The Rebearth Adventure – Enter our playground with The Rebearth Blog Page

Now that the Political Elite have finally made their appearance in Copenhagen for the UN climate summit, to stark warnings from Ban Ki Moon, concerning the need to find resolution to the discussions to implement a plan for Global Survival which is favourable to all of Earth’s Inhabitants.

It is time to look beyond the politically and commercially motivated sceptics and for us all to put our hands up and, at the very least, admit that we have mistreated the Planet for far too long and that the shadow of Global destruction by man is now far more likely to be environmental rather than military.

We must form a global partnership between the ‘developed’ and ‘developing’ worlds to ensure that we, as a species, share the immense responsibility for ensuring that future generations do not look back at this monumental moment in environmental history and see a world more interested in talking the talk rather than walking the walk when it comes to protecting our greatest asset.

I believe that global warming and world economics must be separated and not used as a smoke screen for inaction as we can all play a part in the Planets survival. It’s the small steps that will change our detrimental behaviour in reality as much as, if not more than, the actions of politicians to reduce carbon emissions on an international scale that will have the most positive impact on our climate.

Recycling the excesses of our materialistic deeds of the last decade will help, making positive buying patterns such as organic foods and textiles from retailers who don’t claim worthiness by removing plastic bags to transport their plastic wrapped goods in, seeing through the new woeful practice of adding blues and greens to marketing media to give the impression of eco friendliness and more than ever buying local in an age of global shopping.

We need to carry out an environmental audit of our own buying patterns. Stage 1 – Do I really need it, Stage 2 – What impact does the product have on the environment and is there a better option and stage 3 are the providers really concerned about climate change or is it just a new label to cover commercial profiteering. Small steps to save our planet!

On the home front, here at Rebearth sales of Organic Cotton Beanies, Bamboo Socks and Re-tyred belts have been increasing slowly but surely especially the new black hats. All examples of eco alternatives to every day wear in the winter. So check the store and see if your eco alternative lurks inside.

The next MCS, Rebearth, Friends of Lepe Beach clean is confirmed now for the morning of Sunday 10^th January starting at the manager’s office at 10 and aiming to finish about 2 so come along and lend a hand in preserving the beautiful Solent coastline especially since the reward of a grant from the Environment agency in the region of £250,000 to adapt and maintain the coastline with projects to shore up coastal defences, improve access and reduce erosion.

Finally to all, Rebearth wishes you a merry festive season and a Happy New Year to you and your Planet.

So far Autumn has been a very busy and rewarding time for us here at Rebearth.

Last Sunday saw the gathered clan of volunteers for the Annual MCS Litter pick and Beach watch 2009 at our adopted beach, Lepe on the shores of the Solent.

It was great to see the usual faces from the Rebearth/Friends of Lepe/MCS alliance augmented by new members including a group of ventures from the Lepe Search & Rescue Training academy who provide an essential service for those using the beach and sea area off this part of the Solent coastline. Over 2000 articles of litter were collected and filled 15 bin Liners, the results accumulated and returned to the Marine Conservation Society to form part of their annual survey of the state of the UK coast. Hopefully this small contribution can form part of a larger wave of pressure to be brought to bear on the UK Parliament.

We’ve just received a great email from Organic Portal letting us know that the word about Rebearth has hit Scandinavian shores, so why not check out there website www.organicportal.info to find out who can help you become a smarter more eco friendly consumer regardless of where you call home.

Time to keep a head of the game, this year we are adding a new colour, black to our range of organic cotton Beanie hats which have just arrived from our friends at Greenboatstuff. The first two colours sold very well last year and we are hoping to continue this trend with the fashion conscious amongst you with the introduction of the new colour. They should be available for our online store in a week or two, check soon to find out more.

It appears that the local press here in Southampton have caught on to Rebearth with an interview for the Southern Daily Echo taking place today, so I will let you all know how it goes and when you can get your copy.

And finally a big mention must go to both Barack Obama & his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao for finally realising and starting to act upon the fact that they and their nations are responsible for the vast majority of global warming and appear to be ready to do something about it, lets wait and see at the Copenhagen Climate Conference in December where the Danes will take the initiative with a truly eco friendly meeting employing the most up to date sustainable and environmentally friendly practices and facilities as an example of what can be achieved.

Thanks as always for visiting, I will endeavour to update again soon. X

Surprise, Surprise, the predicted balmy summer turns out to be another damp squib. Flooded out of Croyde three times in three weeks must be some sort of record but not the kind of record we at Rebearth are after. Record sales are equally out of reach as the poor weather has affected purchases of our summer/beach range. If the inclement climate we are experiencing isn’t a wake up call to the impact of global climate change then how can we claim to care about the planet’s future. We can all do our bit it’s just a matter of making small eco shifts in lifestyle to achieve the summers we want not those we are currently experiencing.

