howies®

Green Oil UK Limited is a family run company based in Bromley in Kent. From product ingredients, to the bottle deposit scheme, to the recycled boxes used for wholesale orders, being green is central to all we do.

Green Oil has won awards for performance from the cycling world. Green Oil UK Limited, the company behind Green Oil won a Bromley Environment Award and was recently short listed for innovation in the BikeBiz Awards 2008.

Our cheesy slogan used to be ‘destroy limits, not nature!’. The slogan referred to destroying your limits of skill, stamina and speed, yet without damaging the environment with nasty toxic chain lube. However, this wasn’t inclusive of people who just wanted to ride to the shops.

Our new slogan isn’t calling for a military coup, so don’t worry. The revolution we all need to join, is one of making the world environmentally sustainable. Within this, we need to use bicycles more, and embrace the ‘revolution’ of all those cogs.

If people continue to use toxic chain lube indefinitely, future generations will have more pollution to clear up, aquatic life will suffer and cancer will spread. PFOA, a byproduct of Teflon, the ingredient used in many chain lubricants was classified by the US Environmental Protection Agency as a ‘likely human carcinogen’ in 2005.

If companies continue to use deforestation paper, and generally operate for short-term profit at the expense of the environment, the future will not be good for us, or for future generations.

We at Green Oil UK buy back our bottles, use sustainably sourced ingredients, and use recycled paper in the office. Our packaging is easily recyclable. For example, the plastic labels now used are the same type of plastic as the bottle, making recycling more efficient and reducing label contamination in the recycling stream.

End dependence on pollution join the revolution!

Simon Nash the founder of Green Oil, will be joining us on Tuesday 23rd March from 7:15pm onwards to give a talk on the company, how it all began and where it is going. He will also be giving demonstrations and a workshop on how to get the best from all the Green Oil products.

If you would like to come down and have a listen, a free beer or innocent smoothie and maybe get your hands a bit dirty, then email us at carnabyst@howies.co.uk or ring us on 0207 287 2345 and reserve your ticket!

In June 2008 Lara and Tom left London to travel around the world without the use of one particular mode of transport: the aeroplane.  

 Over the following ten months they travelled 45,000 miles, visited nineteen countries and amassed a rather nice collection of hats.

 Come and join Lara and Tom as they recount their adventures of attempting to make the full circumnavigation of the globe without once leaving the surface of the Earth.

 (You never know you might even get to try on one of their hats).

 Read more about their trip at www.worldinslowmotion.com

The talk is taking place here at the Carnaby Street shop on the 23rd February at 7:30pm sharp, If you would like to come along then send us an email at carnabyst@howies.co.uk, call us on 0207 287 2345 or come and visit us in person, limited places are available so get in early with your request!

The usual selection of beverages will be available so come down, have a beer (or juice) and enjoy!

here’s a taster of the Shared Interest lecture we had at the shop last week, there was some very interesting stuff about how a Fairtrade Co-operative really works.

information about our next talk will be up here shortly!

Shared Interest is a co-operative lending society that aims to reduce poverty in the world by providing fair and just financial services. We have been part of the fair trade movement for 20 years and work extensively with community-based businesses in Africa and other continents to help them make the most of fair trade.

We work primarily by providing finance up front to producers, often via their buyers, to enable them to buy raw materials, tools and the other things they need at the time they need them. We also offer longer term loans and other credit facilities to support the development of fair trade businesses.

We currently have more than 8,700 members who have invested over £25 million to allow us to make a range of financial services available to fair trade producers and the businesses that buy, market and retail their goods.

There’s plenty more info here on the Shared Interest website.

It is taking place on Tuesday, 26th January at 7:30pm here at the Carnaby Street shop, drop us an email at carnabyst@howies.co.uk or give us a ring on 0207 287 2345 and reserve your tickets. As always we will have Organic Beer and Fruit Juice available, and we look forward to seeing you all!

We have some snippets from our previous Wee Dos at Carnaby Street, live to show you.

We had two great nights with the Rainforest Foundation and with Battersea Dogs home.  A big thank you to them for doing the talks, and also to all of you who came along!

