From the site “Almost 1 billion people on the planet don’t have clean drinking water – that’s 1 in 8 people. Not having clean drinking water leads to terrible illness and death – in fact 42,000 people die every week from a lack of clean, safe water with 90% of those deaths being children 5 years old or younger. If you help us sell this wine out, the Bounty is awarded! We’ll tag on another 50 days of clean water for every bottle of wine sold! That totals 5 months of clean water per bottle of wine – that can make a difference!”

A great idea, if you’re buying wine anyway, and it’s the same price as somewhere that donates water, then why not buy from them? Shipping for 3 or more bottles is $5.

[Via: Springwise]

All information is © Life Goggles 2010

Drink Wine, Donate Water

The brand is only sold online in the UK or through supermarket Waitrose so remains quite exclusive. Its products are usually organic and made with quality ingredients which mean they’re not cheap. And this is the case here, the Organic Ale isn’t much cheaper than buying a pint in the pub – it’s £2.15 in Waitrose – and it’s made from Plumage Archer barley harvested from organic farms around the UK. One of those farms is High Farm at Highgrove – the Prince’s country home.

This is a fuller-bodied (ie heavier) beer than the ‘just’ Organic Ale and is quite strong – 6.2% as opposes to 5%. And it’s immediately noticeable in the taste. It’s more flavoursome and feels more substantive. It claims to dried fruit and toffee flavours with bitter citrus notes but as anyone who has ever read one of my beer reviews will know, I find it hard to notice those flavours. I would say there’s maybe a hint of toffee but gnerally I’d say it has a nice flavour!

I suppose it’s best to compare this to its less alcoholic counterpart and should you pay the 16p extra for it? Well it’s probably worth it, I would say that’s better value than the cheaper ale as it’s stonger – the bottle is nicer (if you care about that sort of thing!) and it is more flavoursome – something to be savoured. I doubt I could drink many of them in a go though and the other ale is a little lighter and fresher.

Duchy Originals Organic Select Ale costs £2.15 for 500ml from Waitrose and is 6.2% abv.

All information is © Life Goggles 2010

Duchy Originals Organic Select Ale Eco Product Review

“While PLANET EARTH told the story of the natural world through the framework of our planet’s ecosystems and regions, LIFE takes us on a more intimate journey, introducing different animal and plant groups, using the latest in HD filming techniques to show jaw-dropping behaviors never witnessed before. Narrated by Oprah Winfrey and spanning all seven continents, LIFE took over four years to produce and every minute of footage in the series is new.”

Made by the BBC and Discovery, there are some cool previews of the series are below (warning, advert before each one)

From Challenges of Life (Premiering March 21 at 8 PM ET/PT)
Cheetahs Hunt Ostrich:

Stalk-Eyed Fly:

From Reptiles and Amphibians (Premiering March 21 at 9 PM ET/PT)
Komodo Dragons Hunt Buffalo:

Waterfall Toad Leap from Danger:

All information is © Life Goggles 2010

Discovery Channel’s LIFE Comes Alive on March 21st

A Make Do “Kit for One” (US$25) consists of a reusable construction tool that cuts and perforates new or old materials safely. It also comes with 8 hinges and 30 connectors, which use a ziptag-style mechanism to fasten pieces together.

“Packaged in a recycled cardboard tube, the components are designed to last, and are made from materials that can be recycled.”

“Make Do adds value in the form of community workshops, educational resources for teachers, a newsletter/blog for inspiration and … downloadable construction plans.”

You can read about their environmental credentials here and watch a video on how it all works below:

[Via: Springwise]

All information is © Life Goggles 2010

Turning Trash Into Toys

The brand is only sold online in the UK or through supermarkets such as Waitrose so remains quite exclusive. Its products are usually organic and made with quality ingredients which mean they’re not cheap. And this is the case here, the Organic Ale isn’t much cheaper than buying a pint in the pub – it’s £1.99 in Waitrose – and it’s made from Plumage Archer barley harvested from organic farms around the UK. One of those farms is High Farm at Highgrove – the Prince’s country home.

Anyway, enough of all that, how does it taste? The night before I tried it I went to a real ale festival and had quite a few ‘golden’ beers so my first tast of this proper ale had me thinking it was far too heavy. But actually it’s not heavy at all and ornce you get into it it’s very pleasant. There’s no aftertaste or sharpness, it’s very easy drinking.