Which brings us on neatly to the annual MCS/Rebearth Beach clean litter survey which this year takes place between 10 a.m and 2 p.m on Sunday 20th September starting at the manager’ office, bring a picnic and if the sun does make an appearance your bathers and make a great day out whilst helping to protect and preserve this lovely part of the Solent Coastline. visit http://www.adoptabeach.org.uk/pages/events.php for more info.

On the bright side, a big hello and thank you to Natalie at Go Go Electric cars for her repeat orders of our high quality Organic Cotton T shirts and we are looking forward to this weekends’ Big Bike Bash at Avon Tyrell in the heart of the New Forest. This is a great weekend combining a bike festival, live music festival and a beer festival. The bike festival is more than a simple race meeting, there are over 30 different competitions for all levels and ages alongside trade stands and activities for all the family. We’ll be there all weekend so if this sort of thing tickles your fancy, come along and say hi.

Here at Rebearth we’ve been involved in visits to one our Earth Tax recipients, the QEII centre where having donated some fresh new Organic Cotton Rebearth Polo Shirts for the staff, the full Rebearth clan spent the morning paddling up the river in the centres lovely new canoes and the afternoon recovering!!

Currently researching new products to add to our outdoor adventure range including 100% recycled water containers, Buffs and Jackets in preparation for the onset of shorter days and yet more rain.

Hope your all enjoying the summer whatever weather you are getting, just remember a few days low pressure is good for us wave riders but I am feeling a little guilty at receiving an unexpectedly large portion of them.

Here’s to an Indian summer and a realisation by everyone that the weather we get is directly linked to the way we live. So simply put, if we all do something positive about tackling climate change then we are more likely to get the weather we want when we want it! Then we can have our summer back…….

Recent soaring temperatures here have been great for sun worshipers but is it an unseasonable one off or a sign of things to come. How much does global climate change have to do with it? A worrying thought that we all should be mulling over as these small signs of the earth warming on a national scale can be multiplied many fold to give us a global picture melting polar ice, droughts in central Africa and rising sea levels.

Here at Rebearth we’ve had a busy month, having spent the day at the inaugural Warminster Wobble in June, a wonderful small community event to raise awareness of the sustainability of cycling for the people of this part of Wiltshire. Check out www.warminsterwobble.co.uk for more details and get involved in helping Colin make next years event even bigger and better.

On a pedal powered vibe we’ve just signed up for the Big Bike Bash at Avon Tyrell in the New Forest www.bigbikebash.co.uk for whom we will be providing sponsorship and the event T shirts as well as being in attendance on the 22^nd & 23^rd of August, so pop down and say hi if your in that part of the world.

Our big sellers at the moment are not surprisingly our retyred belts in both slick and gnarly tread with either square or round, shiny or matt buckles, check out the store and grab yourself the ultimate in eco coolness to keep your trousers up!

A few shout outs for issues we at Rebearth hold close to our hearts: Firstly one of our Earth Tax benefactors the MCS have teamed up with Timesonline to launch a campaign “Raising a stink” to tackle sewage on UK beaches, read all about it by visiting http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6570001.ece

Secondly a personal plea to the MOD LEAVE K BAY ALONE! As the military flex there muscles close to home the artillery range over this privately owned land is to increase live firing from 137 days a year to daily firing which means we lose one of the UK’s best surfing waves forever not to mention part of the World Heritage protected Jurassic Coastline to be blown to bits. Visit www.broadbench.co.uk and please get involved.

And finally as they say on the 10 O’clock news here, check the promotions in store for great deals on all your summer wear requirements which don’t cost the Earth and quite literally don’t cost the earth. Might see you in the swell at Croyde where the rebearth gang will be spending most of our summer vacation sticking to our boards with our very own Eco surf wax. Grab some while you can in store. Bye for now!

Well Spring has well and truly sprung with the lovely weather we have been enjoying here in the UK. Changes to payment processing for card payment on www.rebearth.co.uk have now been finished with the incorporation of both Google Checkout and Paypal. Now making payments for rebearth products is easier and is even more secure than before.

We at Rebearth have just signed up to attend and have a stall at the famous “Warminster Wobble” cycling event which takes place on 14^th June at Warminster Town Park between 11 and 5. It should be a great event for all cycle enthusiasts in Wiltshire and beyond.

Personally, the expedition season has just finished with my students and after 3 weeks of expeditions in the New Forest and Hamble Valley covering almost 100 miles it’s quite nice to get back to the world of e commerce (and park my bum).

Come and join us for the next Beachclean at Lepe with the MCS, Friends of Lepe and gathered volunteers, it is set to take place between 14.00 and 17.00 at Lepe Country Park, followed by a bbq on the cliff tops to say thanks for a very successful first year of the MCS adoption of Lepe by Rebearth.

