The Eco Friendly Directory is a comprehensive guide to all things green, organic and fair trade. We are a not-for-profit directory whose aim is to encourage more people to buy from ethical and sustainable sources.
The companies featured in our directory have been individually screened to ensure that they follow sustainable principles and operate ethically. Our directory is free and easy to use - providing a 'one-stop' shop for everything green under one roof! We also provide news, articles, tips and advice on a variety of green and environmental issues.
"Your site is very interesting and has a fantastic amount of information on it." - Olga, Green Box
"In the long term, economic sustainability depends on ecological sustainability." - America’s Living Oceans
We are proud to support Fair Trade. All the companies listed in our directory adhere to fair trade principles, thereby helping to alleviate global poverty, whilst treating and paying employees fairly.
"Let every individual and institution now think and act as a responsible trustee of Earth, seeking choices in ecology, economics and ethics that will provide a sustainable future, eliminate pollution, poverty and violence, awaken the wonder of life and foster peaceful progress in the human adventure." - John McConnell, founder of International Earth Day
Fair trade, ethical gifts Visit our gifts section to find unusual and different ideas not available in general shops! Remember, anything you buy will go towards helping fair trade workers and sustainable causes. Buy something different - make a difference.
Fair trade bags There are eco friendly, fair trade bags to cover every need - fashion bags, cotton bags, shopping bags, Jute bags, Fair Trade bags and recycled bags - all ethical, environmentally friendly and sustainable.
Did you know? Switching to a renewable energy provider is quick, easy and won't cost you a penny more than you already pay! Its also the biggest step you can take to reduce your own carbon footprint.
"Only when I saw the Earth from space, in all its ineffable beauty and fragility, did I realize that humankind's most urgent task is to cherish and preserve it for future generations." - Sigmund Jahn, German cosmonaut
"There is a pleasure in the pathless woods, There is a rapture on the lonely shore, There is society, where none intrudes, By the deep sea, and music in its roar: I love not man the less, but Nature more." - George Gordon, Lord Byron from 'Childe Harold's Pilgrimage'
Organic health & beauty products do not contain harmful chemicals, additives, genetic modification or pesticides. In contrast, many conventional skincare products contain synthetic chemicals whose long-term effects are uncertain. All the companies listed in our directory follow organic principles.
"The struggle to save the global environment is in one way much more difficult than the struggle to vanquish Hitler, for this time the war is with ourselves. We are the enemy, just as we have only ourselves as allies." - Al Gore
Organic clothing By buying organic cotton products that have been produced under fair trade principles we can improve the lives of many thousands of poorer workers, clean up the environment and reduce health impacts on consumers.
Fair trade furniture uses timber from well managed and sustainable forests - always look for the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certificate.
Greener living saves money. Living more sustainably doesn't just help the planet - it also helps your pocket. Turn off that light, switch off the standby on your television set, turn down the heating a few degrees and make sure your home is well insulated.
Easy ways to save paper. Thousands of trees and tonnes of paper are used to produce telephone directories. You can now opt out of receiving Yellow Pages by calling 0800 671 444. Also, you can opt out of receiving 'junk mail' by registering with the Mailing Preference Service.
Energy saving devices If everyone boiled only the water they needed when 'filling' the kettle, we could save enough electricity to run practically all the street lights in the UK!
"To waste, to destroy, our natural resources, to skin and exhaust the land instead of using it so as to increase its usefulness, will result in undermining in the days of our children the very prosperity which we ought by right to hand down to them." - Theodore Roosevelt
Eco friendly holidays Stunning scenery, fascinating monuments, parks and wildlife. Visit some of the most beautiful places in the world, offering an unforgettable experience, while also preserving nature and benefiting local communities. Experience an eco-friendly holiday, filled with fun and enjoyment!
Organic children's clothing, toys and accessories The cotton used in organic babywear and children’s clothing is grown and processed without the use of harmful chemicals. Socially and environmentally responsible products- free from toxins and pesticides. See our baby & children section for all your needs.
“I don’t think there’s any denying the fact that there are too many people in the world. I know that’s an awful thing to say, and people say you’re Hitler if you say it, but the human population is growing now so fast…the only creatures not in danger of extinction are humans and I think we’ve become a bit of a plague...I don’t know how we stop it. But I think we’ve got to recognise it and not just keep pretending that we can go on having, having, having at the cost of everything else.” - Joanna Lumley
We always hear about China and US being the great polluters but is it the full truth? By international standards the UK’s spend in developing a green economy is very low; the US for example spends three times as much as we do relative to GDP on low-carbon innovation, whilst China is very active in renewable energy, energy-efficient buildings, electric cars and clean coal.
The MP Tim Yeo in his pamphlet Green Gold: The Case For Raising Our Game On Climate Change, has said "We must beware of China who, behind a smokescreen of recalcitrance in international talks, is moving faster than most Western countries to decarbonise its economy," he writes. "If we lead the way in switching to a low carbon economy, we will reap the rewards as going green will be rewarded with gold."
Loss of bees could be 'a blow to UK economy' June 2010
Honeybees, hoverflies, wasps, bumblebees, moths and butterflies play a vital role in feeding people through the pollination of crops. If bees and other pollinating insects were to disappear completely, the cost to the UK economy would be around £440m per year according to scientists. In a bid to save the declining insects, up to £10m has been invested in nine projects that will explore underlying reasons for the decline whilst looking at ways to re-populate.
Whilst there is no single factor that could explain the decline, loss of flowers and other habitats, disease, environmental change and pesticide use are being blamed.
Humpback whales form lasting bonds June 2010
Scientists have found that female humpback whales reunite each summer to feed, swim and socialise in the Gulf of St Lawrence, off Canada.
Though humpbacks spend the rest of the year apart migrating and breeding, it seems that individual humpbacks manage to find each other again in the open ocean each summer, spending the season feeding together.
It also seems that such friendships benefited the female humpbacks, since those with the most stable and long-lasting associations tended to give birth to the most calves. How the whales find each other each summer remains a mystery.
Urban trees 'help migrating birds' May 2010
US researchers have found that migrating birds use urban trees to rest and refuel en route between winter and breeding sites. The scientists made the discovery by fitting tiny tags to thrushes, which tracked the birds' movements. The findings are important because the world is becoming increasingly urbanised.
"With the expansion of urban areas worldwide, migrating songbirds increasingly encounter fragmented landscapes where habitat patches are embedded in an urban matrix," wrote co-authors Stephen Matthews and Paul Rodewald, landscape ecologists at OhioStateUniversity in the US. "These findings suggest that remnant forests within urban areas have conservation value for Swainson's thrushes and, potentially, other migrant land birds."
Disappearing lizards May 2010 It seems that lizards are more vulnerable to climate change than we previously thought. According to one study, climate change could wipe out around a fifth of the Earth’s lizard species by 2080. Nor is this scaremongering since rising temperatures have already driven around 12% of Mexico's lizard population to extinction. The research team from the University of California in Santa Cruz states that "lizards have already crossed a threshold for extinctions". The research team have shown that lizards are more susceptible to climate change because rising temperatures leave them unable to spend enough time foraging for food, since they have to rest and regulate their body temperature.
We are proud to support Fair Trade. All the companies listed in our directory adhere to fair trade principles, thereby helping to alleviate global poverty, whilst treating and paying employees fairly.
