This year, the global theme of World AIDS Day is leadership within the slogan Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise.

World AIDS Day is a day when people from around the world come together within a single effort to raise awareness about HIV and to express global solidarity with people living with HIV. But World AIDS Day is not just about raising awareness. It also provides a global opportunity to urge governments and leaders for all promises on AIDS to be kept as well as an opportunity to demonstrate commitment and action on AIDS.

Total Coverage left the Sustainable Business Awards ceremony at the De Vere Grand Harbour Hotel in Southampton last Friday clutching both the Micro Business and Sustainable Business of the Year trophies. Singling them out for the highest honour, the judges praised the Southampton-based design company for its all-round commitment to each of the three pillars of sustainability; the way that social, environmental and economic impacts were considered in every aspect of the business’s operation.

Their ongoing action to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions, close involvement with customers and suppliers to help them reduce their own impacts, waste minimisation activities and support for local charities all speak of a company which has fully embraced the principles of sustainable business.

Earlier in the evening, when they had been named as winners in the fiercely contested Micro Business Category, sponsored by the SBP, ceremony host Dr Alan Knight had also singled out Total Coverage’s success over 20 years operating as an ethical company. In the same category, Alresford salad producers Cresson Creative were commended for “their very forward looking approach to using and promoting local produce” which had contributed greatly to the strengthening of the local food economy.

This ceremony was in fact a new addition, created in response to the overwhelming number of entries received this year, and is a testament to the rapidly growing number of businesses not only recognising the merits of adopting a sustainable approach to business, but actually taking meaningful action.

Courtesy of Hampshire and Isle of Wight Sustainable Business Partnership

SOUTHAMPTON-based graphic design company Total Coverage has been crowned Sustainable Business of the Year for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight in the competition’s most closely-fought finals yet.
Having secured the title of Micro Business of the Year earlier in the ceremony, they were called back at the end to receive the highest honour.
Judges praised the winner for its “holistic approach” to sustainability. Operating as a co-operative, the six-worker firm has made significant savings in its energy consumption, through use of technologies and reducing waste. Its commitment to tackling carbon emissions secured its position as environmental champions, but it was its dedication to staff and its consideration of social impact which made it stand out.
Four other outstanding category winners were named alongside Total Coverage at the Daily Echo-backed awards, which took place at Southampton’s De Vere Grand Harbour Hotel.
The Mill at Gordleton, a New Forest hotel, won the Small Business category after being unanimously named victors for an impressive commitment to the environment in a way which judges said “noticeably benefits both the business itself and the local economy”.
Accounting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers’s Southampton office won the closely fought Large Business award, going beyond the already high standards set by its parent company, particularly through encouraging staff to participate in improving the company’s performance. Test Valley salad producers Vitacress, following its success in the large business category last year, won the Leadership Award.
Unique ‘soil-less turf’ producers Wildflower Turf from Basingstoke won the Innovation and Technology section. Two further businesses – the Marwell Preservation Trust near Winchester and Southampton-based legal firm Paris Smith, were jointly highly commended in the medium business category.
Alan Stevens, chairman of the Sustainable Business Partnership which organises the awards said: “Without a doubt these were the most tightly contested Awards yet – we witnessed a huge increase both in the number of applicants and in the quality. Local firms really are leading the way when it comes to sustainable business.”

Courtesy of Daily Echo

Celebrations all round last Friday night as Total Coverage fought off stiff competition to win the Micro Business Award at the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Sustainable Business Awards ceremony. Finalists in our category included Bedford Lodge, Cresson Creative, Harvest House, Rapanui and The Real Island Food Company. Each finalist has shown commitment to sustainable business practices and they all serve as an inspiration to others. Total Coverage is proud to have won the award and we are thrilled that our continued efforts across all sustainability issues have been recognised.

In addition to winning the award in our category, we also won the overall title of Sustainable Business of the Year Award 2008.

The Social Enterprise Coalition and the Department of Health Social Enterprise Unit have developed guidance to support NHS staff who are thinking of taking up the ‘right to request’ - setting up a social enterprise to deliver healthcare services to NHS patients. Total Coverage designed and produced two accessible publications for the initiative.

Social Enterprise - Making a Difference, a guide to the ‘right to request’ and the supporting leaflet can be viewed on-line at www.socialenterprise.org.uk

We’re closing early this afternoon, as we’re off to the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Sustainable Business Awards. The gala awards ceremony is being held at the De Vere Grand Harbour Hotel in Southampton and sees the culmination of an almost year long process to find and crown Hampshire and the Isle of Wight’s Sustainable Business of the Year. Winners will be announced for each of the six categories, with one business going on to gain the overall title. Total Coverage is up against five others up for the Micro Business Award which celebrates the achievements of businesses which have less than ten employees.

Fingers crossed for tomorrow night when we will find out whether we have won one of the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Sustainable Business Awards 2008. We are one of six finalists in our category and are hoping that the judges will be impressed by our ongoing commitment to sustainability. Whereas many other companies have recently adopted sustainable practices, we are proud to have been doing business in this manner for the last 20 years.

19 November is World Toilet Day – a day to celebrate the humble, yet vitally important, toilet and to raise awareness of the global sanitation crisis. Imagine life without a toilet. No toilets in your home or at work, no public toilets, no toilets anywhere. Imagine the mess. Imagine the disease.

Did you know?

* 2.5 billion people do not have somewhere safe, private or hygienic to go to the toilet.
* One gram of faeces can contain 10 million viruses, one million bacteria, 1,000 parasite cysts and 100 parasite eggs.
* The simple act of washing hands with soap and water after going to the toilet can reduce diarrhoeal diseases by over 40%.
* Safe disposal of children’s faeces leads to a reduction of nearly 40% in childhood diarrhoea.

WaterAid is working hard to change this, using simple and low cost solutions, and there are many easy and fun ways you can get involved.

Celebrate – buy a bog!

It’s hard to imagine life without toilets, but this is the daily reality for 2.6 billion people – 40% of the world’s population. To raise awareness of the global sanitation crisis and celebrate this humble, yet essential bathroom fixture, WaterAid are asking people to give someone a present they desperately need. For £46 you can give a gift that restores a family’s health, pride and dignity – a toilet.

Fed up with working lunches? Tired of your daily trip to the sandwich shop? If you fancy putting a little fun back in your lunchtime, join the Big School Dinner this Child Poverty Day - and help children have theirs.

Holding a Big School Dinner event on Friday 17 October 2008 is easy to arrange and couldn’t be more fun.  Simply encourage your colleagues to bring in their own packed lunch or hold a traditional school dinner with family and friends - then ask everyone to donate the money they normally spend to ActionAid.

As a nation that spends millions of pounds on ready made sandwiches and fast food every day, you’ll be amazed the difference your ‘dinner money’ will make.

As well as the reshuffle in government, news hit this week of a major reshuffle in the co-operative world: Dame Pauline Green is to step down in 2009 as Chief Executive of Co-operatives UK, the body representing the co-operative movement in the UK. A former Labour Co-operative MEP and Leader of the European Socialists, Dame Pauline has been one of the drivers of a complete overhaul of the image of the movement and the symbolic coming together of the worker and consumer movements into one organisation. She also served on the Co-operative Commission and is President of ICA Europe.