Million Euros in 90 Days

Wednesday 27th June – Holiday

Just arrived in Maui, One of the larger Hawaiian Islands, I have spent the afternoon learning about the Whaling History of this area, and I am in the Museum of Whaling, in a place called Whalers Village. For the last few hours have been watching footage from a film made about The Hump Back Whale who spends half the year in the waters of Alaska, then comes to have its young in the seas right off the coast here between December and March. You can see then from the shore flying up in the air and crashing down again. The purpose of this place is to make more people aware of how wonderful these creatures are, and that we must preserve their habitat. Another fine being is the rare Hawksbury Turtle, certainly not as common as the Green Turtle. Again these great creatures need our help by allowing them to come up the beach bury their eggs and return to the sea unhindered. They are of course protected by law however there is a need to make more people aware how great they are. I had a fantastic first day here on Maui. I must mention that as we were about to land I saw from the plane a huge bush fire near the airport, and when we drove to the hotel it had almost reached the highway. Shortly afterwards the highway was closed and many people where unable to get through the only access road to our area and spent the night in their cars. I am grateful no one was hurt but some homes were lost.

CO 2 Report - Air travel 150 miles

Coach Travel - 7 miles and Car travel (shared taxi) 24 miles  

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The Weekend – Holiday

I have booked a couple of trips, to get to see more of the Island. Tonight I am going to a traditional Luau. This is a feast for up to 500 people followed by a traditional Hawaiian Show of Dancing and Singing. It’s all outdoor near the beach and is great fun.

CO2 Report - Coach trip 40 miles

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Friday 22nd June – Holiday

Well I am leaving San Francisco today, and getting a 5 hour flight to Oaho one of the Hawaiian Islands. I arrive at about 3pm, and get the shuttle to Ohana East Hotel in Waikiki. This is a very busy place. There is alot of high rise hotels all round the resort, and many people are surprised how built up it is. I take a walk down to the Famous Waikiki Beach where you find lots of surfboarders enjoying the huge waves. There is also a number of Outriggers offering trips around the bay. These vessels traditionally made from one piece of timber, have a single stabaliser to one side, just like the opening shots of the popular TV series Hawaii 5 0 . It is very hot and the sea is clear and warm. There are many Japanese Restaurants here to serve the many tourists from Japan. This kind of food is very tasty and healthy so will eat Japanese tonight.

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Thursday 21st June – Holiday

My last full day in San Francisco, and a visit to the Castro district. Now this is the Gay district, and I must say it was a colourful place, and everyone is very friendly. There are lots of multicoloured flags about as there is a march through San Francisco Market Street, the longest street in the city on Sunday. 1 Million People are expected. I found here many more Fairtrade stores, also Tibet owned stores which was interesting. I spoke to people about my project with the promise of a telephone call when I got home, to see if they would like to become a sponsor. Much support for my idea. I went on a tour of the city in a double Becker bus. I got a real sense of friendship here, and a positive feeling towards environmental issues, and Fairtrade ideas.

CO2 Report - Flight from USA to Hawaii details to follow. Shuttle services in total 25 miles by bus

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Wednesday 20th June – Holiday

Fairtrade shops are alive and well in this part of the USA and in particular the Haight Ashbury part of San Francisco. This is the district that is a throwback from the hippy sixties times. Great atmosphere, I feel very safe walking about. I got to this district by tram which seem to run all over the city. They are very clean form of transport, and certainly they should be used more. When I was interviewing the Euro MP for the film, I was told that this system work really well in Brussels. Lets have more. and they are great fun to ride on. The Trolley bus which is a little different as they are pulled aloong from underneath instead on overhead cables. Great again for hopping on and off, or just hanging on for dear life. Environmentally very friendly and an experience not be missed. A visit to China town in the evening and a fabulous healthy and tasty meal.

CO2 Report -travelled by tram all day - I will have to get back to you with this one as I am not sure.

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Tuesday 19th June – Holiday

I am in San Francisco. I arrived yesterday direct from the UK. It so cold here first thing in the morning. It is foggy and windy, however by 11 o’clock each day it is hot and sunny. I am off to a tourist favourite, Alcatraz, The Island. Having spent 3 hours there, I have managed to get sunburnt, I think the wind made it worse. What an amazing place and the history of it being a prison for some 30 years until it was closed due to the high cost of running it  in March 1963. Al Capone amongst them. In the evening walked along the front where the piers are and found a group of Sea Lions lying on the pontoons. They are a popular sight here.Lots of fish restaurants to eat at and cheap to eat. I ate at Neptunes Palace Seafood Restaurant on Peir 39. Excellent.

CO2 Report - Ferry to Alcatraz 3 miles

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Monday 18th June – Holiday

Woke early, as I have been told that you need to check in early for US flights due to security. There was a taxi waiting in the lobby to take me to Terminal 3. I am flying with United and I am having to check in myself using one of those modern machines. With some assistance have managed to get my boarding card. The flight is on time. The flight will take about 10 and half hours, non stop to San Francisco. I should arrive there about 12.30pm, just in time for lunch. The flight was average, the food on the flight not good, the film choice was even worse, and can you believe it, no seat back TVs, and just one big screen somewhere in the distance. I have decided to combine this trip as a part fact finder to help with the remaining part of the project and a holiday. This way I save on CO2 by not having to go abroad again this year. In doing so I have put a stop on the project as you see it would be totally impractical to try to telephone and write to potential sponsors while on the move. I have arrived at the Airport, tied, and got a shuttle to the Holiday Inn at Fisherman’s Wharf right on the bay. A great location, clean hotel very popular, and trams right outside.

CO2 Report - Hotel London to T3 - 2 miles by car, Plane London to San Francisco ___miles (tbc), then shuttle to hotel 8 miles by car

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The Weekend –Holiday

So I am off, and heading for Heathrow, to stay over on the Sunday night before flying out at 10.05am on the Monday. Travelled on the Hovercraft, the only passenger service of its kind in the world. A taxi from Southsea to London. Staying at the Novotel. This hotel is part of the Accor group, and I read an article that said that the Motel 6 lodging chain in America, who are known for the slogan,”we’ll leave the light on for you” plan to recycle more than 60,000 fluorescent light bulbs each year. The bulbs consume about 75 percent less energy than conventional light bulbs. The voluntary program, aimed at reducing energy consumption is the first of its kind in the industry. The company, a unit of the Paris based Accor SA has about 900 hotels in the US. Motel 6 will also recycle batteries, such as those used in door locks. The program will cost 90,000 dollars a year and the company expects to save about 1.3 million dollars in energy costs by replacing 450,000 conventional light bulbs with fluorescent ones. Story from San Francisco Newspaper.

CO2 Report - Isle of Wight - 20 miles by car, 4 miles by Hovercraft then 69 miles by car on Mainland

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Friday 15th June – Holiday

Not much to say today. I finished my work at my store yesterday, and getting ready to pack. Never been to the States before so can’t wait.

CO2 Report- 10 miles by car

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Thursday 14th June, Isle of Wight Festival

This is my last day before I go away. I intend to record my trip and report back on anything that will be of interest to my project.

CO2 Report - 23 miles travel by car

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Wednesday 13th June - Isle of Wight Festival

I am busy planning my trip to the States, more involved when you have staff to organise my business while I am gone.

CO2 Report 27 miles travel by car

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Tuesday 12th June, Isle of Wight Festival

Someone asked me what the CO2 report was about the other day. I am making a record of my travel over the period of this particular project. At the end, I will add up all the miles I have travelled, by either car, boat, plane, train and work out what I need to do to off set my carbon emissions.

CO2 report today was 35 miles travel by car

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Monday 11th June Isle of Wight Festival

They still come in for the famous All Day breakfast, what a hectic few days. As you know I have stopped the project while I cater for the Festival, and then go to the USA in a few days. Join me for the project update on the 5th July.

CO2 Report 25 miles travel by car

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The Weekend _ Isle of Wight Festival

It’s the weekend of the Isle of Wight Music Festival, we have the Rolling Stones on stage tomorrow evening. I can’t make it because I am working, but it should be great, and i think it is being recorded for a TV show to be shown at a later date.

CO2 Report on travel - 64 miles total by car

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Friday 8th June - Isle of Wight Festival

Yesterday was busy in my Caffe - Society store, and have displayed material about my project in the hope that some will take a look at the site when they return home. Its seems like there are many more people about this year and the weather is dry sunny but not to hot so perfect really.

CO2 Report 52 miles travel by car

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Thursday 7th June -Isle of Wight Festival

Today is the start of the famous Isle of Wight Festival. I have had to dedicate the next 5 days to this one job, so will not be involved with the project. As you may know I work full time operating my Caffe-Society Fairtrade store and with all these extra visitors due it’s going to be every man to the pumps, so to speak.

CO2 Report 34 miles travel by car

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Day 57 -Wednesday 6th June

Spoke to a number of potential sponsors today, who are in the USA. I have made plans to visit the USA for a few weeks to see for myself what Fairtrade means there. I have noticed a large number of companies who promote Fairtrade, so I am going to take a break from tomorrow for 4 weeks and go and visit the USA.  I plan to go to San Francisco, then on to the Polynesian Islands of Oahu and Muai.I am paying for this trip myself and hope that it will give me a clear idea on some new ideas not only about Fairtrade but Environmental issues. Because I have chosen to take 90days out from my main business to do this project, and having spent almost 60 days of it so far on it, I am going to break here, and return refreshed for the final leg of 33 days on Wednesday 4th July. Wish me luck on my voyage.

CO2 - Report 31 miles by car

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Day 56 -Tuesday 5th June

I have been busy developing ideas to help promote my project at the Isle of Wight Music festival which starts this Thursday. It should be chaos in Newport where my Fairtrade store is. If you think that the population of the Isle of Wight is 120,000 and there are going to be upwards of a further 60,000 more due at the festial, lets hope the Island does not sink!

CO2 Report - 23 miles travelled by car

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Day 55 - Monday 4th June

What an amazing achievement - I have had 750 hits on google for the millioneurosin90days site in the last month, not to mention You Tube and My Space. Keep on watching and keep on reading, and support this worthwhile exciting project

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The Weekend

I have been given some important contact details of some important people whop work for some very big companies, watch this space to see which ones join my great project, to help me raise 1 millioneuros for Fairtrade and the Environmental projects. Have a good weekend, see you next.

CO2 Report 46 miles travel by car

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Day 54 - Friday 1 June

As we go into June I must tell you about what is happening in London tomorrow. Two years ago world leaders were given a huge global mandate to make poverty history. But they are not acting urgently enough. In 2007 campaigners are uniting to tell leaders the world can’t wait. 5,000 children die every day from drinking dirty water. A woman dies in childbirth every minute. More than 5 million people living with HIV and AIDS still do not have access to drugs. Global warming puts us all in peril - and poor countries will be hit first and hardest. In June the UK Prime Minister will speak in our name at summits of European and G8 governments. Ensure he sets off with your message ringing in his ears. Wear white and bring an alarm clock, phone alarms and your voices against poverty to the banks of the River Thames in London on 2 June. Make sure our Prime Minister knows the world can’t wait.

The world can’t wait for the cancellation of debt and more and better aid. Also we need trade justice, healthcare, education, water and sanitation for all. Firm plans to prevent catastrophic climate change and to address its impact. Be There London 2 June 2007.

CO2 Report - 26 miles travel by car

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Day 53 - Thursday 31st May

Well the last day of May and yet more companies have joined the project, Look at the homepage and see the new banners of each of the companies. As you hover over them with your mouse, you get a very clear write up of each company. The exposure it fantastic.

