Emiliana Silvestri

  • SOAPBOX – On the Up

    Emiliana Silvestri finds out she can now purchase a handbag made from rubbish rather than just filling one with it. It is now time to start upcycling.   So, you’ve insulated your house, replaced all the bad lightbulbs with good…

  • Cutting The Crop

    In her first interview as Environment Secretary,Caroline Spelman, who has a background in biotech lobbying, has indicated the new coalition government’s unprecedented pro-GM stance, backing wider selling and growing of so called ‘Frankenfood’ and bringing this highly contentious issue once…

  • All Shook Up

    The volcanic ash cloud that sporadically interrupted the smooth flow of our consumerist society provided a brief, semi- apocalyptic vision of a world without air travel, and an apposite one, coinciding as it did with Earth Day on the 22…

  • From Plants to Plastic: The Changing World of Recycling

    An estimated 70% of our waste can be recycled or composted, yet only 14% of it is. Each UK household throws away over a tonne of waste each year, despite the fact that the vast majority think recycling worthwhile. With every…

  • Beyond the Label: Rainforest Alliance and Fairtrade; the same, just different..

    With over 100 eco-labelling schemes in the EU alone, accusations of greenwash filling the columns and once simple eco-ethical claims becoming more complicated, the humble – yet enormously powerful – consumer can be forgiven for finding themselves in the health…

  • Nay, Palm

    Derived from the African Oil Palm, palm oil, in its pure, reddish, un-hydrogenated form, is highly nutritious – full of vitamins, fatty acids, antioxidants, phytonutrients and 15 times more vitamin A carotene than carrots – and has been a staple…

  • Meat of the Matter

    With increasing demand for protein from those parts of the world where a vegetable-based diet has been the historical norm, questions are being raised as to the environmental impact of the burgeoning livestock industry.   You name it, whether we…