Splashy Fen celebrates its 21st festival this Easter (1-5 April) and with the coming of age, comes greater awareness and responsibility.

With this in mind, the organisers of South Africa’s longest-running annual music festival have joined forces with The Green Depot and the Corner Café in Glenwood to create an eco village that will give festival-goers an opportunity to see green initiatives in action and encourage a more sustainable lifestyle.

Powered solely by wind, water and solar energy, the village will offer zero-waste, eco-friendly camping, product displays, an environmental film festival, as well as the cool cuisine and fabulous coffee of the Corner Café eco-restaurant.

All food prepared by the Corner Café will be purchased from farmers in the community and eaten using 100% biodegradable utensils.  Organic waste will be fed into a giant worm farm, while other recyclable matter will be disposed of by YES (Your Environment Spotless), a waste collection and recycling company that aims to create a culture of environmentally responsible South Africans.

Versus Wines, which will have a hospitality tent at Splashy, also show their commitment to eco-friendly initiatives by using the wine pouch. This pouch is the environmentally friendly solution to wine packaging, creating 80% less environmental impact from cradle to grave than the equivalent volume in glass bottles, 90% less waste and takes up less space in a landfill than two glass bottles

For more info visit splashyfen.co.za

Prince Charles has converted his vintage Aston Martin car, given to him on his 21st birthday by Queen Elizabeth II, to run on English wine, a spokesperson said.

The move, part of the prince’s green drive to reduce by 12.5% his carbon footprint up to 2012, was announced in a recent report released on the royal’s activities. And according to the report, the prince, an keen advocate of the environment, has already reduced his carbon emissions by 18%.

Sir Michael Peat, the prince’s chief aide, called the conversion a “symbolic role” saying: “Charles only travelled two or three hundred miles a year in the Aston but he wanted it to be environmentally friendly. It just happened that our bioethanol supplier makes the fuel from surplus English wine.”

The classic 1970 Aston Martin Volante convertible is usually only driven in the summer, having an annual mileage of around 300 miles (480 km).

The prince’s other cars, including Jaguars, Audis and Range Rovers, are entirely powered by cooking oil.

The annual report on the Prince of Wales said: “When their Royal Highnesses are travelling in the UK the aim is to reduce emissions through greater use of cars, trains, and turbo-prop aircraft. In accepting and arranging engagements more consideration is being given to reducing travel distances.”

The prince’s carbon emissions do not include the highly criticized Royal Air Force flights taken by his son Prince William at the British taxpayers’ expense. According to The Guardian newspaper, William flew a military helicopter to his girlfriend’s home, his father’s house, as well as to a stag party in southern England.

The Ministry of Defense said all flights were part of the prince’s training, while admitting that there may have been an element of “naivety” in their planning.

 Source: portalino.it

A recent opinion article in the New York Times suggests that US consumers must change their options of non-bottled wines. This suggestion is based on the environmental benefits considering the carbon footprint created by trucking around glass bottles.

The vast majority (90% +) of American wine is produced on the West Coast, but then shipped to the East Coast where the majority of wine consumers live. This trucking process generates a tremendous amount of carbon-dioxide emissions. It is estimated that switching to lighter boxed wine for the 97% of wines that are made to be consumed within a year would reduce greenhouse gases by roughly 2 million tons or the equivalent of 400,000 cars.

Along with environmental advantages of boxed and pouched wine, it is also more economical from a cost per-glass perspective because of volume and preservation.

Versus was one of the first brands that launched the wine in pouch bag. These bags has an 80% lower carbon footprint and 90% less waste and landfill than regular glass wine bottles. Versus Wines played a key role in pioneering the development and implementation of this alternative and unconventional packing.

Source: seriousaboutwine