CO2 report - 31 miles travel by car

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Day 52 - Wednesday 30th May

Next weekend the 8th, 9th and 10th is the Isle of Wight music festival with the Rolling Stones on the bill. There will be an estimated 50,000 people there and I hope to promote my project in Newport where the event is being held. More publicity which is good for the existing sponsors.

CO2 Report - 24 miles travel by car 

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Day 51 - Tuesday 29th May

I can not believe it is almost June. As I said last week I will break off for three weeks soon as I am filming in America and plan to visit some environmental and Fairtrade operations as part of the production linked to this project. I will posts tills on the Blog just as soon as I can.

CO2 Report - 30 miles travel by car

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The Bank Holiday Weekend

It is Whitsun Bank Holiday and the start of half term. Another bank holiday Monday off, fantastic. Even better it’s my favourite sports best weekend, the Monaco Grand Prix, always spectacular. Remember I have links to Monaco, as a business I am involved in works out of Monaco, hence the reason we have so much support from there. I remember going to the historic grand prix a couple of years ago. There was an auction of amazing cars on the harbour front and many F1 drivers where there. I hope to get more sponsors from there as I progress into the summer months. Remember, individuals as well as companies can sponsor a square so please get in touch.

CO2 Report 49 miles car travel

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Day 50 - Friday 25th May

A bit of a sad day as I visited a friend who is only my age but has a brain cancer that can not be treated. It really does make you think. Part of my project is to bring awareness about the lack of fresh drinking water and sanitation in developing countries. With out this people simply die. I feel that sometimes it seems like another world, one that is difficult to relate to. The outcome is terrible, but then out of the blue someone near and dear seems to be in an equally desperate situation and it focuses the mind.. We are all so vulnerable at times and it only spurs me on to make this project of mine as successful as possible.

CO2 Travel - Ferry 15 miles + 29 miles car travel

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Day 49 - Thursday 24th May

I have been very lucky over the past few weeks, a friend has been doing a massage course at college, and part of it is to massage three clients, 4 times each over a few weeks. I have my fourth and final session tonight. I must say it is the most relaxing thing you can have. It just makes you feel so good the following day.

I have been on the phones again today talking to potential sponsors with some luck. I am also emailing loads of companies who are sellers of Fairtrade.

Let’s hope for the best.

CO2 Report - 32 miles travel by car

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Day 48 - Wednesday 23rd May

I have been booking my hotel for my trip to America in a few weeks time. I will stop the clock while I am away as I can not do two things at once. I will still enter my Blog which should be really interesting. It will be my first time to the states. I plan to fly straight into San Francisco from Heathrow, on Monday 18th June. I will be there for a week before going on to visit some of the Hawaiian Islands. While I am in San Francisco I plan to give some radio interviews about the project and visit some Fairtrade shops. When I go on to Hawaii I plan to visit the dolphin park, who do such good work. More about all this when I get there.

CO2 Report - 25 miles travel by car 

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Day 47 - Tuesday 22nd May

Its market day in Newport and all is going well with the project. I have many companies planning to join the project but the time has to be right. I feel that while things may look like I am a bit behind, I still feel very confident about the success of this project. So keep reading the Blog to see how I do.

 

CO2 Report - 23 miles travel by car

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Day 46 - Monday 21st May

Its Monday a really busy week ahead. Because my Fairtrade Caffe -Society store is in the main high street of the capital town of Newport we are always very busy. Next week will be half term and then it gets even more hectic. It’s always the same any time of the year, if the schools are closed. I plan to promote this great project at the shop all this summer. Many people still come into the store and ask me about the project which they read about in the local papers and on the local radio stations. I have managed to get more sponsors from America in the last few days.

CO2 Report - 34 miles travel by car

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The weekend

It’s going to be a sunny weekend. I am working at my store during the daytime this weekend, and doing a buffet for the Isle of Wight Footprint Trust. More news about my great project next week, so see you then.

Report follow next week

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Day 45 - Friday 18th May

I am now able to offer for the first 300 people the chance to attend a gala dinner and dance. When you sponsor 4 boxes this will get you 2 free tickets to a Gala Ball in London latter this year. This has been made possible in part by a generous sponsor. So roll up, roll up get your tickets here. It will be great way to meet other Fairtrade people.  I will give your more details soon as to the date and venue. I must add that I will insist the menu being as Fairtrade trade as possible.

CO2 - Report 28 miles travel by car

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Day 43 - Thursday 17th May

More American websites have joined my project, and today I had a call from the Fairtrade Foundation wishing me well with the project. They were saying that the west coast of America are little more open to the idea of Fairtrade the East. I will let you know when I visit next month.

CO2 -Report 28 miles travel by car

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Day 42 - Wednesday 16th May

Every Wednesday evening I go to French lessons. I want to spend half my year out there one day and the other half here in the UK. I have been doing these lessons for the past 6 months and I am making slow progress. I reckon it will take me another 3 years or so before I get fluent. It may prove useful when talking to French Sponsors.

CO2 Report - 26 miles travel by car

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Day 41 - Tuesday 15th May

I working at my Caffe-Society Fairtrade Store in Newport today so will have a short break from the project. Not much news to tell from the last 24 hours.

CO2 Report - 26 miles travel by car

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The Weekend

It’s Sunday Morning the night after the day before, and what a great night the Eurovision song contest was. As a fan I thought the Russian entry should have one, but friends stick together and this reflected in the result. Thank you Malta! The Spanish Grand Prize today the only sport I follow so I am looking forward to that at midday. The stats, which tell me how many people, have looked at the Millioneuros site is going well with a good number of views. What is interesting is that people are actually taking a good look, reading the Blogs, clicking on websites that are on the homepage, and this is of course good new for the sponsors. Well a day indoors working on the project between races as it is due to rain all day. Have good Sunday

CO2 Report - No travel by car today

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Day 39 - Friday 11th May

As you may have read I am off to the states to promote my project. The USA is a huge supporter of Fairtrade and once I am away I will continue to write my Blogs from San Francisco, and Hawaii where I will be visiting projects that promote Fairtrade and Environmental issues. Nearer to home I will be travelling around the UK including Scotland and Wales during the middle of July, conducting interviews with Radio Studios and Filming for the production which I hope will be shown after it has ended. I know it may sound a bit sad but it’s that time of year again, it’s Eurovision Song Contest. I am a fan of this and Terry Wogan’s sarcastic utterances both great institutions and a pure joy to watch. I know it’s the old thing of you either love or hate the contest, but I am the former and am proud. It is great to see 42 countries taking part, 24 for the final on Saturday, but all wanting to be part of a fun night, united as one with one goal. What about a World song contest, all as one with one goal, like the air we breathe. Oh well may be one day.

Have a good weekend

CO2 Report 24 miles travel by car  

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Day 38 - Thursday 10th May

What a great tool the internet is. I think that it can do so much good. Watching News 24 today about how in Africa they are using WiFi Broadband to teach children at school using old Baked Bean Cans. The idea is that with a conventional WiFi aerial the signal is sent out in a 360 degree direction, however in Africa there is a lack of masts so they want to direct the signal to another mast linked to a building like a school. When the signal is channelled in just one direction the signal becomes stronger and will travel further. To direct the signal cheaply they fix an old Baked Beans tin on the top of the mast. Now whole villages are able to access the internet, and schools operate lessons with live linkups with other classes, are taught by interacting with a giant TV type screen. They can ask the teacher questions, write on the screen and this is relayed back to the teacher some few hundred miles away. He can teach a number of classes at once. Simply fantastic. For other people on the huge continent they wish for something even more basic - Drinking Water, I want to donate half of the money I raise to Charities that provide fresh drinking water. Keep reading my daily Blog to see how I get on.

CO2 Report - 32 miles travel by car

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Day 37 - Wednesday 9th May

I am now getting a steady number if people looking at my website, Millioneurosin90days, and also my other website Caffe-Society.co.uk which is great news. I have been pleased that there is so much news on TV and in the papers about environmental issues. It is with this in mind that I am using half the funds raised to design and build a new eco green environmentally friendly Caffe-Society Fairtrade Store. I am going to approach as many Environmental Businesses as possible in the next few weeks to ask them for support in my goal with this project.

CO2 Report - 33 Miles travel by car

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Day 36 - Tuesday 8th May

I have been busy contacting Fairtrade Businesses in the USA with lots of interest in this project. They seem very positive about the Fairtrade idea and as I am in the States in a few weeks time, I thought it would be great to recruit some businesses to my home page. You will notice plenty of new websites by next week. I am still getting loads of people into my store asking more about this fantastic project ever since all that Radio and Press coverage last week. It’s great to tell them all about what I hope to do by raising funds for the Charities that work in the Fairtrade Countries providing Sanitation and Fresh Drinking Water. I have got some more ideas to get my project more well known in the next few weeks, so watch this space.

CO2 Report - 23 miles travel by car 

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Bank Holiday Monday

The bank holiday here in the UK, however not in the USA. I am in America during June and July, visiting San Francisco and Hawaii. I’m planning on visiting some Fairtrade stores, and try to meet up with press and media, and local TV and Radio stations. I have been busy emailing potential sponsors to see if they would like to advertise on my homepage. I plan to phone some of these each evening this week to see if they would like to be involved. Had a busy morning having to clear away a tree that fallen into the garden after a very windy night. Have not travelled far today, but expecting a busy tomorrow when my store reopens. It is going to rain and it is market day so lots of Fairtrade Tea and Coffee.

CO2 Report 6 miles travel by car

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Day 34 - Thursday 3rd May

It’s now the start of May and the weather is great. The days seem like mid summer. The new e-mail I am sending to potential sponsors includes the press article and the radio interview. Tomorrow I will be busy again on the phones trying to make more people aware of my project.

CO2 Report 35 miles travel by car

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Day 33 - Wednesday 2 May

I was sent today a copy of the spring issue “FOOTPRINTS”. This is a regular publication about the work that the Charity Find Your Feet does in the developing world. It’s a fascinating insight into some of the people the charity tries to help. Here are some stories from the paper.

Dickson Sakala is one of 36 people who FYF has chosen to be a lead farmer in their community in northern Malawi. Trained in environmentally friendly farming practices and teaching skills at a cost of £ 110 each, lead farmers like Dickson are sharing their knowledge with over 3,500 of their fellow farmers. Dickson Sakala started working with FYF in 2002 when they launched an organic composting competition. “I’d never used compost before but I was actually the most successful farmer that year. I produced 172 compost heaps. I used the compost on my land and it made a real difference”. She goes on, “Because of Compost-making success, FYF invited me to become a lead farmer and train other farmers in sustainable farming practices. I now have 84 follower farmers who I train in composting, crop diversification and water conservation.”

CO2 Report 28 miles travel by car   

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Day 32 - Tuesday 1 May

I am planning an event towards the end of the year in London and the first 150 companies who buy 4 boxes or more will get 2 free tickets. There is a deadline of May 9th for this one special offer. Invites will go out latter in the year subject to me achieving my goal. Keep reading the Blogs for more details.

It’s been fun as I was at my Caffe-Society store today and a fair few can in and said that they had read and heard about me over the weekend, and wished me luck with the success of the project. Really it is your help I need to achieve this goal so please sponsor me and remember you do not need a website to be part of this great project.

CO2 Report 33 miles travel by car 

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Day 31 - Monday 30th April

It’s the start of a new week, and after last week’s fun and games with the press and media coverage. The exposure the project got was simply fantastic, and the activity on the site reflected that with some of the highest visits to the millioneurosin90days site seen since the project started last month. Virtually every hour on the hour today the local radio station played an interview with me explaining more about this great project. You can now here it again by going to the home page and clicking on Press.

