Julia Hailes MBE

Sustainability Pioneer

Will Bitcoin destroy the planet? (Dec17)

The energy impacts of mining Bitcoin spiral even more than its stock price Wow. The growth in the value of Bitcoin over the last few months has only been matched by the number of articles about this cryptocurrency. I have a particular interest in it because my son Monty decided to share his research and […]

The Shocking thing about helium balloons (Nov16)

    Filln’away – essentially means fill the balloons and chuck the whole gas canister away afterwards – as well as leaving balloon waste to wash up on the beach as litter……     I love giving parties and try to make them quite spectacular too.  I’ve got a birthday tea party coming up and […]

Speech disaster to Bathroom Manufacturers… (Oct16)

My speech went down the plug hole! I spent ages preparing my speech.  Had an inspirational idea on how to pull it together.  And, I thought it was pretty good on the day!  But apparently the audience – at least most of them – were not so impressed.  And the Bathroom Manufacturer’s Association – the […]

Feeling guilty about Lidl lobsters (Nov14)

We bought a couple of lobsters from Lidl for £5.99 each and had them for supper.  They weren’t particularly good despite getting the top rating for ‘cheap supermarket lobsters’.  And, even worse, they were tiny. I’ve looked up the sustainability of small lobsters and see that it’s definitely not recommended.  They should be thrown back […]

Challenging Sainsbury’s on environmental standards (Feb13)

 Justin King, CEO of Sainsburys I wrote the blog below for the Food Ethics Council before the horse meat scandal blew up.  I think it’s even more relevant now.  When I challenged Justin King, CEO of Sainsbury’s about not applying the same environmental standards across all the products sold through his stores, he replied that […]

Setting up E For Good (Apr12)

Along with Melinda Watson from the Raw Foundation, I’ve set up E For Good. We’re the first consumer-facing organisation targeting e-waste from an environmental life-cycle perspective. Our aims are to reduce the amount of e-waste, promote repair and reuse and recycle the rest, as efficiently as possible. We’re working with Environcom, an e-waste company, who […]