90 PERCENT LESS CO2

http://issuu.com/golfrefugees/docs/survival 
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TRUMP TURBINES

With a name like Trump, one would have thought Donald would be in favour of wind machines.

I can see them now ‘Trump turbines’, generating ‘clean’ electricity for local people.

But no, Trump has just donated £10 million to all anti-wind farm campaigners in Britain.

Could this be a cynical ploy to abate the proposed plans to build 11 turbines just off the coast from his new exclusive golf course/hotel complex in Aberdeenshire?

Maybe Trump would rather have a nucleur or coal fired power station spoiling the view from the clubhouse?

Ironically there would be much less air pollution from a wind farm.

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HEE YOUNG 'HIT IT OUT THE' PARK

You don't have to be six foot tall and weigh 240 lbs to smash a golf ball.

Rhythm and balance, oh and tight pink shorts might help.

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HOW MUCH?

If you have a few quid down the back of the sofa, or better still in your back pocket, get yourself down to Christie’s.

For a snip, how about a lovely old picture of North Berwick golf course by John Lavery dating from the 1920’s. Wouldn’t it look great over the mantelpiece and only 200-300,000 pounds?


If you think Titleist balls are expensive at three pound each. How about trying a ‘Featherie’ golf ball? Made from cowhide and goose feathers, these balls were so expensive golfers would keep them for up to six months. With inflation, a good old feathery ball will now set you back between 5,000-20,000 pounds.


Here at Golf Refugees we’ve been pondering about making a modern-day ‘feathery’ golf ball. There are lots of goose feathers flying about as we are located near the National Badminton Centre.

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PUMA SHOT DOWN

A labour dispute outside a Cambodian factory that supplies Puma turned violent this week, with three demonstrators being shot.

More than 6,000 workers were protesting outside the Kaoway Sports factory, demanding better working conditions and pay including a ‘50 cents’ subsidy for lunch.

Three women were shot, aged 18, 21 and 23.

One was hit in the chest and seriously injured; Puma is paying for her medical expenses. The local press are reporting that police opened fire on the demonstrators.

Next time you buy a Puma golf shirt or shoe, think about the low pay and poor conditions of their young female 'out of sight' workers. Who now live in fear of being shot when they protest.

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CAN YOU STOMACH IT?

The University of Plymouth carried out a number of experiments to see what fibres were contained in the water discharge from washing machines.

Nearly 2,000 polyester fibres can shake loose from a single piece of sports clothing in a single wash.

These results suggest a large proportion of the synthetic ‘plastic’ fibres; polyester, acrylic, nylon, found in the environment is a direct consequence of washing clothes.

The problem is these microplastic particles from washing our sports apparel are being mistaken for food in the world’s oceans and being eaten by plankton eaters, who are then eaten by bigger fish, and it all ends up in our stomachs.
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WHAT DO ECO GOLF RULES MEAN?

For golf courses and clubhouses:
Reducing water and pesticide usage.
Encouraging habitats for native species.
Using compost toilets.
Recycling rain water.

For apparel brands:
Paying textile workers a living wage.
Using natural fibres.
Using wind and solar energy to power factories.
Reducing product carbon footprint.

You may think these measures are just for the future, but you would be mistaken. This year the UK will suffer a major drought.
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DEBUTANTE

Last year Ladies European Tour players were lucky to escape from New Zealand after earthquakes.

This year could debutante Sharmila Nicollet cause a few aftershocks?

In years to come are we going to remember Miss Nicollet with other female sporting beauties such as Kournikova, celebrated more for their looks rather than the size of their trophy cabinets?

Golf legend Laura Davies said “from my experience Sharmila has all the potential to be a great player”.

New Zealand Women’s Open kicks off this Friday.
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WHO DO YOU SUPPORT?

When you look at golf apparel take a quick peak at the label. After all when you make a purchase you are not only representing the brand and star golfers who wear it, but you are also supporting the industries behind the materials and processes used to make the garments.


Organic cotton is grown using methods and materials that are friendly for the environment. This means that the use of toxic pesticides and fertilizers are restricted. Organic farming uses beneficial insects to control pests and weeds are removed by human hand not by chemicals.

Golf Refugees use Soil Association certified organic cotton making sure that your golf apparel is natural and ethically made.

If you see polyester and made in China on your golf apparel label it will use one of these; a chemical factory.

This is the Fujia-Dahua paraxylene plant.

Paraxylene (PX) is a common chemical used to produce terephthalic acid for the manufacture of polyester. Although PX is toxic and combustible, the benzene and hydrogen sulfide used in the production process of paraxylene are even more toxic.

In 2011 high tides destroyed the plant’s flood banks and swept away containers of dangerous chemicals.

Would you rather live next to an organic cotton farm or a chemical factory? Would you rather wear organic cotton or polyester next to your skin when playing golf?

We all need to play a part in preserving the environment for the future of golf.
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MOAN OVER LONG SOCKS

Shin Ae Ahn by Newsis

I used to moan over having to wear long socks in the summer to play golf, but these look great.
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WOULD YOU EAT YOUR OWN GOLF SHIRT?

Here’s what actually happens.

You walk into your golf shop and buy a polyester shirt, similar to the ones worn by your favourite star golfer.

It’s made by young women who are paid less than a local ‘living wage’ but all this happens far away from western eyes.

Polyester is a plastic another name for polyester is PET, polyethylene terephthalate, derived from petroleum.