CO2 Report 34 miles travel by car 

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The Weekend

I can not believe how busy the website has been so far this weekend, there was a big story about me, my store Caffe-Society and the project, www.millioneurosin90days.com in the Isle of Wight County Press. Reading another paper, Mail on Sunday about environmental issues, and I notice that the Virgin group are looking for clean fuel. They even have a clean fuel division. The most hopeful project is cellulsic butinol, which can be made from sugar. If it can be made to work it will produce no carbon emissions at all. Unlike ethanol it doesn’t freeze at 30,000 ft and it is far more powerful. They are building 10 new ethanol plants in the States and are trying to develop windmills which are effective in 2mph instead of the present 6mph, and they are also investing in solar energy.

They are pledging that 100 per cent of any money they make from their airlines worldwide, also their spaceship company and from the train company go into clean fuels. That means that anyone who fly’s on a Virgin plane will know that the profit is going into trying to solve the problem.

CO2 Report- 12 miles travel by car over the weekend 

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Day 30 - Friday 27th April

I am approaching the third of the way into the project. This period has been mainly about promoting the project in any way I can. So far I have over 600 entries on Google on over 60 pages under “Millioneurosin90days”, over 50 friends on My Space, and lots of info on Youtube. Next I am looking at Bebo and FaceBook. I have stories on Google Video, A local Newspaper and Radio Station have plans to tell my story, Five News plan to do the same. This whole project is being filmed to be made into a story which I hope will be shown on Television. The next 30 days will be about expanding the number of potential sponsors while keeping the profile high, so stay tuned to see how I get on.

CO2 Report - To be entered later

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Day 29 -Thursday 26th April

I had a local radio station visit me at my Society Store today to interview me about the Millioneurosin90days project. This is a worthwhile project that will benefit Fairtrade growers in third world countries. I intend to also make more people aware through this project about how they can be part of the Environmental trend. There is a strong connection between environmental issues and the Fairtrade belief. I hope you enjoy reading these Blogs, however I do welcome comments about any issues I raise in these or future entries.

 

CO2 Report - 26 miles travel by car (please note that whenever possible I do like to share a car with others)

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Day 28 - Wednesday 25th April

I have now got over 50 friends on Myspace and some of those are companies that are based on environmental and Fairtrade issues. Some have agreed to be on the Millioneurosin90days homepage to help promote their good work. I have had a number of potential sponsors asking about joining the project to help me achieve my goal and to help advertise their business. Remember if you have a website then you to could sponsor me. If you have not got a website, then sponsor me anyway and I will add ever box that is bought be enlarging the two main charities website logos on the homepage.

CO2 Report 25 miles travel by car

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Day 27 - Tuesday 24th April

I bank with the co-operative bank “the green bank” and they send out a regular magazine which is printed on Eural Super Silk paper made from 100% recycled fibre using de-inked pulp, no bleaching is used in the production of their paper. This magazine is full of fantastic information about green issues. One headline read

This week I will - book a two week holiday instead of two one week holidays, helping cut back on flights, plant tomatoes and rocket lettuce so I can enjoy mileage free salads all summer, check that the printers and photocopiers at work are completely turned off. Go for a jog in the park instead of driving to the gym. Hang my sheets up to air dry rather than using the tumble dryer. Walk to the takeaway rather than order a delivery. Choose British Beer at the pub instead of my usual tipple. Switch to a green energy tariff. Keep a reusable carrier bag with me so I can reduce plastic when shopping. Have one day where I buy nothing at all. Take a mug to work instead of using disposable cups. Its makes you think, even just the little things can make a difference if we all do it.

 

CO2 Report 26 miles travel by car

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Day 26 - Monday 23rd April

Last week was interesting doing the cooking demo outside the shop. This week however I am trying to interest potential sponsors and media alike. It catching, that is big business think it is worth there while to develop products and services which will benefit the environment. I buy my packaging from a number of different sources, however one is trying to offer a range of environmental products like recycled sandwich boxes. I will be bringing this to Caffe-Society in July once my present stock has been used. I read yesterday that Nokia does not refurbish phones, but smelts down used handsets instead. Its reduction in toxic substances makes it the greenest of all mobile phone companies.

 

CO2 Report - 25 miles travel by car

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The weekend

Its Saturday, and I am off to my Caffe-Society Store for the day and tomorrow I will be do more research as to how to develop my project even further. Remember that all my blogs other a section for you to comment, and I welcome any feed back you wish to give, so please get in touch.

CO2 Report for both days in total - 38 miles by Car

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Friday 20th April

The end of another week, and have been talking to various press about the project. You must remember that this task I have set myself will need as much publicity as possible, so to involve all kinds of TV and Media is essential at this stage of the project. Someone suggested the other day that in addition to making a TV show out of it I should also apply my Blog as part of a book and the proceeds from this book should go to charity. I think this could be a good idea, so I will look at the potential and talk to publishers after the project has ended in July.

CO2 Report 38 miles by Car

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Thursday 19th April                                       www.millioneurosin90days.com

 

It has been a quiet morning but this evening I will attending the Castle Pub in Newport for a talk be the Isle of Wight Euro MP, Dr Caroline Lucas. I managed to interview her prior to her talk, and again I will show you this on DVD in a few weeks on the site, however the message was clear. As a representative of the Green Party, they prioritise the needs of people and the planet over the interests of governments and big business - that means defending the human rights and working for peace and security. They also strongly support the Fairtrade idea and believe that the simple act of buying Fairtrade has a positive impact on farmers and producers. Too many farmers in the developing world have to contend with fluctuating prices that may not even cover what it costs to produce their crop. Fairtrade companies buy direct from farmers at better prices, helping to strengthen their organisation and marketing their produce directly. Offering consumers the opportunity to buy products which are brought on the basis of a fair trade. It’s interesting to note that Fairtrade is not just food, clothing is now high up there. The activities of all who work in the industry whether designers or buyers affect workers all over the world. Now the industry is starting to take notice Top Shop is about to produce its own Fair Trade fashion line and jeans coloured with organic dyes are soon to hit the shops in the UK after their amazing success in New York.

CO2 Report 52 miles by Car

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Wednesday 18th April

Today has to be another first, I will be preparing Fairtrade Food outside my Newport Store, on the pavement for the benefit of the cameras. I am making a DVD of my project and the local press have also come along to take pictures, which I hope will be in the local paper in the near future. They seem very interested in this worthwhile project about my ambitious project to raise 1 million euros in 90 days through sponsorship. The dishes I prepared were dessert ideas, including Pan fried Fairtrade bananas, in butter, with Fairtrade Ben & Jerry’s Vanilla Ice Cream and Fairtrade Homemade Chocolate sauce. The film we took of this will soon be on this site for you to see in all its glory. I also made a Fairtrade Fruit Salad with a sprinkerling of Fairtrade nuts and raisins. Finally the other dish was homemade crepes filled with Fairtrade Strawberry Jam, and a dusting of Fairtrade icing sugar, made from granulated sugar, put in the blender.

Lots of people came to watch me, and I was so wrapped up in the film work and getting the dishes right, I did not think about getting worried about the onlookers. After that I went to the Riverside, where the Isle of Wight Footprint Trust had an exhibition about environmental issues and various things you can do to help the environment in our day to day activities. There will be more about this show in a couple of weeks when I show you me new DVD on this site.

CO2 Report Car travel 40 miles

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Tuesday 17th April

It’s Tuesday and I have spent the morning at my Caffe - Society store, as it is Market Day and you get a lot of holiday makers come to Newport on coaches. If the weather is not too good then they will for certain come in for a coffee, but today looks like a hot sunny one so may be not so many.

This afternoon I have be invited to visit the Spinnaker Tower. This is the highest public viewing tower in the UK. I have often seen it from the Island, but as you stand at the base it is truly amazing. The lift to the top takes less than 30 seconds. Once up there I am asked to have photos taken for publicity for the project, Millioneurosin90days.com. I had a go at walking the glass floor and as you look down to the ground it is awesome. The view I can only liken to my first time in a Jet Ranger Helicopter sitting in the front next to the pilot. You just seem to hover over the ground and can see for miles.

CO2 Report, Ferry 6 miles, car travel 24 miles 

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Day 26 - Monday 16th April

The start of a new week it looks like it will be a very busy one. The plan is to promote the project in a number of ways. So stay reading over the next few days and see what I get up to.

CO2 Report 26 miles travel by car

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The Weekend

 

It’s the weekend after the Easter Holidays, and finally all the Easter Eggs in my house have been eaten. I plan to spend the weekend doing some work at my Caffe-Society Store and watching favourite sport F1 and the Bahrain Grand Prix. So I will see you all on Monday.

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Day 25 - Friday 13th April

I hope your are not superstitious but its Friday the 13th today, and instead of hiding under the bed clothes you just have to get out there and take your chances. Yesterday I was highlighting the great work that Find Your Feet do in India, well they also do great work in Africa. They are currently working with 9,800 vulnerable people living in rural Malawi to build lasting solutions to poverty. They are enabling farmers to improve their harvests, families to cope with the impact of HIV/AIDS and communities to conserve natural resources that are vital for their livelihood. Malawi is a small landlocked country in Southern Africa, is one of the poorest countries in the World. The majority of the population live in poverty and find it difficult to meet their basic needs like food, clean water and shelter. With few employment opportunities, the majority of people living in malawi are dependent on agriculture-both to provide food for their families to eat and when they manage to grow a surplus, an income that pays for medicine, school books and clothes.

Malawi was largely self sufficient in food until the 1970s when it felt the effects of the slump in world trade and escalating debt repayments. Now one of the biggest problems many Malawians face is food production. degraded soils, erratic weather conditions, limited availability of land and a lack of resources to buy tools or seeds mean that many farmers struggle to grow enough food to feed their families all year round. Find Your feet are working in Central and Northern malawi with the most vulnerable groups in society-landless farmers, women and people affected by HIV/AIDS- who face a daily struggle to provide the most basic necessities for their family.

Improing Harvests and Overcoming the effects of drought - Erratic weather conditions and frequent droughts mean many families suffer severe food shortages. We are training farmers in sustainable farming and irrigation techniques that enable them to grow crops even during the dry season, ensuring their families have food all year round. “By working with Find Your Feet, I’ve come forward as a farmer, Now my farmers group plants vetiver grass around the fields to control run-off, we make compost to enrich the soil and we’ve learnt how to build and maintain canals for irrigation. The irrigation farming has allowed me to supplement my normal harvest. I’m just about to have my second harvest of the year, at a time when most people have finished their food stocks. Now i have food all year round and I can sell some of my produce to earn an income to support my family “. - Benjamin from the Tiyese farmers group project.

Conserving Natural resources - deforestation represents a major challenge to communities we work with in malawi as the resources upon which farmers depend for their livelihood are being destroyed. We are working with community members to understand the importance of the sustainable use of natural resources.

” Before the project I didn’t think about the need to conserve the forest. We would go in and cut any trees down. With support of FYF,  the community is now taking responsibilty for conserving the natural enviroment. We know which tress to use for what and we’ve planted a tree nursey. the whole village has demarcated an area of common land and has come up with by-laws to regulate the use of the trees and forest produce so that people can’t just come in and take natural resorces. Working with the project is vital to create a better future and even if we don’t reap the rewards of conserving the natural enviroment, i know that our children in the future will benefit”. Winnie Chipeta, Mwachifumya Village.

Addressing the challenge of HIV/AIDS. With recent figuresshowing over 14% of the population is infected, HIV/AIDs is having a devastating impact on Malawi. We are working with communities to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS, challenge stigma and improve peoples access to prevention, testing, councelling and care.

