In the know

“What goes around comes around” is the strapline of www.karmabanque.com, the site that channels consumer outrage to hit unethical companies where it really hurts. Rather like a stock exchange, the site provides a rating of the best brands to boycott – based both on their vulnerability (how much the company’s stock price depends on its sales), and the strength of site users’ collective ‘ill will’ towards them. Oxford University is bringing its environmental expertise to the wider world through a new interactive CD on climate change. Models of the science behind the phenomenon, along with games to encourage involvement with the issues, have been designed to appeal to school kids as well as businesses, government agencies and politicians.
www.begbroke.ox.ac.uk/climatebasics, enquiries@begbroke.ox.ac.uk The Centre for Alternative Technology has also created a CD and website, this time specifically for children, to teach them the science behind climate change, and to get them counting and cutting their own carbon emissions at the Carbon Gym. www.carbongym.com Tempted by bargain garden furniture in that end of summer sale? To choose something that hasn’t played a part in rainforest destruction, shop around at www.saveordelete.com The rag and bone man, the reuse and recycling specialist of a more frugal age, is back in a new guise – on the web. www.rag-and-bone.co.uk is an exchange for household goods, where users can advertise stuff like unwanted washing machines, and get something they really need in return. The new Whole House Book challenges the UK construction industry to catch up with its cousins abroad. The authors highlight examples of successful self-build, community owned and ‘green’ developer-led initiatives overseas, and the eco-materials, principles and practices that underpin them. www.cat.org.uk/catpubs, 01654 705959

20 September 2005