Anyway, you wear your plastic polo shirt to play golf and it gets a bit sweaty and smelly. So you put it in the washing machine to make it all nice and clean. During washing microplastic particles are lost from your shirt and the residue water eventually finds its way into our rivers and oceans. This process does not occur with natural fibres such as organic cotton.

Once the plastic pollution has been eaten by marine life, who get their food from the oceans, it is transferred from their stomachs to their circulation systems and accumulates in their cells.

After a hard day on the golf course you settle down to a nice plate of fish and chips.

So you end up eating your own plastic golf shirt.
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SHRIMP BALLS ANYONE?

Instead of playing with polybutadiene golf balls which can take between 100-1,000 years to degrade, soon we could all be playing with ‘shrimp’balls?

Researchers at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University have developed a new low-cost biodegradable biocompatible material, which combines silk proteins and chitin extracted from discarded shrimp shells.

By controlling the water content during the fabrication process scientists were able to vary material stiffness from elastic to rigid.

Hence individual layers of a multi-layer golf ball could be produced with various elastic properties to maximise performance.
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ETHICALLY MADE

Are you wearing ethically made golf polo shirts?

If not check out custom designed organic shirts by Golf Refugees
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YOU ARE WHAT YOU READ

Drawing by Mirela Srsa

I sometimes read and I’m sure others also read golf apparel reviews by ‘independent’ reviewers. But I’m starting to ask myself, Am I just a ‘one off’ or are these reviewers a little bit lazy, lacking in curiosity or just trying to appease their true masters?

I keep reading all about the new technologies for example; 'cool elite technology', 'double moisture wicking' and 'anti-bacterial treatments'. But is it enough just to reiterate these marketing lines?

I appreciate I may be alone in this, but one day I’d just like to read an independent apparel review where the author investigates what lies behind the technology. Which chemicals are used and how these chemicals are processed to produce the garments.

At least then golfers would be informed of exactly what they are wearing next to their skin.
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A FORMULA FOR SUCCESS

Have you ever asked yourself why big apparel brands, star golfers and popular golf magazines all want you to buy polyester polo shirts?

For apparel brands polyester is dirt cheap to make, especially if you select countries where you can legally pay textile workers less than a living wage and environmental protection regulations are non-existent.

Producing polyester is a test-tube operation. You take some terephthalic acid mix it with dimethylterephalate and then add heavy metal antimony trioxide to speed up the whole process.
 
Then locate factories that can pump as much pollution into the atmosphere and wash away toxic sludge into local rivers to reduce manufacturing costs to the bare bones.

Offer leading golfers a small fortune to wear your shirts.

Well would any of us turn down 'loads of money' to wear polyester, even if we didn’t like the shirt's ethical values?

Popular golf magazines rely on advertising revenue from apparel brands to survive. No editor is going to turn his back on a series of full page ads just because of concerns about sweatshop labour and climate change.

There you have it, a formula for success.
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GROWING ORGANIC COTTON

Golfers, there is an alternative to wearing pesticides and toxic chemicals next to your skin.

It's called organic cotton.
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IN THE PINK

Golf Refugees Custom-Striped Polos come in 20 great colours and are hand-dyed in Britain.

Our stripes are very special; we call them ‘irregular stripes’, as each one is different, unique, just like you.

If you would like a unique, ethically made, organic polo shirt please e-mail us; refugees@btinternet.com
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OLYMPIC SPIRIT

What is the London 2012 Olympics all about?

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair said “a once in an era opportunity for British tourism” and current minister for the Olympics, Tessa Jowell “British tourism will receive a £2bn boost”.

The European Tour Operators Association produced a study which concluded “there appears to be little evidence of any benefit to tourism of hosting an Olympic Games”.

Managing director of Australia's Tourism and Transport Forum, said "There are fewer tourists [in Sydney] five years after the Games than before... Where the bloody hell are you?"

Tourists are put off by higher than normal hotel prices and overcrowding. While the sort of people who travel to watch sport tend not to be interested in the theatre or other cultural attractions.

Theatre mogul Andrew Lloyd Webber confirmed; London’s West End bookings from tourists for this July and August were at just 10 per cent of their normal level, and that theatreland was "in for a bloodbath of a summer".

You could say that the Olympics are about much more than making money from tourists.

The UK Government set targets for increased sports participation "one million more people playing sport three or more times a week" which it claimed would form part of the "Olympic 2012 legacy".

Unfortunately no other host city has increased sports participation as a result of staging the Olympic Games.

London’s 2012 guru, Lord [Sebastian] Coe, claimed: "The new sports venues for the Games will help to tackle serious lifestyle-related conditions such as childhood obesity, heart disease and diabetes."

If a fraction of the £10bn UK taxpayers are spending on the Olympics had instead been allocated to preserving school sports playing fields from being sold off to property developers, would that have had more of an impact increasing sport participation and tackling childhood obesity?

And how will be the fight against childhood obesity, heart disease and diabetes be helped by two of the London Olympics biggest sponsors being McDonald’s and Coca-Cola?

There will be some winners.

Great profits for those with London homes to rent out during the two weeks of the event. And a temporary army of 23,700 security staff to ‘protect’ the Games.

Politicians, corporate guests and sport bureacrats will have the pick of the seats in the stadiums for free.

Now that’s the real spirit of the Olympic Games.

Source material by Dominic Lawson – The Independent
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