“For a long time, I went to traditional doctors who said I was bewitched. I used to take herbs but never got better. Someone who works with FYF came to my village and suggested I got tested for HIV and I am HIV +. Since then, FYF has supported me to go to hospital and I am now on anti-retroviral drugs. I feel much beter, my pains have reduced and now I have more appetite but the problem now is that I don’t have enough food. I’ll soon be receiving training and some seeds from FYF so that I can set up a kitchen garden. Since joining the group my life has improved, I get advice on how to live positively with HIV/AIDS and I no longer feel alone ” Markson Sichale, Lwitiko community group.

CO2 Report 24 miles of travel by car

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Day 24 Thursday 12th April

There are times when a little thing goes wrong , then you feel a bit deflated, then it only takes another small thing to go right, and before you know it, your feeling right again. Well that in short was the story today. I had spent some time talking to potential sponsors all of whom thought the project a great idea , however they felt it was not quite for them or their business. Fair enough, but you must not give up . Just when I thought it was going to be a quiet day at the office, I got a sponsor , infact two and their sites will be going on the homepage in the next day or so. Added to this I had some great pictures from Find Your feet charity which you will see below.

PICTURES

Find Your Feet Charity supports vulnerable families living in rural communities to build lasting solutions to their poverty. They are currently working together with 19,700 vulnerable families in rural India to improve their harvests, set up small businesses, access clean water, healthcare and education. It is estimated that one third of the world’s poor live in India. There are more people living in poverty in India than in the whole of Sub-Saharan Africa. Despite its emergence as a political and economic world power, unacceptable levels of inequality persist within Indian society. 350 million people in India live in poverty on less than $1 a day.

80% of India’s poor live in rural areas. Find Your feet work in rural areas in some of the poorest states in India - Jharkhand, Uttaranchal, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh. Their work targets the most vulnerable groups in society - landless farmers, women, indigenous tribal people and dalits (formerly known as “untouchables”) - who face a daily struggle to provide the most basic necessities for their family.

Like the majority of people living in Rae Bareli, Uttar Pradesh, Sujata depends on agriculture to feed her family and provide an income. However, without land of their own, Sujatat and her family were living in poverty, forced to work on someone else’s land earning just £ 6 a month, with which they had to buy food and all other necessities. She says ” Through FYF, I took out a loan of Rs1,500 (£19) and I used it to buy 0.25 ha of land. Its not much land but I grow rice and peas on it and it produces enough food for my family that we are self-sufficient. I am no longer bound to work on someone elses land for a pittance. I’ve received training in vermi-compost production and I’m just about to start using that to improve my harvest.

I repaid the loan within about three months and I’m earning enough money to send both my sons to school. I could not have afforded this before and I didn’t see my children’s education as a priority. It was through the group meetings that I came to understand the importance of making sure that they are well educated. When my daughter is old enough,I’ll send her to school as well “.

Increasing Incomes- Phul Kuwar has always depended on the collection and sale of non-timber forest produce- spices, honey and medicinal herbs - to earn her living. However, a lack of access to markets means that she was unable to gain a fair price and she was forced to sell her produce to exploitative middlemen. With very few alternative employment opportunities, living standards in the area are very low; the average household income is just £ 8-£10 a month and 90% of people cannot read or write. Unable to earn a stable income from her traditional livelihood, she struggled to meether family’s basic needs. Without stopping her work shaving bamboo sticks into long, thin incense sticks, Phul recently told us how she has been able to set up a profitable samll business that has improved life for her family.

Before FYF came, I had only seasonal work as an agricultural wage labourer and struggled to support my family. Everything we earned had to go straight to meeting our daily needs. If there was ever an emergency and we needed more money we were at the mercy of exploitative moneylenders that charged high rates of interest that we could not afford. Since joining the self help group (SHG), I have the opportunity to learn skills so I can set up a business. Three of us in the SHG have decided to set up a business producing incense sticks as that has year round demand. We took a low interest loan of 600 rupees (£7.50) to buy the tools needed and Planet arranged for a craftsman to come and train us in producing sticks. The business is now up and running and with the extra income I’m earning, i can buy better food and clothes for my children and pay for my son’s education.”

Giving Voice to the Voiceless - Despite being highly skilled artisans, the sari weavers living around Varanasi, India suffer exploitation and Descrimination. The majority of sari weavers are dalits, traditionally regarded as untouchables. Whilst laws are in place to protect the rights of dalits, they continue to be marinalised and 45% of dalits in India live in poverty. There are 500,000 sari weavers in Varansi who hand weave high quality Banares saris. However, their traditional livlihood is being threatened by flood on to the market of cheap, mass produced saris from China

FYF partner, HWA is mobilising the sari weavers to ensure their voices are heard. They have taken part in mass mobilisations, have lobbied politicians and have met with the Indian Prime Minister. Weavers working with HWA are developing the skills and confidence to draw attention to the issues they face. They are asking for protection from cheap Chinese imports and are calling on the government to recognise weavers as a formal sector of workers entitled to pensions, healthcare and insurance. previously ignored, they have helped to raise the issue of weavers rights and the government is conducting a nationwide survey into the situation.

Find Your Feet work hard in India but also work in Africa, and tomorrow I will tell you the story of their work in Malawi.

CO2 Report today, travel by car 35 miles.

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Day 23 -Wednesday 11th April

The first week after Easter, and the project seems to be gaining interest from many quarters, including people visiting my Fairtrade Store here in Newport on the Isle of Wight. It is actually about 4 weeks since I officially started this project and in the first couple of weeks I spoke to a number of businesses who felt like I do that Fairtrade and Enviromental Issues went hand in hand and that more public awareness was a good thing. A project like this one, called millioneurosin90days.com was received with much praise and thoughtful wishes of “good luck”, and “hope you do it”, and “what a good idea”. Well this was all well and good and certainly raised my spirits as this was very much a new idea, and an untested one at that. Still I knew that if I maintained my focus on the core reasons for doing it this would prevail not only in succeeding in the long term but keeping on track in the short term. When all is said and done, and say a business says “yes,I would love to sponsor a sqaure, please invoice me” I feel like it is all worth it, however in the back of my mind I also feel a little unease as with all things, the old saying “Its seemed like a good idea at the time” persists in the back of my mind. I duly invoiced the first businesses who wanted to join, and waited for a response. I had sent with the invoice a self addressed envelope so as to make things as simple as possible, then I waited , and I waited some more. To my pleasent surprise I received today several payments from the early recruitment period and was I thrilled. In fact I was very pleased even more so as my faith in humanity was renewed. This whole project has to achieve more than a social message, it must raise the money I have set out to achieve, and it must be done in a set time span. Someone the other day said, “A million euros in 90 days, why do that, at least if you do don’t count the weekends, or bank holidays as no one is available to speak to”. So I thought about it and realised that he was right, so I have taken weekends and bank holidays out of the equation and this leaves me with a finishing date in mid July. This will also give me a little more time to approach more potential sponsors. The money will be used in two ways, a donation to Charities working in third world countries, the kind of countries that many Fairtrade products come from, and the other half will be used for the design and build of my new Caffe-Society Eco Fairtrader Store, which will incorporate all the latest technology available to make this store simply the best enviromental store there has been to date. Its interesting to note that the link between Fairtrade Products and Enviromental Issues is a very strong one. Fairtrade Standards aim to protect and improve the enviroment. Extra income from fairtrade means farmers can invest in sound agricultural practices. This pays dividends - better protection for farmers and their communities and better products for us. By cutting weeds instead of using herbicides, 1900 organic coffee farmers in Sumatra, Indonesia are helping protect local endangered species, including the Sumatran Tiger.

In the Dominican Republic, 9,000 cocoa farmers have used the Fairtrade premium to convert to organic farming. A group of 133 banana farmers in Colombia have set up an enviromental protection programme that includes reforestation, a community rubbish collection service and a plastic waste recycling programme. It is heart warming to read and hear about stories from all over the world where Fairtrade has had a positive effect. I was reading my Sunday paper, which told of a story about the famous Store Top Shop. They sell a fabulous range of Jewellery which is produced by local crafts people in one of Kenya’s largest slums. Its the brainchild of Cristina Cisilino, who believes passionately in helping local people through Fairtrade.

In Nairobi there is to be found the largest slum of the city called Kibera, where a third of residents are HIV positive. A london based fairtrade company called “Made” which is owned by Cristina Cisilino and her husband Gerson Barnett have discovered huge potential from the skills of local people in the art of making jewllery from brass, bone and wood. They are developing the idea in a number of outlets of Top Shop and have proved very popular with customers.

Kibera, though is a place most fashion companies would hate you to see. Its sits on an ocean of garbage and plastic bags, a cruel export from Europe.Its sewers are an open wound in the dry red earth at the roadside. Its the size of central park in New York and home to 1 million people. For more details of this great company, visit www.made.uk.com .

For the last six years coffee prices have remained below the cost of production, causing immense hardship for millions of farmers. In 2001, prices plummeted to just 45 US cents per lb. By selling just a small amount of their coffee at the guaranteed and stable Fairtrade price of US$1.26 per lb, members of Kilmanjaro Native Cooperative Union (KNCU) in Tanzania have been able to stay afloat during the crisis. Members of Coocafe a cooperative in Costa Rica, sell 405 of their coffee to the Fairtrade market. With the extra income they have bought a processing plant and now market their own roast and ground coffee. Millions of farmers depend on selling their crops to survive, but its a risky business - when prices drop it can spell disaster for farmers. If they earn less than it costs to run the farm, they face real hardship - struggling to buy food or keep their children in school. Ultimately they may lose their land and their livelihood. By buyingg Fairtrade certified products, you’re giving farmers a chance to sell their products at a stable price that covers their costs and enables them to support their families and invest in a better future.

Next week I will be showing members of the public how best to create interesting dishes from Fairtrade ingredients. One of the dishes is a simple Banana Split, but i will be using Fairtrade Bananas, Fairtrade Vanilla Ice Cream, and Fairtrade Chocolate Sauce. The Bananas that I will be using are from the Windwards Islands, in the Caribbean, where thousands of families make their living growing bananas on small hilly farms. During the 1990s many of them were forced out of business by large scale Latin american banana plantations where labour is cheaper and costs are lower. When prices dropped, the economy went down to zero because bananas are the heartbeat of the country. The farmers joined forces when they saw Fairtrade was the only way to survive in a cut throat market. Through Fairtrade, producers learn how best to sell their products and what the international market and consumers want. Today 730 of Dominica’s remaining 1000 banana farmers are members of Fairtrade groups. So come and see for your self , and watch me present these dishes to you, while helping these farmers in the Windwards Islands. I will be outside the store next wednesday afternoon. If the day or times change I will update this information on this blog, so keep reading. You will also see film footage on this site in the near future so if you can not actually be there then you will not miss out. If you have any comments of any sort please let me know as it is interesting to hear from you.

CO2 Report 34 miles travelled today be car.

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Day 22 - Tuesday 10th April

Having just enjoyed a long Easter weekend, and taking a little time off it is now the start of a fresh week and on with my project. The nice thing about relaxing is I get a chance to read and I came across a story about a green computer. PC World to sell  the first green computer, in a bid to tackle global warming. The carbon neutral computer will cost between £ 550 and £ 650 and go on sale this autumn.Its hard drive and memory will be made from recycled or recycleable materials as will the cables and most other parts. It will be the energy efficient computer in the world.

CO2 Report 28 miles travel by Car  

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Bank Holiday Monday

I have been busy on the phone today. While e.mail is easy in many ways I still feel detached from the person I want to talk to. The phone is much more enjoyable and direct. A quiet day from the point of view of new sponsors, however, plenty to do as Easter weekend approaches. I must remember not to eat too much chocolate as this has to be one of my main weeknesses. I must add that I mean Fairtrade Chocolate.

