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More information here.

“Gorgeous, shiny, healthy hair is universally desirable and easy to achieve. First, the basics: Eat a balanced diet, drink plenty of water and get enough sleep. These will be reflected in the condition of your skin and hair.

“Natural hair rinses are as simple to create as making your favourite cup of tea. In fact, several of the ingredients, such as dried herbs and flowers, can be found in the tea aisle of your local grocery store.”

The 7 simple recipes:

1. Calendula Plants – To brighten blonde hair, pour 1 cup boiling water over 1/4 cup of calendula petals; let cool. Use as a final rinse post-shampoo.
2. Catnip – For a quick dandruff cure, brew a strong tea of dried catnip leaves and boiling water and massage into your scalp after shampooing. Rinse well with cool water.
3. Lemon Juice – The juice of 1 lemon and 1 cup water mixed together brings back life and shine to dull hair. Use as a final rinse after shampooing, following with a cold-water rinse to remove all of the lemon water.
4. Baking Soda – One tablespoon baking soda and 1 cup water mixed together gets your hair really clean and removes all traces of styling gels and hair spray. Massage well into hair and scalp and rinse with warm followed by cool water.
5. Apple Cider – Two tablespoons of vinegar to 1 cup of water gives your hair shine and bounce. Use as a final rinse after shampooing and then rinse well with cool water.
6. Flat Beer – One cup of flat beer will give your hair body. The beer scent will not remain once your hair is dry. For extra body, use beer as your final rinse (i.e. leave it in).
   
7. Tomato Juice – One cup of tomato juice will remove any odor, such as smoke, from your hair. Massage into hair and rinse with warm, then cool water.

Obviously, not all of these ingredients are commonplace here in Singapore. Also, Calendula plant tea for blonde hair probably affects a small percentage of our readers, but it’s good to keep in mind. One never knows when one might go platinum blonde right?

Beyond that and catnip, the other ingredients should be relatively easy to obtain. So if you’ve got a big party coming up, why not give it a shot? You might discover a way to save the hefty bill from the hairdresser!

From treehugger.com:

Renewable Energy Magazine: Highly urbanized and with little in the way of natural resources, the city-state of Singapore might have once seemed like an unlikely place to prosper in the 21st Century, let alone become a world leader in sustainability, clean-energy and clean-tech, but that’s exactly what the Southeast Asian republic has done.

Read the Whole Story

The Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG Protocol) is the most widely used international accounting tool for government and business leaders to understand, quantify, and manage greenhouse gas emissions. The GHG Protocol, a decade-long partnership between the World Resources Institute and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, is working with businesses, governments, and environmental groups around the world to build a new generation of credible and effective programs for tackling climate change.

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Check out this WRI & WBCSD video on the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Protocol.

Very nice!

CLICK TO find out more about how you can understand, quantify, and manage your organisation’s greenhouse gas emissions, and get in step with your carbon footprint.

Ecopoint works with professionals from around the region, locals and expats, to build bridges and identify new opportunities. This site is here to help you cut across social and cultural boundaries, and progress your new green deal. It’s about forming a multi-disciplinary, multi-cultural “virtual” team of some of the best minds in the space. Find the right firm to get things done; locate the right technology for the job.

Start browsing the Ecopoint Business Directory today, or add your business to the database.

Well, first of all, it’s great to do a sustainability report, even for internal circulation, because it affords you a clear indication of inefficiencies in the company; the figures are simply reported through a carbon emission number. Conducting a sustainability report is the first step towards reducing your carbon footprint; reducing your carbon footprint is good for your bottom-line.

Proof? From TreeHugger:

“As documented by the referenced CDP findings, a number of Fortune-listed firms with no government regs driving the decision and no special tax incentives offered, are investing their own money in carbon reductions and getting fast returns. Stockholders are beginnning to realise that cutting carbon emissions means greater operating efficiency and lower operating margins: i.e. greater profit.”

The next thing we get asked as well is if we do carbon offsetting. Often we tell them that it’s not wise to look at “buying” your way out of your carbon footprint. Finding sustainable measures in reducing ones’ footprint is much better for the company in terms of environmental performance AND profit margins.

Just because I can, here are some case studies from Ethical Corportation that are more than a little disconcerting:

“Companies and organisations must properly investigate carbon offset investments.

“It may sound like the opening line to a corny joke, but Disney, the Pope, Fiji Water and Chevrolet share a common trait: they’ve all fallen foul of carbon offset standards and have been pulled up for it.

“(Fiji Water) has claimed to offset 120% of its emissions, but when a California resident queried this, the company was shown to be basing its claim on the use of forward accounting: claiming credit for future emissions savings that have not and might not manifest themselves.

“Even the Pope has been challenged on carbon claims… and found wanting. The Holy See had good intentions when it established its own Vatican Climate Forest, to be planted in Hungary, believing that the forest would enable them to become the world’s first carbon neutral state.

“The Vatican’s trees were never in fact planted. The offset retailer offering them, KlimaFa, went bust, despite having received the land free of charge from the Hungarian government.

“(Disney) had invested $15.5m in offsets, including $3.5m on HFC-23 gas destruction, and $7 on reforestation and avoided deforestation – both of which are widely regarded as flawed. Indeed, the EU has banned European industries from using HFC-23 project credits, whilst forestry projects continue to attract controversy due to the difficulties in measuring and verifying their effects on greenhouse gases.”

The thing is carbon offsetting is the way we USED to do things. Buying our way out of problems we find ourselves in. Throw that mindset away my friends. It’s 2011. Time to get with the times.

“They work when they’re cold, when there is no sun, and facing almost any direction. Perhaps it’s time to reconsider a few solar myths?

“If you’ve given any thought to the benefits of solar power, you’ve probably realised at least two things: You need to live in a sunny climate and, most importantly, you need to have your solar panels facing south. Without these things, the conventional wisdom goes, you’re not going to get much benefit from a solar array. A west-facing roof in Seattle? Forget about it.

“1 Block Off The Grid, dispels these notions by showing that solar power can work extraordinarily well in climates and conditions that aren’t necessarily optimum. The infographic is full of testimonials from people who live in cloudy or cold climates, noting that their solar panels are working perfectly well.”

The full infographic:

Maybe we ought to think more about how we can get high quality solar panels onto our roofs, installed by qualified engineers, maintained by educated and experienced technicians, and other controls to ensure that solar energy is adopted quicker in Singapore no?

1. What Sustainability Reports say about the state of Business

2. Will CFO’s ever “Get” Sustainability

3. Quality vs Fluff: Building Blocks for GRI Report Assessments

4. SGX listed firms get sustainability Guide (with guide embedded)

5. The Future of CSR Reporting: Coca Cola Releases Video Report

+1!

6. Integrated Reporting: can it solve the sustainability information gap?