As mentioned in my other beer reviews I like my ale cold but you may want to wait a while after taking this out of the fridge as the flavour seemed to come out the warmer it got. A really nice beer that’s definitely worth a try.

Duchy Originals Organic Ale costs £1.99 for 500ml from Waitrose and other supermarkets and is 5.0% abv.

All information is © Life Goggles 2010

Duchy Originals Organic Ale Eco Product Review

Electrical recycling may be on the increase but whether people feel comfortable taking their sex toys to a recycling centre is another matter altogther. The Rabbit Amnesty is the perfect solution, just send it to them after filling in the online form and you’ll be able to get a new one for half price. LoveHoney also donates £1 to The World Land Trust for each vibrator that gets sent back.

All information is © Life Goggles 2010

Recycle Your Old Vibrator – And Get A New One Half Price

BGS has a 3 for 2 deal on 5litre tubs of Ecover liquid here. It also includes Ecovers 10kg washing powder.

You may think they’re expensive normally for 5litres but they’re not at all – the fabric softener lasted me just over a year and is less than £12! Add that to a 3 for 2 deal, plus delivery of around £5 (or free for orders over £50), and it’s a great deal.

As an addition, Big Green Smile also has 10% off Ecover laundry tablets.

All information is © Life Goggles 2010

Ecover Promotions At Big Green Smile

The corn used to produce the World’s Best Cat Litter are the same corn varieties approved by the USDA /EPA/FDA, and EU European Union for food use. This corn is also used to produce many ingredients, including corn sweeteners, food starches, corn oil, used in the production of high quality food and pharmaceutical products. This corn and/or its components are also used in the production of animal feeds.

Since the corn used is all natural and biodegradable, it is very safe for people, pets and the environment. There is no silica dust for you and your cat to breath in, if your pet ingests the litter it is digestible (so no need to be concerned about intestinal blockages), and over time the litter will naturally degrade and not be sitting in a landfill 100 years from now.

It claims to have unsurpassed odor control, and while it wasn’t the best in the world on that score, it wasn’t bad and not really noticeable as we clean the box regularly. Some people said their cats have not liked the texture, but ours didn’t seem bothered. It’s flushable but I didn’t try that as there’s no point (and I think it’s still not recommended in California at least).

Clumping was pretty good and scooping not a problem, overall it worked well. I would prefer to some degree that it wasn’t made of edible whole kernel corn that could be used for human food, rather than cat’s waste, perhaps looking at using some sort of inedible corn by-product.

You can buy it now from Amazon and pet stores of course!

All information is © Life Goggles 2010

World’s Best Cat Litter Review

A British company called Specialbike is offering customers the opportunity to turn their old, rusted and broken bike into something brand-spanking new. And if you don’t have your own bike, they do it anyway with found or bought bikes and revitalise them.
 
 

Old cast iron radiators might not be very energy efficient but a Candanian company can turn them into something better – an electric radiator. EcoRad uses 99% recycled materials in its conversion process and restores the lustre of the old radiator as well as giving it its own thermostat so you can control its heat output directly.
 

Teddylux actually changes the use of an old garment into something new – cashmere sweaters into cuddly toys. Based in Georgia, Teddylux takes sweaters from donations and uses them to make animal toys.
 
 
 
 

Boston-based Reknit turns old sweaters into something different every month – it was scarves in January and is gloves this month. You can send your own sweater in, or for a bit more money, can just ask the ‘mom’ to knit you a pair anyway. The site creator’s mom does the knitting and sister takes the photos. You can even vote for what mom should knit next month.

All information is © Life Goggles 2010

Quick Recycling and Reusing Roundup

The aim for ministers in the Canadian province is to have one out of every 20 cars powered by electricity by 2020 – and this idea is a way of encouraging motorists to switch. The green plates are just part of a number of incentives such as rebates but the plates are more than just status symbols. They will (for the next five years at least) give the drivers the right to drive in the High Occupancy Vehicle lanes, even if there’s only one person in them. Also they’ll give them access to recharging facilities and access to special parking places at businesses, and public buildings.

The plate (pictured) will have green lettering on a white background with the picture of a trillium in the middle. It was selected from four choices in an online vote that ran from July to October.

All information is © Life Goggles 2010

Canadians Get Eco License Plates