 

CO2 Report 25 miles by car. 

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The Weekend

I have had a couple of companies wanting to join the project today.One has a website, and the other is due to have theirs up by May. I was looking at the homepage of Millioneurosin90days, and it is certainly starting to fill up. I am thinking of a way to encourage individuals to join in as they most likely do not have a website, but may well support Fairtrade and Enviromental Issues. I do not see why someone cannot sponsor a square, and then maybe add that square to one of the Charities Logos on the homepage. It could develop in such a way that these logos could become quite large. That would simply be down to the fact that individuals had joined the project and their square was attatched to this logo. I feel this project is developing all the time and each day brings new ideas to develop it.

CO2 Report 34 miles by car

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Easter Good Friday

 I am going to do a cooking demonstration outside by Caffe-Society Fairtrade Store in 2 weeks. I plan to cook a couple of dishes which I have created using as many Fairtrade Products as possible.I was reading the Fairtrade Foundations Magazine - called Fair Comment and on Page 6 there was a competition. It is looking to produce a Fairtrade Cook Book and require 150 recipes from anyone who feels they have an interesting dish. So I may well enter, after I have tried it out on the poor old general public. I am also going to be filmed doing this which is something I have never done before .

I will let you know how well I do, and whether it was a success, then I will give you the dishes I cooked and tell you how to do them yourselves.

CO2 Report 26 miles by car 

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Day 21 - Thursday 5th April

Its the 5th April, and looking at the papers there are a few stories that could be a bit of joke, but these days its difficult to know what is . I was going to Glastonbury today however the weather looked a bit poor, so will go another day.

CO2 Report 10 miles car travel

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Day 20 - Wednesday 4th March

Its Wednesday and it has become clear that it is near impossible to contact many people in the business world on a Saturday or Sunday so I will spend the day partly at my Caffe-Society Fairtrade Store and partly doing research for next week.

CO2 report  Travel by car 23 miles

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Day 19 - Tuesday 3rd April

Its Tuesday 3rd April and I have just completed the third week of the project. It has been a case of making as many people as possible aware of what we are doing with regards to this interesting project. I am keeping a report of the different forms of travel, the lengths of distance, and entering this information by way of a CO2 Report each day. I must admit most of my day is based around an office type enviroment, however I do visit by Caffe-Society Store quite regularly hence the car travel. As this project moves on I have to visit companies and individuals all over the UK and maybe some in Europe. Then I will be looking at train and planes, but for now its the good old car !

Now as I have said before, part of this project will be about the enviroment, and I have today been told about an event which will be  vital for me to visit as it is about Fuel efficiency, renewable energy and climate change in general. These are all the things I will need to know about prior to the development of my new eco-green Caffe-Society Store. There will be companies who specialise in modern heating systems, insulation, renewable energy . In the evening their will be a talk about the best ways we can all reduce our ecological footprint. This event is all day with the talk at 6pm at the Riverside Centre, Newport here on the Island Wednesday 18th March 2007. I will give you all the news regarding this event and let you know what I learnt. I will also establish the best way I intend to offset my CO2 during the making of this event.

CO2 Report -25 miles travel by car 

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Day 18 - Monday 2nd April

Its is going really well, with a number of business websites already on the homepage, and many of them linked in some way to enviromental or fairtrade issues and business. This is exactly what I wanted to do, as I believe it is a positive way to promote such worthwhile ideas that will benefit us all. If someone asked you who was your Euro MP,      I expect many would not be able to answer. Well I am one of those, until now, as I was working in my Caffe-Society Store only today when a lady came in wishing to put up a poster about a talk being given by - yes you gussed it, The Isle of Wight Euro MP, Dr Caroline Lucas. If that was not enough she is to give a talk about the benefits of a low carbon lifestyle. I would like to attend, as I am trying to apply some new thinking as I do this project and need to learn more about this subject. I intend to spend half the money I raise to design and build a new eco-green enviromentally friendly store. It is important that I take valuable advice from as many different people as possible.

CO2 Report- 34 miles travel by car

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The Weekend

It has been suggested that I promote my project on many different forms of press and media. It is with is in mind that I am actively making as many different organisations aware of this great project,millioneurosin90days.com. This week I have entered into two very well known sites,one called Youtube the other Myspace. I am now about to enter a video link from the millioneuro homepage to the two website, however you can link to them directly by clicking on the following, www.youtube.com/millioneurosin90days and www.myspace.com/millioneurosin90days

I hope you enjoy them, and I will be updating them regularly.

CO2 Report - 34 miles travel by car 

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Day 17 - Friday 30th March

I have today been talking to a range of people about the possible design of my new eco-green Caffe-Society Store. The location for this has not been chosed however the build concept will take into account all the latest enviromentally friendly building methods and will be fitted out using the latest technology..If you want a green enviroment, you can start at home with recycling. such as newspapers, bottles and textiles.Here we have recycling boxes which you need to put out each week. There is a seperate collection of food waste including Tea bags, coffee grounds, egg shells, left over cooked and uncooked foods, fruit and vegetable peeling. The kitchen caddy is collected weekly at the same time as your normal rubbish and placed in a seperate section on the collection vechile. Garden Waste collected from the three recycling sites are made into garden compost. On the Isle of Wight all plastic, cardboard and packaging placed in with geeneral rubbish is transported to the Resource Recovery Facility in Forest Road,Newport. Here a series of mechanical processes extract all this waste to produce floc fuel. Last year just over 12,000 tonnes of fuel was produced. This facility also extracts steel and aluminium that are placed in your rubbish bins. We can all make a contribution as businesses and households in reducing the volume of landfill waste. Our current landfill capacity will be used up in a few years. There are lots of examples of things we can do. For example modern cloth nappies are not only good for the health of babies and the enviroment but also easy to use,fashionable and affordable,saving up to £900 compared to the cost of disposables !. Please consider recycling ink cartridges and other items which cannot rot like aluminium cans which can be recycled for charity. Commercial cardboard can now be recycled and skips and bags can be collected and sorted into categories for recycling. Think about the sheer volume of waste that your home or business creates each week,and cosider how it could be reduced. Why not have your own composting bin as compost naturally enriches your garden. Consider charity shops for textiles furniture and older items that have lost their market value but could be used. To reduce the sheer amount of plastic bags buy a cloth shopping bag and take it with you each time you go shopping. In supermarkets query excessive and un-needed packaging. Recycling, reducing waste and re-using items are the key to saving us from landfill overflow. It is largly a case of awareness. I will be explaining other ways in which Caffe-Society will do our bit to help the enviroment as we get nearer to creating my new store.

CO2 Report - 12 miles travel by Car

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Day 16 - Thursday 29th March

Thrsday 29th March - Day 16 and with lots of new ideas and vigour. I always feel positive with the week ahead and I think this will be the turning point after the first two weeks. I admit that while I have had a great start to this project I do feel that I should have achieved abit more, so i have got some catching up to do. As I am writing this very early in the morning I can not comment on the day activies, so I will log back on tonight with days update and CO2 Report. 

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Day 15 - Wednesday 28th March

Today will allow me the chance to reflect on the weeks work. It is also an opportunity to catch up with all the news and read some papers and magazines.If you have read my Terms and Conditions section, you will know that I bank with the Co-operative Bank who follow an ethical stance with regard to their customers investments. Green issues and ethics are today’s hot topics - with consumers increasingly concerned about where and how they use their money. There are a number of options for those looking to save or borrow ethically these days. Ecology Building Society, which was set up in 1981, offers a range of ethical savings accounts and green mortgages. The society gives mortgages only on properties that have some environmental benefit. I will be looking to apply to them when I expand my property, which include made environmentally friendly features. The Ecology Building Society also lends to new ecologically built homes, and those that have had energy-saving measures installed. The Society’s savings products include an instant access account, a notice account and a mini cash isa, but rates are not especially competitive, for example the Earth wise mini cash isa pays 5.1% including an introductory bonus, while Barclays pays 6.31%, including an introductory bonus. Norwich & Peterborough Building Society also offers a range of four green mortgage products, available on both fixed and discount rates. For every green mortgage taken out the society promises to plant 40 trees over a period of five years. This is to ofset the carbon emissions that the use of electricity, gas and water in the house will create. This is very similar to the plan I have adopted to donate trees against the CO2 that I will clock up over the period of the next three months, through travel alone.

CO2 Report - 6 miles car travel

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Day 14 - Tuesday 27th March

I am spending the day at my store - Caffe-Society, in Newport on the Isle of Wight. I have not been to the Fairtrade Store for a few days so it will be good to catch up with all the staff and customers.

CO2 Report 37 miles car travel

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Day 13 - Monday 26th March

 I would say I have made some good progress, however I am looking forward to next week, as I believe the next 7 days will see a surge in activity. I am talking a great number of media contacts which will spread the word quickly. I am also going to explain an exciting new way people who have not got a website to also take part in this project, millioneurosin90days.com, and be entered into a free prize draw. Watch this space for more details.

CO2 Report - 28 miles car travel

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The Weekend

Two weeks have passed, and things are getting busy. I am talking to a number of local papers about the project, and a possible national TV piece next week. All this publicity is good news for the businesses that have taken part so far, as it should generate interest in what they do. I admit that the one sport I follow more than any other in F1. I know this may not be very enviromentally friendly sport, unlike Golf or Cricket, at least not until now ! . I got my monthly copy of F1 magazine today, and there was a green issue inside the main magazine. The Honda Team have this year done away with conventional sponsorship on their car in favour of a picture of Planet Earth. They have called this the “Earth Car”. Its the first steps towards a greener racing car. To quote Gary Anderson, “I’m not sure green is the right word. Green is a very vague concept, but greater efficiency has to be a target”. If you can get hold of a copy there are over sixty pages of interesting facts and comments to do with how motorsport are combating the job of making their industry more enviromentally friendly.

CO2 Report - 6 miles car travel today - worked from home all day

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Day 12 - Friday 23rd March

Hi and welcome to my blog on Day 12. Some more websites want to join the project, and these will appear in the next week or so on the Millioneurosin90days homepage. The Government’s Budget this week gave a clear signal that enviromental issues are up there with all the other major topics of converation, and this project will take it a stage further by developing a virtual all green eco friendly high street store. Help me to achieve this by sponsoring a sqaure. The money raised will be divided in  half, of which half will go to Charity, and the other half to the new store. It was suggested today that individuals should be allowed to be part of this project. With this in mind I am creating an opportunity to allow individuals who do not have a website of their own to join in, by sponsoring a sqaure. They can choose form the three charitiy logos on the homepage. Each time someone buys a square, the logo of their choice gets steadily larger. The logos on the homepage are linked to the individual charities website, so you can have a look at the good work they do, and then decide. You may notice that there are only two Charities on the homepage at present. I am in talks with another good cause and once this is complete then the three choices will be complete. There will  also an opportunity to take part in a free chance to win an unusal prize. Each square has been allocated a number, and each time a square is sold for sponsorship, that person/business will receive a number. At the end of the 90 days the lucky number will chosen by an independant person at a venue in London, details to follow.

CO2 Report 43 miles travel - Car

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Day 11 Thursday 22nd March

In to the second week, and I hope it will be a busy week. I have contacted a number of businesses who have web site who might be interested in having their website on the home page. Its the budget this week , and there is talk about green issues, and financial help with the installation of enviromentally friendly products, like wind power, solar power etc. I want to as part of this project raise enough money to design and build a new type of high street Caffe-Society Store. A store that includes as many enviromentally friendly devices as possible. So far most of the attention in the press has been focused on domestic property, so this is my attempt to steer the debate back towards the commercial sector. It is in my view just as important.

