quality of life than money, and are prepared to resign if their jobs are not fulfilling enough, with decent holidays and the opportunity to take long stretches off for charity work or travel’.

It remains to be seen whether this attitude can survive a recession, however, as awareness of global issues grows, surely our sense of global citizenship must grow too, and with that our desire to make a positive difference to the world.

And that is where people like our friend Bruce Parry come in, with the passion and the tools to inspire a generation of people about to make their mark on the business world of tomorrow.
As Bruce puts it, until we put more value on the things we take for granted – the environment, our cultural diversity, each other’s wellbeing – we will continue to destroy them.

www.bbc.co.uk/amazon

http://www.talentsmoothie.com/

Draw on your own creativity

“I will not Reason & Compare; my business is to Create”. William Blake

You often hear people say things like ‘I’m just not very creative’, or ‘I wish I could draw like that’, as though creativity of any kind were something that only a few people possess. Creativity is expressed in so many ways, whether that be through painting, writing, design, or in more everyday ways, like cooking, gardening, decorating or DIY. So what is to stop us from expressing that creativity another way? Usually, fear.

Somehow, when it comes to more ‘serious’ creative work, we feel we somehow need to be ‘qualified’ before we even get started. But the way we learn most of the most important life skills is through trial and error. It is mainly the fear of making mistakes, fear of embarrassing ourselves in public, of being humiliated, or ‘looking stupid’ that stops many of us from seeing ourselves as ‘creative’.

One of the simplest (and cheapest) creative mediums to begin with is drawing. The simple act of drawing is not just fun, it is thought by many to be a crucial part of learning as well as a form of self-expression. Art therapists believe that the creative process of drawing can help us to cope better with stress, work through traumatic experiences, increase cognitive abilities and have better relationships with family and friends. It helps us to develop a better understanding of ourselves and the way we relate to the people around us.

But if the thought of staring at a blank sheet of paper with a pencil in your hand terrifies you, why not pop along to an organised workshop?

From 1st to 31st October 2008, the Campaign for Drawing invites everyone to join in the Big Draw. Over 1000 venue, including; galleries, museums, science centres, heritage and environmental sites, libraries, archives, community and shopping centres, colleges, schools and art clubs, are hosting drawing activities for people of all abilities.

An educational charity, the Campaign sees drawing as a life skill: a vital tool for thinking, inventing and communicating, creativity, social and cultural engagement. The Big Draw proves that drawing is an enjoyable public activity as well as a private passion. It is inspired by the visionary Victorian artist and writer, John Ruskin, whose mission was not to teach people how to draw, but how to see.

So create something. Just sit down, grab a pencil and do whatever you want to do in an unschooled, amateurish way. Admittedly, your first doodles may not seem like much, but don’t give up, and don’t worry about what other people might think. No-one will judge you. While you may not be the next Picasso, you might just discover something about yourself, and at the very least you could clean up next time you play Pictionary.

To learn more about The Big Draw and the Campaign for Drawing, visit http://www.thebigdraw.org.uk/

And if you want to feel doubly good about doodling, check out these beautiful FSC certified pencils, profits from which go towards The Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture, who use art therapy to help the people they work with http://www.re-everything.com/resourceful/proddetail.php?prod=0031

The Power of Purchasing

On the one hand, we’re told that we should eat food that is locally produced and not air freighted hundreds of miles; on the other we’re under pressure to support producers in far-away developing countries. We’re expected to know the difference between organic and free-range foods, stay abreast of flashpoints (palm oil, blue fin tuna, PVC) and only buy goods with certain eco-labels attached.

Confusing? Definitely.

To us, the best starting point is simply to be informed about what you buy. Get to know what’s inside the product you’re buying; whether it’s organic or not; how it is produced and where; and how it is delivered.

To some extent you have to pick your battles. If your main concern is climate change, then you’ll want to know how far your goods have travelled. If you’re worried about chemicals, then you’ll go for organic and natural. If you hate the thought of producers getting a raw deal you’ll buy Fair-trade. And if you deplore the way that supermarket giants have squeezed supply chains and taken over neighbourhoods then you’ll shop at small, local shops instead. One of the main plus-points of 21st century living is that consumers have a choice – so use it wisely.The same choices apply in business. Most of us are aware of the price-war tactics of the supermarkets and how that is reflected in the cost-cutting methods of suppliers as they desperately try to cling on to their last shred of profit.

Keep that in mind the next time you haggle with a far-east supplier over the latest piece of promotional merchandise you order – what impact does that have on the working conditions at their factory? Who is really paying for that oh-so-relevant plastic snow-shaker? How many chemicals were used in producing that t-shirt? And so on.

Here at Re-Everything, we believe that there is a better way to shop, at home and at work. We also believe that there is a more effective way to engage with your customers than by giving them free mugs and pens. So have a look at the alternative promotional gifts at Re-Sourceful, and if you’re still stuck for ideas, give us a call or pop over for a cup of Fair Trade nettle tea!