Further info available from http://www.adoptabeach.org.uk/results.php?BeachRegion=South%20East

If, like me, you are planning for a summer on the beach why not check out Rebearth’s range of eco sandals, eco surf wax and Bamboo and Organic Cotton T shirts to keep you cool in both temperature and style. Ciao for now.

As spring arrives bringing bright green to the fields, verges and gardens, the government appear at last to be catching up with the not so bright greens. Finally our elected representatives are beginning to clamp down on the inaccurate carbon accountancy, false claims and the camouflage of greenwash used by our major corporations to dupe us into believing that they are pushing the boundaries of environmental conservation and preservation. This can only be positive move in forcing businesses both large and small to either improve their carbon efficiency, reduce their waste and invest in eco friendly operations or stop telling lies to consumers about their green credentials. To have true authentication of a companies green credentials the MPs on the Commons environmental audit committee have recommended that a single universal scheme, with independent verification, should be introduced because the “proliferation of labels” was confusing consumers.

Here at Rebearth we are confident in the environmental honesty and openness of our practices and products, for one reason alone, As stated on our website homepage, “Rebearth is in the first instance an environmental organisation which is striving to provide high quality products that will last so they won’t need regularly replacing however big your adventures may be. We take every measure possible to ensure that our products are as environmentally friendly as possible which means it may not be the cheapest for both us and you the customer but carry as minimal a carbon footprint as is currently possible.”

Righteous indignation aside, here at Rebearth recent developments include the arrival of the family chickens, Puffy, Penny & Clucky who are now settled in and beginning to supply us with dippy eggs for breakfast. Our Stock of Women’s bamboo base layers has taken a hit and we are almost out of organic beanie hats for this season.

A final mention for two upcoming eco events that we are involved in: The next MCS/Friends of Lepe/Rebearth Beach Clean will take place on Sunday 19^th April starting at 10 from the Park management office. The band of volunteers is continually growing and it should be a great day out on the beach with a positive outcome for the local environment.

A week later on Saturday 25^th April, The Fabulous Hobbit Pub, in Bevois Valley, Southampton hosts it’s annual Environmental Rock event, we will be attending with a stall offering the range of Rebearth Products in support of this local event which will be similar to previous years with stalls, information, advice, product samples, music and fun environmentally-friendly activities available for all in the pub’s garden. Live music from local bands will be playing throughout the day both inside and out, and other entertainment for all ages will be in the garden. Our quiz will provide winners with a number of suitably themed environmental prizes.

We would love to see you at either or both of these wholly important events so if you fancy a fun day out which really benefits the environment without drowning in false greenwash, keep it local and play your part in saving the whole planet.

Sunday 11^th of January saw the assembled ranks of Rebearth, the MCS volunteers, Friends of Lepe and others inspired to brave the freezing weather and carry out the second Beach clean litter pick at Lepe Country Park. Despite the finger and toe numbing conditions a though job was done at both ends of the beach, although a delayed spring tide did hamper access to the Inchmere end. After a few hours, a much needed stop for hot drinks and to total up and classify the 8 dustbin liners full of rubbish obviously had a positive effect on not only participants but even inspired the sunshine to rear it’s head.  Very many Thanks to all who came along and helped, you are all wonderful people and it was particularly great to see so many children and young people becoming involved in conserving Lepe.

Here at Rebearth, the economy is taking its toll on sales as consumers understandably if short sightedly put cheaper options ahead of ethical shopping at the forefront of their mind in these financially troubled times. Let’s hope that in the long run the green shoots of recovery, when they do appear are as green as our planet needs and not just a return to the situation which lead to the current economic climate, disposable consumerism.

We are currently in the process of redesigning the homepage of www.rebearth.co.uk to reflect a more shop like appearance and hopefully stimulate some sales so check back soon to see what’s new.