CO2 Report - 26 miles travel by car

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Day 10 - Wednesday 21st March

Wednesday 21st March 2007 - Day 10 As I am writing this very early in the morning I have not much to say however, I will be talking to some interesting people about an interesting idea that I mentioned a few days ago. I will give you part two of this story later on, so see you later. END OF PART ONE OF TODAYS BLOG

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Day 9 - Tuesday 20th March

Its Tuesday, a day off and I really like rest days  not so much for the fact that it is a day of rest and relaxation, more for the fact, certainly in my case its a day for thinking and ideas. I feel you can reflect on the past and plan for the future. It was great news that Comic Relief did so well, getting donations in excess of £ 40 million. The show on Friday evening was great fun, and the heart felt stories especially of Africa, only motivates me even more to ensure I reach my target, with your help within the next 90 days. Today is Mothers Day so busy cooking lunch, as well as working on some ideas for tomorrow. Watch this space.

CO 2 Report - 12 miles Travel. 

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Day 8 - Monday 19th March

 I was in so much pain last night, I made an appointment to visit the dentist on Monday next. Just before I started the project I was coughing badly, from a cold which made it impossible to talk to people on the phone, and then that went, then it was painful because of toothache. Never mind, I have some more companies supporting me and should have about 30 by next week. I have sent of the invoice to pay for the sponsorship they are offering. I will spend the weekend preparing for next week as many people are no at work over the weekend. One of my great passions is F1 and this weekend sees the start of the season, starting in Australia. I have come up with an idea that could benefit this project by way of further sponsorship and involve F1. I will tell you more about this idea next week as I need to make some calls to some people involved in the sport. If it comes off it will certainly turn this project around in a big way. Stay tuned for the great idea, only available on this blog - your way to keep up with my progress as I try to reach millioneurosin90days.

CO2 Report 25 miles car travel 

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The Weekend

I have been busy contacting fellow Fair Trade people, such as wholesalers, and retailers shop keepers and supports in general. Again I have been very excited by the positive response that I have had towards this project. The National Show for catering IFE starts on Sunday 18th for 4 days, in London and many companies are preparing for this. It has to be the must see show if you want to start a business in any kind of Catering. I will not make it this year, as I am so busy with this project. I have managed to work from home all day so no travel to report on my CO2 report.

CO2 Report - No Travel

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Day 7 - Friday 16th March

Its the end of the first week, and in only the last few days I have raised some 4000 Euros, which is truly amazing. I am so pleased to have achieved this in such a short space of time and with out any real advertising or promotion. That is about to change as next week I will be talking to media groups to try encourage more interest in the website, millioneurosin90days.com .

On a personal level, I have still been feeling a little unwell, as I try to get rid of this virus I have. Still life goes on and it does not stop me from doing this project. I have been filming myself for the video diary here at home, as I do every few days.

CO2 Report - Travel –10 miles by car

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Day 6 - Thursday 15th March

Well what a fantastic day its been . I have a number of new sponsors mainly from the UK but one from the USA. The sponsor in America is being interviewed tomorrow by CBS Television and will be mentioning my project, www.millioneurosin90days. All the new sponsor sites will be on the homepage in the next few days. In addition to this I have been busy talking to various media in my bid to promote this unique and exciting project, and I should have some news about that shortly. To all the new sponsors, a very big thank you and lets hope your participation in my project will generate interest and sales in your business as well as helping charities in the Third World.

CO2 Report - No Travel today as I worked from home

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Day 5 - Wednesday 14th March

I woke up today with toothache, too many sweets, its my one vice, chocolate or anything with sugar. I expect it will mean a visit to the dentist. A quiet day, doing research on companies, making calls, checking my shop is fully stocked, all very hum drum. I have more websites on the homepage so slowly starting to take shape. If you have a website and want to be onit for as little as £66 then contact me soon. There is only 85 days to go before we complete this project.

CO2 Report- No car travel today, but did walk a bit which has to be good for the enviroment and my health.

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Day 4 - Tuesday 13th March

Tuesday morning and Day 4. I have been busy sending e.mail’s off and promoting the site through the media. I have been asked by the production company to film myself and record a regular diary so that it can be shown in the final production. I have recently bought a new DVD minicam , so I am still getting used to all the features.I plan to record as many highs and lows as and when they occur. In addition to this Five News have asked for film footage to screen a possible piece about the project in the next few weeks, which will create some interest from people who have not heard of millioneurosin90days. I have described in some detail about Fairtrade and the Charities that work in these countries where Fairtrade comes from and also tell my story of how I started my business, so keep a look out for that. There will also be some newspaper articles out soon as well, and I will give you more details of these shortly.

CO2 Report -Car Travel 24miles

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Day 3 - Monday 12th March

I have just switched to the co-operative bank for this project. The reason is that they have an ethical policy which is more than many other banks in the UK seem to have. They allow their customers to have control over where their money is managed. For more details go to www.co-operativebank.co.uk

Ben & Jerry Ice Cream, my fav !, have brought out a Fairtrade Vanilla Ice Cream which I will be selling in my Caffe-Society store. I will also be giving you some interesting menus in the next few weeks that include many Fairtrade products. I am from a catering backgound and so I should be able to create something pretty tasty.

At the Movies - BLACK GOLD - wake up and smell the coffee. The film traces the route of Ethiopian coffee beans from farm to cafe and how they have to battle to negotiate a fair deal for the farmers. The film will be released in the first weekend of May. www.blackgoldmovie.com

CO2 Report -Car Travel - 26 miles

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The weekend -

So day three is here and what a surprise, news gets around this tiny world of ours amazingly fast, because I have had 2 US companies joining the project, firstly one called Art Fact based in Boston and the other called “Wakeupontime” based in New Jersey. Apart from that there are a number of other UK websites that will appear on the homepage in the next couple of days. I am very happy with this progress in only the third day. Tomorrow is Sunday so I expect things will be quiet, so that will give be a chance to catch up on bits and bobs.

Recently people have said , What is the conection betweeen Fairtrade and  Climate Change ? Well an interesting article in a magazine gives the answers to some of these issues.

Most Fairtrade products are transported by air, True or False ?

FALSE - Fresh flowers are the only Fairtrade product to be routinely transported by air as they must be stored quickly to ensure their freshness. Most Fairtrade certified products are shipped not flown - per mile international shipping is less carbon intensive than trucking within the UK.

Food miles are the biggest element of a product’s carbon footprint, True or False ?

FALSE - Transportation is usually a small proportion of the overall carbon footprint of a product. The carbon footprint includes the method of growing and production, how and where it is sold, the customer journey, the packaging, consumption and final disposal. Air freight is 0.1% of the total UK emissions, and transportation of Fairtrade products in 2005 was estimated to be just 0.03% of UK food mile emissions. Remember that during this project I will be working out how many miles I have travelled, and by what form of transport to calculate the carbon footprint created by this project. I then intend to donate to the United Nations Enviromental Programme to balance out by CO2 emissions.

Buying locally is always better for the enviroment, True or False ?

FALSE - Whilst buying in season from sustainable local producers can be a very positive way of reducing impact on the climate, its important to consider not just where a product comes from, but how it has been produced, including use of land, chemicals,hothouses or natural resources. Research has found that a flower grown in Kenya and flown to the UK emits five times less carbon than one that has been industrially hot-housed in the Netherlands. Many everyday items such as sugar cane,cotton, bananas,coca,coffee and tea are grown in tropical climates of developing countries with minimal use of carbon-producing energy.

 

Buying Fairtrade products can help to tackle climate change ,True or False ?

TRUE - Buying products from developing countries is vital for the economic and social development and provides a livelihood for millions of farmers and workers. With premiums from Fairtrade, farmers can implement enviromental protection programmes that will benefit all of us. Coffee farmers in Costa Rica have invested in replanting native trees to prevent soil erosion and have purchased enviromentally friendly ovens that are fuelled by recycled coffee hulls and the dried shells of macadamia nuts. In India, tea farmers have invested part of the Fairtrade premium in a solar panelled heating system for the local health centre, replacing the wood burning one. On another Fairtrade certified tea estate, workers have created their own communal compost heep which families maintain and which the estate purchases as organic fertiliser for the tea bushes.

source-fair comment spring 07

CO2 report- Car travel 34 miles

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Day 2 Friday 9th March

I have just made a video of my project, what I hope to achieve and the history of my business, Caffe-Society and much more. Why not watch it now on www.youtube.com simple click on the link and choose Millioneurosin90days as the subject. You can see and hear me talk about this great project.

CO2 Report, today Car travel 26 miles

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Day 1 of the project Thursday 8th March

Well the great day has finally arrived, and wow what a day. I was in London today, Thursday 8th,  meeting various people who may be interested in being part of this project,  people who have businesses with websites and share my feelings about the same issues as me. I want to make ever effort to make this project a success and I hope you will be able to watch my progress over the next 3 months.

Remember to check my progress on the blog.

CO2 report for today - Car Travel 26 miles, Train travel 140 miles  Red Jet Ferry - 20 miles, Bus travel 2 miles. (While in London, I walked everywhere, sunny day helped ! )

 

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1 Day to go

At 2pm tomorrow, Thursday 8th March 2007 I will start my project to raise sponsorship of 1 Million Euros in 90 days. Things have been hectic here this week as the final preparations are put into place. A number of you have been in touch to find out more about it and I have had companies who would like their business to be part of this project. You can of course keep up to date on a daily basis as to my progress, and there is a clock on the homepage giving a countdown to the end of this project. I plan to celebrate the final day in a very different way but more about that great day at a latter date. Just keep blogging ! and wish me luck

Julian

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8 Days to go

Just over a week to go and things are getting busy already. I have posted nearly a thousand letters to companies who sell and promote Fairtrade products. This week is the start of Fairtrade Fortnight. I am starting this project towards the end of the second week of Fairtrade Fortnight, and in doing so I hope to gain publicity for the project as we start on this exciting adventure.

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10 days to go

I do like to follow a great many sports, but the one sport I like the most is F1. So it was a joy to see on the news last night Jenson Button being interviewed about the new season and the plans that Honda have. They have just launched a new F1 car without any logo but with a map of the world painted on the car. Honda are promoting a green future in F1 and want to lend their support to the CO2s that are given off by racing cars. At present the only contribution made is a donation of a number of trees by way of offsetting. As this project - millioneurosin90dasy will show,  a carbon footprint can be large even for a single person and I will be off setting this as we make this project over the three months.

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12 Days to go

I have just been reading the Mail on Sunday in the financial pages about Ethical Florists who are joining the new breed of enviromentally friendly companies.Companies based on socially responsible principles are on the increase. The Co-operative Bank calculates that ethical consumerism was worth £29 Billion in 2005 and new firms are springing up all the time. Businesses like Innocent Drinks, Cafe Direct and Divine Chocolate have been huge successes in recent years and other entrepreneurs are following in their footsteps.

Ethical and Green issues have risen up the agenda and Gordon Brown is expected to announce plans to boost social enterprise in his final Budget on March 21st. Ethical enterprises do not follow a strict model, but broadly, have a common aim of the pursuit of ethical goals alongside profit. This could mean proving their enviromental credentials, giving sums to charity or working closely with local communities. Jonathan Bland, chief executive of the Social Enterprise Coalition, the national body for ethical companies, thinks firms that are set up to deal with a particular problem and plough their profits back into the operation, will become the business model of the future. People are passionate about achieving a blend of running a business and caring about enviromental and social issues. Its not just about shareholder value - its evident you can make a profit and still be caring. The florist in the article realised that customers were increasingly concerned about the route their bouquet had taken from field to vase. The West London company are the first British Florist to belong to Fair Flowers, Fair Plants organisation. This is an International label that applies to flowers and plants grown by farmers who employ strict social working practices and strict enviromental guidelines. I intend to develop this idea in the making of my project, Millioneurosin90days.com  . As I go through the three months watch how I get on will these particular issues.