Next fortnight we have the people from Good Energy power supply coming in to give a talk.  More details on that soon.

We are currently building a website which will host full video footage from each of the Wee Do talks we’ve had…so watch this space :)

On Tuesday 1st December Salomons Andy Cain will be coming into Carnaby Street to tell us all about their G.I.F.T. Project collection.

Green Initiative for Tomorrow – Eco means a lot more different things these days. At salomon, it means lighter weight products, a signature bamboo snap, and new materials that are less harsh on the environment.

“A growing awareness of environmental issues and a demand for greener products has led to the new additons in equipment lines. Snowboarders are attached to the natural world, they are going to be more apt to buy something that he or she feels is ecologically better for the planet” – Alex Warburton, Salomon.

Salomon won a 2008 Volvo sports design award for Eco design for the construction of its Sick Stick snowboard. By using structural bamboo in the construction of the board, Salomom was able to both reduce the amount of resin in the board and make it lighter.

If you would like a free ticket to this event, please email (carnabyst@howies.co.uk) or call us on (0207 287 2345) to reserve a space.

As always we will have free Organic beers and Juices available. Doors open at 7:15pm and remember spaces are limited so get in touch quickly.

See you there!

Last 5 places available for this…

With a chill in the air sweeping over London, we thought it an appropriate time to focus on an issue that winter sports enthusiasts should have a great interest in.

Our next Wee Do at the Carnaby Street store is tonight, 17^th November; and we have Betony Garner coming in to talk about the Ski Club of Great Britain campaign Respect the Mountain.

She is passionate about green issues and has been trying to raise awareness about how to minimise the impact of snowsports on the environment for the last four years.

Respect the Mountain was a campaign launched by the Ski Club of Great Britain in 2004 with the aim of safeguarding the mountains for future generations to enjoy. Its basis is raising awareness and educating skiers, snowboarders, resorts and the whole snowsports industry on how they can do their bit to minimise their impact on the environment. The talk will investigate how the mountains have changed, how humans have impacted them and what we can do as skiers and snowboarders to help.

For more information about the campaign go to: www.respectthemountain.com

 If you would like a free ticket to this event, please email (carnabyst@howies.co.uk) or call us (0207 287 2345) to reserve a space. 

As always we have free organic beers and juice available.  Doors open at 7.15pm.  Spaces are limited so get in touch quickly.

 Hopefully see you there :)

A really sweet girl called Julie Mackey just came in the shop.  She very generously donated a signed A2 screen print she made of ‘dogs’, for us to auction off at our Battersea Dogs Home Wee Do talk this evening.  She is a recently graduated illustrator from Middlesex University.  The proceeds from the print will go directly into Battersea Dogs Home donation tin.

If you’re coming to the Wee Do tonight bring some cash with you…this is an awesome print!

Rachael and Louise from Prick Your Finger (haberdashery shop in Bethnal Green), came in to the store last night for this fortnight’s Wee Do.  They gave a really entertaining talk about how their business started, with a knitting club called Cast Off, which met once a month on the London Underground’s circle line.  They taught commuters who popped on and off the tube, how to knit.  Soon after the group started knitting in night clubs around the city, with the aid of a head torch (which inevitably ended up with everyone in club covered in wool!); getting involved with the V&A’s Friday Lates; marching for peace “drop stitches not bombs“; a knitted wedding (oh yes!); to knitting on ice!

They now have this amazing shop in Bethnal Green.  They have a great ethos for sourcing wools from the UK, and have a great compassion for the British farmer.  They also use their shop as an exhibition space for local textile artists, who have something to say with their work; whether it be about politics, tradition, or a dedication to unsung heros.

Their…message from all this…”have a go!”

If you find yourself in Bethnal Green, pop in their shop.  They have some amazing stories to tell, and have trully created a great community atmosphere.

260 Globe Road, Bethnal Green, London.

We hope to work with them again in the future :)

As with all our Wee Do talks, we will have a video from the evening available to view online soon…so watch this space!

A bit of Beastie Boys in honor of tonight’s Wee Do at the Carnaby Street store…this one’s for the Prick Your Finger girls :)

Any other song suggestions for Prick Your Finger?