www.everythingsgonegreen.co.uk

It was an unofficial “bee day” yesterday.

It all started when I came home from my local beer festival on Thursday night. Sitting on the sofa at midnight I caught the last half hour of a BBC programme entitled Who Killed the Honey Bee? Being concerned about the recent plight of the bumble bee the show was really interesting.

Then on Friday whilst I was working from home for a change I went to work from my laptop in the back garden to take advantage of being out in the sunshine an fresh air. The patio was swarming with tiny bees -  a quick search of the internet revealed them to possible be Halictidae. These bees would occasionally burrow their way through the dry dirt in between the cracks in the slabs on the patio.

Back indoors, there was a lone bee, what a layman like me would call a common honey bee, trapped in the house. I rescued the bee but he seemed out of puff. A quick search of the Internet and I found that you can feed bees syrup (half sugar, half water). So I gave the little guy a dab of syrup which was tucked into with gusto and half an hour later, after much aimless wandering on foot, the bee finally flew off into the sunset. Happy

So despite me cycling to work and back on Earth Day I did forget to buy a bee box, so maybe this was nature’s way of telling me to do something for the bees? It might be cheaper, easier and more fun to build your own bee box (thanks, Devon County Council). We’ve got a typical English garden so hopefully the crocuses, tulips, roses, apple & pear blossom, bluebells, buddleia and lavender will keep the bees happy and healthy for another year.

What are you doing for the bees in your garden?

Well we’ve had Earth Hour and now this one’s 24 times better – it’s Earth Day.

Britain may well be under the spell of the Budget today as its beloved Chancellor tries to dig his way out of the worst economic crisis in modern times but let’s see if he can do something positive for the environment, spark up some green initiatives and move in a new sustainable direction with some green job generation. If he borrows more money to pay of the country’s huge debts (which we have from borrowing too much money in the first place) I shall just have to scream.

So the idea of Earth Day is similar to Earth Hour’s switching off the lights but on a bigger scale. Sure there are 24 hours in a day so Earth Day should be more effective but it also encompasses more than just the awareness that we should treat our planet with far more respect than it has received in recent years.

Earth Day gives people the opportunity to actually do something for the environment in the whole 24 hours. Whether you cycle to work for a change, walk, take public transport or share a car, replace your light bulbs with energy efficient ones, buy some cotton & hemp green loft insulation, plant a tree or donate a little money to a green cause you’ll be part of a worldwide movement to raise awareness and change people’s attitudes for the better.

Me? I’m going to wear my organic cotton t-shirt from red robot and make absolutely sure I cycle to work today. I admit that I do drive my car to work a bit too often – I work from home before going to work and leave it until the last minute to pack up my laptop when I realise that there’s no time to cycle so I drive in.

Other than that it’s business as usual here at everything’s gone green. With our green insulation, contingent of LED and low-energy bulbs, power off when it’s not needed and a policy of no unnatural chemicals, the cycle to work will be the main difference today and with spring in England in full swing it’s a lovely day for a bike ride.

What are you doing for Earth Day?

Every so often you find a piece of clothing that you really like. And I mean REALLY like. You like it so much that it becomes your favourite piece of kit and you want to wear it every day. That’s how we feel about the organic t-shirt range from Red Robot.

Not only are Red Robot’s t-shirts made from supersoft, guilt-free environmentally-friendly organic cotton but they’re also incredibly cool too. Of all their range we particularly liked their Mono Turbine in a gorgeous yellow (Aspen gold) with a fantastic distressed print graphic.

Their attention to detail is sublime too, with an embroidered logo on the sleeve. Some of their other shirts also have a  signature single arm ringer; those sort of details are always a nice touch but also the mark of quality.

So if you’re a Joy Division fan (see their Robot Pleasures design), a Quentin Tarantino fan (have a nosey at the Robot Dogs T) or just a lover of great quality organic cotton t-shirts then go check out Red Robot for some additional cool wear for your summer wardrobe.