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14 Days to go

2 weeks to the start of ” Millioneurosin90days.com ” and I have just been asked to give a talk to number of people who support Fairtrade through their particular church. What I feel I should do is explain my project, the enviromental aspect and the fairtrade one. I also want to invite someone from the Charity Find you Feet to give a talk on thier work in the Third World. I intend to invite the TV production company to come a film this meeting and talk, so it can be included in the film of my project which I hope will be shown in the near future.

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16 Days to go

I have talked about how I want to develop an eco friendly shop here in the UK but the Fair Trade principle encourages sustaniable agriculture and protects the enviroment, and these make for essential components for a sustainable business. The Fair Trade social premium, which is a payment that a producer receives in addition to the Fair trade price and which must be invested in community development. It is usual for it to be invested into enviromental projects, for example Banana farmers in Columbia have been working on an extensive enviromental programme funded by their social premium. They have swapped herbicides for manual weeding, switched to organic fertillizers nad reforested riverbanks. A community rubbish clearance programme run by local women has also been established to collect and recycle the discarded plastic bags used extensively to protect bananas growing on the trees.

In order to improve the quality of theri coffee crop, farmers in Ethiopia have attended workshops run by their co-operative on composting the by-products of coffee production and utilizing shade trees and natural fertilizers to enrich the soil. They have also learnt to inter-crop their coffee plants with citrus and bananas to improve soil quality and increase food security.

Increased income from Fair Trade sales of their cotton will help Indian farmers to develop organic programmes. Farmers produce much of their organic fertilliser needs from manure of their own cows and pesticide sprays are made from the oil of crushed neen tree kernals. Cotton farmer Khima Ranchhold explains ” A higher income means we will be able to increase production”

Projects funded by the social premium by an organic tea growers co-operative in Sri Lanka include the purchase of cowes and goats. As well as generating extra income for the farmers from the sale of milk, the dung is crucial to organic agriculture as it forms that basis of the orgainc compost used to fertilise the tea bushes and other crops.

Source Fairtrade Magazine Winter 2006

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18 Days to go

I am going to produce a special Fair Trade dish for my Coffee Shop, Caffe-Society during the making of this project, Millioneurosin90days.com. The idea is to call it Fair trade Millioneuro Dessert. What I am going to do is to offer a Banana dish, and to make it you do the following - First take two Fairtrade Bananas, and cut them down the middle so you have four long pieces. Melt some butter in a frying pan and add the Bananas, then quickly add some Fairtrade Sugar and some Fairtrade Honey. Make sure the bananas get nice and hot, put on a plate and pour the juice from the frying pan over the bananas and add two large scoops of Ben & Jerrys Vanilla Ice Cream and serve with a mint leaf on top.

Another idea is the Caribbean Banana Smoothie. You will need 1 Ripe Fairtrade Banana, 150g Natural Yoghurt, some ice cubes, and some Fairtrade Chocolate, honey, cinnamon. vailla and coconut. Peel and roughly chop the banana into the blender, add the yoghurt and whizz. Pour into a glass and add a spoon of honey, vanilla pod, and sprinkle with cinnamon or some grated coconut. Add Ice Cubes.

I intend to offer these dishes at my store,  Caffe-Society during the next 90 days or so, and if you are on the Isle of Wight, come into Newport, The Island capital town and visit my store in the main Shopping high street. We are open each day except sundays. You may well see me there serving, or cooking. If you wish to come in for a chat , I would love to meet you.

 

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20 Days to go

Well here we are with just 20 days to go to the start of Millioneurosin90days.com. This project is ambitious but also worthwhile. In the news virtually every day we here about global warming, or CO2, or Fairtrade or enviromental advances in many different areas, well this project tries to take many of these areas of concern and develop them in a new way. The aim is to combine business methods and current issues and try to move forward together for a better future. I read in a newspaper today that M & S are to launch an “ECO STORE”. The plan is for M & S to open its first eco store by the end of 2007 as part of commitment to become carbon neutral by 2012. The idea is to take advantage of the latest technology and apply it to a high street store, and in this case will include energy saving lighting, refridgeration which has low carbon emissions compared to present systems. The aim is to reduce the stores carbon footprint by 55%, equialent to 244 return flights from London to New York.. The plan continues to include reduced packaging by 25% and use bio-diesel in all its trucks . At the moment M & S is only one of a handful of UK Companies inluding HSBC and BSkyB that have pledged to ensure theri operations do not contribute to climate change.

My project “Millioneurosin90days.com will attemp to raise revenue by sponsorship in just 90 days. I want to use half the monies raised to develop a new type of “ECO-FAIRTRADER STORE”. This store would be at the cutting edge of technology, and could include solar power, wind power, and new innovative building materials. The location of the store has not been chosen as yet but I hope that this new store could be the basis of a follow TV show simular to a commercial version of Grand Designs as seen on Channel 4. The remaining half of the funds raised will be donated to Charities who work in the countries that many of the Fair trade products that I sell come from. These areas include, South America, Asia and Africa. The kind of projects I particularly believe offer the way forward are ones that for instance offer Fresh Water, New Schools, things that allow the people to plan and improve their futures. So I am now searching for any company or individual who would like to be part of this great project. If you would like to be a part of it, please contact me now, as there are only 20 days to go before the start of this great project.

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23 Days to the start

Well just over three weeks to go to the start of this exciting project and I am just doing some slight adjustments to the website before it is seen by everyone. I will be giving details of the charities work that I will be supporting in a couple of days. I have found that the work they do is worthwhile, and directed towards worthwhile projects in many different third world countries. It would be great if I can achive my goal,but if I don’t try I will never find out.

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24 Days to go

 I thought I would add this to my blog today as it is shown on my Caffe-Society website explaning this great project.

Re. Millioneurosin90days.com

 

I have owned Caffe-Society Store selling fair trade in Newport, here on the Isle of Wight, for the past 5-6 years building up a successful business and developing an ever increasing range of Tea, Coffee and Chocolate fair trade products, some of which are exclusive to us . I want to develop and expand this business and firstly have designed this great website www.caffe-society.co.uk  so that people from other areas of the UK and beyond can also buy the great products that we sell in store.

 

I have now developed an idea called www.Millioneurosin90days.comwhich is a project to take my business to the next level. I have a website that is based on a single homepage filled with lots of boxes. I intend to ask companies and individuals to sponsor each square for a 100 Euros each, thats £ 66 in old money. I have set a time limit of 90 days and the first day will be 8th March 2007, To make it more interesting I am going to donate 50% of everying I raise to two charities that work in the Third World. The areas of South America, Asia, and Africa. These are the places that many of my fair trade products come from. The charities that I want to support are ones that offer the basic requirements in life like the supply of Fresh Water, Medical Help etc. Log onto to my website to get all the latest information about these charities and read my daily blogs once the project starts in March.

 

The other thing that will make this whole project interesting is that I am being filmed by a TV Production company . They will follow me as I try to make this project a reality, and in addition I will be on a daily video diary camera, so nothing will be missed. It should be a very interesting project. The other half of the funds raised will be used by me to develop and expand awareness in the fair trade business by building a store that will take advantage of all the latest enviromentally friendly technics. A green eco store. I am also going to donate funds towards the United Nations Enviromental Programme, which helps combat CO2 .

 

So there will be lots going on, so to keep up with all the news, don’t forget to check out the website, www.millioneurosin90days.com, and wish me luck.  - Julian

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25 Days to go

I can’t believe how fast time goes by, its seems just yesterday the it was day 50,  now its day 25 to the start of this ambitious project called, www.millioneurosin90days.com. . I intend to keep everyone up to date with my progress using this blog. I am also keeping a video diary of my progress , and a film crew intend to follow me from beginning to end. You may well see the finish project by way of a TV programme or DVD available to buy. Remember that I am doing this whole project because I like to set myself a high target and to raise money for good causes.

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26 Days to go

I am just sorting out some of the locations that I will visit during the making of this project as it will be important to show different aspects of the making of this project for the benefit of the TV production. If any of you have any ideas then please contact me.

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27 Days to go

So as another day starts, I am working on ensuring that the website is comprehensive in content. Looking at the headings at the top, the different sections that I have given, and then trying to apply the right content. The FAQs section is where I will try to answer questions that people may have regarding this website, however as I start this project, www.millioneurosin90days.com, I will most likely be asked something that I have not already thought of so will add these as we go. I hope I have thought of everything so that I do not have to change to much, because once I start this project on Thursday 8th March, it will be full on.You can keep up to date with my progress with my daily blog, telling you about the days events.

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28 Days to go

I have been working hard today to get ready for my epic journey in trying to raise 1 millioneurosin90days, and developing the idea of making people aware of  fair trade products, the kind of products that I sell at my store,  Caffe-Society here in Newport on the Isle of Wight. There is going to be a nationwide Fairtrade Fortnight from 26th February to the 11th March this year, and my project will start on the 8th of March. This project will be a great way for me to take part in this campaign and creating awareness. By simply making small changes in the way we act as consumers we can allow other people to make changes towards a better way of life. If enough of us make a change in our shopping habits, a community in Africa, Asia and Latin America can build more classrooms, improve medical facilities or buy transport so they can get produce to market. While we enjoy foodstuffs and other products from the developing world, we should make sure producers are making a sustainable living. The idea of fair trade has been embraced enthusiastically by people in the UK but more and more people need to line up behind fair trade products so that more producers cans sell more of their produce under fair trade terms.

With one in two people in the UK now saying they recognise the Fairtrade Mark, the Fairtrade Foundation is keen to use this year’s Fairtrade Fortnight campaign to increase understanding about the impact that consumer decisions can have in tackling poverty in the developing world. Research undertaken by the Fairtrade Foundation shows that although many people know and agree with the concept of Fairtrade, they still have not made the switch to Fairtrade products. Fairtrade Fortnight is an opportunity for me to help promote this worthy cause a create  awareness through the www.millioneurosin90days  website.

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29 Days to go

I have chosen to offset my CO2 during the making of this project. I am using the guidelines as given by the United Nations Enviromental Programme, and I will over the making of this project, www.millioneurosin90days.com  calculate my carbon footprint  Thats the total CO2 that I use and then donate to the United Nations Enviromental Programme by way of tree planting programme.

I will talk about this in greater detail over the next few weeks

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32 Days to go

I have just changed the layout of the site as I want it to be more interesting to look at. I also feel there is a need to make it search engine friendly, and keywords will be one of the things that have to be considered. The entering of Blogs on this site will be extended by posting them onto other blog sites so you may see me pop up anywhere, It all helps the website, www.millioneurosin90days.com

 

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36 Days to go

If you look at my new website for my shop called www.caffe-society.co.uk you will find out all about me, and what my shop does. I am proud to sell a large choice of fair trade products, and I would like to use this project www.millioneurosin90days.com to help develop my business in making more people aware of these great products. The products that we sell have the Fairtrade Mark on the side which is an independent consumer label. It is a guarantee that disadvantaged producers in the developing world are getting a better deal. For a product to display the Fairtrade Mark it must meet international Fairtrade standards. These standards are set by the international certification body - Fairtrade Labeling Organisation International (FLO). Producer organisations that supply Fairtrade products are inspected and certified by FLO. They receive a minimum price that covers the cost of sustainable production and an extra premium that is invested in social or economic development projects.