Well well, the financial systems are in melt down so lets forget about ice berg melt down and it’s impact on the credits that the planet has left! If it isn’t difficult enough trying to start up an ethical business in a profit orientated world why don’t the financial regulators screw up the economy as well as Earth just to make it that little bit harder. My congratulations to the greedy *ankers, corporate hooligans and their government backers around the globe for implementing a credit crunch to deflect attention away from a far more important cruch. That being the crunch the Planet feels every day because of their irresponsible environmental actions. The UK government were starting to wake up and address global warming issues a new minister for the Environment and policies to discourage the use of gas guzzling vehicles and endorsing green power schemes but whoops they seem to have quickly changed tack now that they have helped create an economic recession where finance is obviously too tight to carry through with their promises. On the 11th of November - “The Daily Telegraph disclosed on Tuesday that the Chancellor, Alistair Darling, is expected to announce in his pre-Budget Report that changes to Vehicle Excise Duty, which will see above-inflation rises for all cars on the road since 2001, will not be introduced for at least a year.” On the 3rd of November this headline appeared in the Guardian - “The planet is the big loser in Brown’s economic assault as Labour looks set to let airports expand in the name of fighting recession. And the new climate secretary is silent. As for our friends in the corporate world, - Fred Pearce in the Guardian on the 20th of November writes  - “We can’t put all our energy in one barrel,” says the BPbillboard poster. The slogan is accompanied by fetching images of green plants, wind turbines and the sun. And BP’sown logo, with its green tagline: Beyond Petroleum. But this is confection. Until 2004, BP was called British Petroleum. And in the real world of business, the giant energy company continues to plunder most of its profits from - and sink the great bulk of its investment into - barrels of oil. Who is it kidding? Well us, it hopes” Well back to business - sales seem to be taking off little by little in large part thanks to James and his great All things green website, well worth a visit for all your environmentally friendly needs. The organic cotton Beanie Hats seem to flavour of the month, a month which is seeing temperatures take a sudden dip here in the UK, as supplied to Rebearth by my friend Eric at Green Boat Stuff another great site for nautical fans wanting to keep there impact minimal. Next Wednesday I am attending a Ladies night at Taunton’s College in Southampton to help them raise funds for their annual build a school project in Tanzania, coincidentally this also happens to be the date and venue for the college’s first Green Fair to try and raise awareness of global climate change and how young people can reduce their carbon footprint. Finally for those of you who fancy becoming more hands on in helping to “protect our playground” the next Marine Conservation Society, Friends of Lepe and Rebearth Beach Clean Litter pick will take place on Sunday 11th of January 2009  starting at the Beach Office at 10.00, come and join us to help preserve this beautiful place for all of our future adventures. (http://www.adoptabeach.org.uk/results.php?BeachRegion=South%20East)Peace, love and keep it green. P.S As a new member of the Southampton sustainable forum a quick plug for their Xmas get together on December the 4th contact matthew.amesbury@environmentcentre.com for more details.

The end of September means the launch of Rebearth’s initial marketing campaign. With a focus on educating the market to the ethos of Rebearth, environmental protection and conservation, we set about getting our message into the global community. You can now find a number of eco friendly websites featuring the rebearth range of environmentally friendly outdoor adventure apparel & equipment from allthingsgreen.net, gogreen, greenfinder and New Consumer to the achievement of accredited membership of Ethical Junction. Following on from the success of Rebearth’s first venture out of the office at the Beach clean 2008 event at Lepe, we have spent the last two weeks helping to welcome new students to the two universities, located in Southampton, Southampton & Solent. With stands at Fresher’s Fayres we aimed to spread the word of environmental awareness as well as our role in helping studens to protect their playgrounds. We met up with Southampton’s Sustainability forum and are investigating a relationship to bring the people of our city information and advice on how they can reduce their carbon footprint and live a greener, more eco conscious lifestyle.

If you woke up one beautifully sunny autumn day, how would you choose to spend it? Here at Rebearth we would not have to think for long, for us the obvious place is the beach.  This time however, not to indulge our love of water sports but to inaugurate the first annual beach clean litter pick at Lepe beach in Hampshire.  As part of our Earth Tax Rebearth Future Adventure & the Friends of Lepe have adopted Lepe Beach in association with the MCS Adopt a Beach scheme.

We met up with Lepe Country Park Staff, New Forest National Park staff, Friends of Lepe Country Park and an array of MCS volunteers and set out with litter pickers, gloves and bags to collect litter from the first half kilometre.  After refreshments kindly supplied by Lepe Country park staff we arrived at the survey zone, where not a pebble or piece of seaweed was left unturned in our quest to find and remove as much litter as possible.  Having trawled the survey zone we reconvened to sort, classify and record our findings ready to be submitted to and published in the MCS National Beach Clean 2008 litter survey (for details please visit the MCS website from the Rebearth links page).

In total we collected 22 bin liners full of assorted rubbish plus a plough attachment for a tractor and some nasty rusted barbed wire.  A couple of hours later and with the sun still shining on our backs we returned to the Lepe Country Park office where all involved expressed their pleasure in playing their part in keeping this beautiful stretch of UK coastline cleaner and safer for all visitors, human, animal, bird and marine life.

  As part of Rebearth’s adoption of Lepe beach we will be carrying out litter picks on a quarterly basis with the next one taking place over the Xmas period.  All who attended today were keen to repeat the day’s activities, so with the added incentive of mince pies, we invite you to come along and join us and become not only a Friend of Lepe Country Park and Rebearth but more importantly of planet earth.  Details of the next Beach Clean are available on the MCS Adopt a Beach website.