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39 Days to go

I have had a hell of rotton cold so have not done much so I won’t bore you with my uneventful few days. Speak soon

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42 Days to go

It has been busy at my Newport store this week , as we have had the builders in laying new floors and decorating. I have been doing plenty of research work as I prepare for the start of this project, www.millioneurosin90days.com

 

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46 Days to go

Day 46 and it seems ages away before I start this project called, www.millioneurosin90days.com, but I am sure time will fly by. I have been recruiting new staff at my store called Caffe-Society in Newport on the Isle of Wight. One or two great people have come along and I expect I will hire at least one of them. 

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50 Days to go

A nice round five zero days to the start of www.millioneurosin90days.com. This project which is my own idea and using ideas from other people and mixing it all up to create a sponsor a box, infact 10,000 boxes ! yicks ! how many,? yes 10,000 boxes, wow how am I going to do that in just 90days? I am not sure, I expect I will have to work very hard, may be even harder than that. Yet I like a challenge, and this is certainly a challenge. Basically all I want to do is offer a box or even more to each company or individual who would like to be part of this project, and want to have their website logo filling the boxes on my homepage. In return they could benefit from the publicty that this project will get, including making this whole excercise into a TV style production which will at some point be shown to the nation. It will be a great opportunity to highlight the good work that the Fairtrade cause is all about and the work that the chosen charities do in these third world countries. There is a common strand here as this entire project firstly sets an ambitious target in a set time. Secondly the idea to watch it on a daily basis and see how I go about making it happen, using entrepreneural technics, including advertising, marketing cold approaches to businesses, accounting, setting financial goals and targets. The third area is the joining up of all the strands linked to the reason I am doing this project. This is where my store, here in Newport on the Isle of Wight, called Caffe-Society fair trade Store comes into its own. More recently I have developed a website linked to my store called , www.caffe-society.co.uk  both these stores promote fair trade products, and my goal to afford to design and build a further store that takes in to account all the lastest energy savings building methods, that will make it enviromentally friendly, and maybe a blue print for all high street stores in the future. Along with this I want to give half of all the money I raise to causes that work in the third world, and particualarly charites that concentrate on basic requirements, and fresh water has to be one of those.The two charities I have come across so far are Water Aid who work in the same countries as many of the products that I sell come form and and another Charity called Find your Feet. I will talk about these charities in greater detail in a few weeks time on this blog. I have just started talking to them about this project to see if they are interested in getting involved. So far the response has been very positive. 

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54 Days to go

I enjoy these blogs, but only when I have something interesting to say, I am afraid today I have nothing interesting to say other than to say that I have nothing interesting to say so I will say nothing today becasue of this reason, I hope that is clear or would you like be to repeat this,

I thought not, have a great day !

Julian

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56 Days to go

I read today in the paper that almost half of business owners feel that the government is failing to support companies that adopt enviromentally sound policies at work. Well lets hope they enjoy my project, www.millioneurosin90days.com as I think I will cover these areas plus much more, so get ready for March 8th 2007

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58 Days to go

As each day goes by the clock keeps ticking. As from today there are 58 days to go until the start of this project, Millioneurosin90days.com. I have been busy putting the finishing touches to my shops website called, www.caffe-society.co.uk. On this site I show pictures of the Newport, Isle of Wight Store. At Caffe-Society we specialise in selling an extensive range of fair trade Products. The great thing about my shop is that I offer a chance to actually sit in the store enjoy a snack, full breakfast, or lunch plus a cup of Tea or maybe a Latte.

The great thing is you can choose from a wide range of fair trade Teas all served by the pot, with tea strainer of course. If Coffee is your choice, then I can offer the whole range, say a Cappuccino made with freshly ground fair trade Coffee and a sprinkling of Fairtrade Chocolate on top served with a sachet of fair trade Sugar either white or brown. So you have just spent the last half hour enjoying a welcome break from shopping, and as you leave you can buy all the fair trade products you have just enjoyed here in my store and take home a retail pack, so you can enjoy it at where ever you are.

By choosing  fair trade today, you can change the lives of farmers and producers across the developing world. This is the idea behind the theme of Fairtrade Fortnight which starts next month. We need to get more people to change to Fairtrade now to demonstrate our support for producers and express our dissatifaction with the unfair trade rules that currently keep millions of people in poverty. A simple action like buying Fairtrade products can trigger a positive change in peoples lives in developing countries as well as sending a message to our own government that we want change in global trade rules.

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60 days to go

Update to the start of this ambitious project.

Well here we are with just 60 days to go until the start of this project called “Millioneurosin90days.com” . The idea being that I ask for sponsorship from companies and individuals who hopefully share my vision of developing awareness in fair trade products and the good it can do for people in Third World countries, where most of the products I sell come from. I own a shop in the capital town of Newport, on the Isle of Wight called “Caffe-Society”. We have a website www.caffe-society.co.uk where you can purchase fair trade Tea and Coffee, and we also now have an e.bay shop. With the Million euros in 90 days web site I have divided up the homepage into boxes. Each box costs 100 euros or £66 to purchase. The site will be live for at least 5 years so it proves to be very cost effective. In addition, half the funds raised will go to good causes. The charities that I feel would help the most are ones that offer basic requirements like fresh drinking water. I feel that something as basic as water is vital for all other things to happen, however fresh water in many places is not available. As I said half the funds will go to these sorts of projects, but the other half I intend to use to develop and expand my business by opening another Caffe-Society Store, which would include various energy saving additions to help the enviroment. In addition during the course of the 3 months of the project I intend to calculate what my CO2, or carbon footprint and then donate to the United Nations Enviroment Programme to offset my CO2.

So plenty going on, lots to do so I am going to carry on my planning now, ready for the start date of Thursday 8th March 2007. Keep up to date on a daily basis as my blogs will be entered in each day during the 3 months and see how my progress is going.

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62 days to the start

PRESS RELEASE - January 2007

Caffe - Society fair trade Store record breaking 1 million euros in 90 days.

January 2007 marks the start of a business project that will see an ambition achieved by its owner.Julian Jones. He is owner of Caffe - Society, a fair trade shop based in the capital town of Newport on the Isle of Wight. The shop has gone from strength to strength since it started 6 years ago. Julian 43yrs, is from a catering background and this shop is the start of a more abitious plan to expand.

When expansion is being developed, the financial cost is one of the most important factors to get right. The normal course of action is to prehaps going to the bank or remortgaging to get extra funding, but on this occasion he intends to raise the money he needs by starting an ambitous project that will take 90 days. In addition he plans to donate 50% of the money raised to Project in the third world.

“I want to open more fair trade shops here in the UK and eventually Europe. There are so few shops truly dedicated to selling mostly fair trade products, even though the range is expanding all the time” says Julian.

Julian says” I sell a fantastic range of products like Tea and Coffee which you can either drink here in my shop or take home as a retail pack, and every time this happens farmers in a far off country will benefit directly by being paid a descent price for their products.”

One particular product that we use has an interesing story, like so many. The product is a fair trade Arabica Coffee Bean called Zapatista from Mexico. In the late nineties a football team from Bristol were invited to play in the Autonomous zones of Chiapas, to show solidarity with the local indigenous communities. This was a slightly different football tour to most as the games were played in an area where a counter insurgency war was going on with 70,000 Mexican troops in the area, with orders to deport foreigners. Taking the football team was only possible due to a loophole in the visa applications which allowed sporting and cultural visits to these areas.The team went off, armed with a letter from Gloucestershire Football Association who luckily are affiliated to Fifa.

Out of this tour, and many after, sprung a solidarity group, KIPTIK, (which means strength in the native tzeltal language) which initially started fund raising to supply gravity water systems into the communities to provide clean water. Infant mortality in the communities was 40% and life expectancy of adults 35 years old. The Mexican Government had taken away access to clean water, electricity, healthcare and education soon after the uprising in 1994.

KIPTIK has now been going for over five years and now provides water systems, eco ovens, health promoters and mural projects for the communities in resistance. In many of the communities their only income is from the growing of Coffee. They are organised into Co-operatives and now a British Import company,called Essential Imports this Coffee.

Julian has spent most 2006 preparing for this mamouth project, and to gain as much publicity for the project he approached up to 1500 independant production companies here in the UK and Europe. He eventually got this down to just a handful. A company called 360 Red Productions from Leciester will be making this project into a TV Programme with the aim of offering it to Cable, Satelite and Broadband TV Broadcasters. The idea is to film Julian as he attemps this project from start to finish. Julian has worked hard to ensure that the Fairtrade cause recieves the recognition it deserves.

Julian has helped design and build a website, which is going to take the form of a simple home page for companies to promote their own websites on. For this service and subsequent advertising of the project a fee will be charged. The fee charged will depend on the size of the advertisment. Julian is planning to release a DVD of this project once complete, which would show how he went about making this project succeed. Every company who takes part, will be entered in a free draw and at the end of the project. A celebration night will be held in London. Julian has planned to ask a celebrity to present the nights events. 50% of all money raised will go to oversea projects simular to the one about the KIPTIK, a propotion of the money will go on promoting the project for the benefit of the companies taking part and the fair trade cause, and the rest will be used to allow Julian to expand his business by opening more Fairtrade stores.

The name of the website is called www.millioneurosin90days.com, and is now live. Julian will complete a blog every day and welcomes comments, feedback and support. He intends to record his journey over the next 90days to the Film crew who have now started filming and a video diary, and a daily blog with pictures.

For further details about the Press Release please contact

Julian on 01983 613959 / e.mail Julian@millioneurosin90days.com

Press release dated January 2007

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Countdown to the start -68 days

Its 31st December 2006 and just 68 days before the start of a record breaking and Internet First. I aim to raise 1 Million Euros in 90 days.

I am Julian Jones, and I own a fair trade Tea and Coffee Shop in the capital town of Newport on the Isle of Wight. I have come up with this idea to raise 1 Million Euros in 90 days by offering companies and individuals the opportunity to sponsor me in my quest to succeed in this ambitious goal. The project will start on Thursday 8th March 2007, but I will not include Bank Holidays,(incl Scottish Bank Holiday 6th Aug) and Weekends. I will also not include the Isle of Wight Festival and a Prebooked Holiday so I will not include the period 7th June to 3rd July inclusive. The last day will be my Birthday, 21st August 2007.The proceeds will be divided into two. 50% of the funds raise will go to charities who work in third world communities that produce products that I sell which are fairtrade. The other half will be used for me to expand my fair trade stores to other locations in the UK. My stores will  sell a comprehensive range of fairtrade products accounting for over 70% of our entire stock. Many items you will not have seen in any shop before . The quality will be of the highest standard, at the same time it will create more awareness of the fair trade concept and bring a whole range of interesting products into peoples every day lives. In addition I am going to adapt the store to make it enviromentally friendly including the latest energy saving ideas.

Keep and eye onmy regular blogs, as I will be able to keep you totally up to date as to my progress.

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I am planning to raise money for charities that work in countries like Africa, Asia and South America. These are the places that typically produce the fair trade products that I sell in my Store, Caffe - Society. I also want to make more people aware of the fair trade cause by publicising this project through the media, such as advertising and making it into a TV programme. In addition I want to expand my present business by opening a second store that will offer an extensive range of fair trade products. I also want to explore the opportunities of renewable energy and carbon saving schemes by constructing a store that takes into account all the latest technology.

During the making of this project one of the objectives will be to offset the CO2, carbon omissions that I will create in travelling from place to place. I will be actively consulting the United Nations Environment Programme as to the best ways I can best offset the CO2.

The charities that I think would best suit this projects are ones that offer facilities that allow people to help themselves. One being Fresh Water. If there is a ready supply of water, which has to be the most important element that we all need then other things can happen, crops grow, disease kept at bay in many cases, and so much more. The following charities will get a share of the money I am raising through sponsorship.