KIKA

The organisation Golfenvoorkika is hosting two golf days at the Crimpenerhout Golfcourse on Friday 12th & Saturday 13th July 2013 in Krimpen aan de Lek.  Sponsorship, money & fees from the event will be donated to the charity KIKA (A charity that works towards beating childhood cancer)

The idea for this event was bought about by Chris Teljeur and Titia Mouth, two happy and healthy 43 year olds.  Golfing is their passion which they enjoy playing at the Crimpenerhout Golf course.  They do not have children of their own but want other peoples children to be happy and healthy.  “It is unfair that these innocent children are confronted with this terrible disease and through KIKA we want to support these children & give them a future. The future is bright, so let these children experience it!” say Chris & Titia.

KIKA Donations

For every registration to play the 9 hole golf course 18 euros will be donated to KIKA.  For every registration for the Golf Clinic 8 euros will be donated to KIKA.

Registration

You can register via the website www.golfenvoorkika.nl and there are several different packages:

Package 1: 9 hole golf round, morning incl.  Luxury lunch: 42,50 euros per person

Package 2: 9 hole golf round, afternoon incl. 3 course dinner: 54,50 euros per person

Package 3: Golf Clinic, morning incl. Luxury lunch, use of clubs & golf balls: 29,00 euros per person (clinic is 1 hour)

Package 4: Golf Clinic, afternoon incl. 3 course dinner, use of clubs & golf balls: 41,00 euros per person (clinic is 1 hour).

Prices are excluding drinks

KIKA raises money for research into finding faster therapy solutions and for research into a cure of childhood cancer.  “Less pain and suffering, more healing and a better quality of life” is what KIKA stands for.

Information

For more information please visit www.golfenvoorkika.nl or e-mail info@golfenvoorkika.nl
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SPIRAL BALL AT THE BEDFORD G.C.

Spiral ball on the green.

Spiral ball in the rough.

Spot the spiral ball.

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DETOX CAMPAIGN UNDERMINED

Is Greenpeace’s detox campaign being greenwashed by its signatories?

The original roadmap was unveiled by apparel companies Adidas Group, C&A, H&M, Li Ning, Nike and Puma in November 2011, with the brands hailing it as setting a new standard in environmental performance for the global apparel and footwear industry, with the single stated objective of zero discharge of toxic chemicals by 2020 in their respective supply chains.

Unfortunately the recently updated Joint Roadmap, talks of a need to “move the conversation” away from the zero discharge element, floating new ideas to reflect a more “holistic” approach.

Some of the signatories have complained that the elimination of a fixed list of chemicals from the supply chain is extraordinarily challenging in practice – effectively meaning that the main goal of the group can never be met.

The group has been accused of delaying tactics by campaigning group Greenpeace, pointing the finger at sporting goods giants Nike, Adidas and Puma, which it accuses of making “little progress” on the issue over the past 18 months.

It appears Nike, Adidas, Puma and co. all intend to continue using and discharging toxic chemicals beyond 2020.

Golf Refugees would like to see all apparel brands provide a list of the toxic chemicals they use. We would also like apparel brands to test any combinations of toxic chemicals and publish the toxicity results.

Golf Refugees proposed a new ‘colour’ apparel labelling system, similar to the ‘traffic light’ graphic recently introduced voluntarily by the food industry for ‘fat’ ‘salt’ and ‘sugar’. Where colours ‘red’, ‘amber’ and ‘green’ would indicate the level of toxic chemicals used.

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GOLF IS FADING AWAY

Sport England recently announced their latest ‘once a week participation figures for each funded sport’.

Please note these figures from the Active People Survey (APS) are usually run on a twelve month rolling basis from October to October. As we are only part way through 2013, the APS7 figures represent a twelve month period from April’12 to April’13.

Here are the ‘once a week participation’ figures for Golf.

APS1 (Oct 05–Oct 06) – 889,100

APS2 (Oct 07-Oct 08) – 948,300

APS3 (Oct 08-Oct 09) – 897,600

APS4 (Oct 09–Oct 10) – 860,900

APS5 (Oct 10-Oct 11) – 833,200

APS6 (Oct 11-Oct 12) – 850,500

APS7 (Apr 12-Apr 13) – 772.800

From these figures you can deduce that 116,300 fewer people now play golf once a week in 2012/13 compared with 2005/06.

Instead of debating the length of the putter professional golfers should use in competition the R&A should turn their attention to the downward participation figures for golf in England.

Ian Woosnam also pitched in with 'Welsh golf is fading away'.

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YOU ARE WHAT YOU WEAR PART 2

You are what you wear by O Ecotextiles.

I don’t mean like in “the clothes make the man” kind of way, but in the “our bodies absorb chemicals found in our environment” kind of way.

The new science of biomonitoring has enabled scientists to take the guesswork out of the effects of toxic exposure in blood, urine, breast milk, semen and all the other parts of us where chemicals tend not to flush out. It has brought home the truth in the saying that we are what we wear – or eat, sit on, breathe, rub up against or drink. The “environment” is not “out there” as David Suzuki reminds us: We are the environment and it is us.

Specifically with regard to fabrics: over 2,000 chemicals are used in textile processing, and these include some of the most toxic known (lead, mercury, arsenic, formaldehyde, Bisphenol A, PBDE, PFOA). There are no requirements that manufacturers disclose the chemicals used in processing – chemicals which remain in the finished fabrics. Often the chemicals are used under trade names, or are protected by legislation as “trade secrets” in food and drug articles – but fabrics don’t even have a federal code to define what can/cannot be used because fabrics are totally unregulated in the U.S., except in terms of fire retardancy or intended use. It’s pretty much a free-for-all.

What they’re finding is that this chemical onslaught seems to be changing us. Using a computer-assisted technique called microarray profiling, scientists can now examine the effects of toxins on thousands of genes at once (before they could only study 100 at a time at most). They can also search for signs of chemical subversion at the molecular level, in genes and proteins. This means that we are beginning to understand how even small doses of certain chemicals may switch genes on and off in harmful ways during the most sensitive period of development.

So why not seek products - fabrics, soaps, cosmetics, perfumes, deodorants, food - that don't contain chemicals that harm you - or your children or grandchildren?

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TOXIC CONSUMER PRODUCTS

According to reports filed with the Washington State Department of Ecology, thousands of consumer products contain toxic chemicals that are linked to cancer, hormone disruption, and reproductive problems. The Washington Toxics Coalition and Safer States performed an analysis of the reports and found that several major companies that manufacture consumer products are using a total of 41 chemicals identified by Ecology as a concern for human health. Some of these problematic chemicals include toxic metals such as lead, cadmium, arsenic, mercury, and antimony, plus compounds such as phthalates. The report notes that the toxic products include items such as apparel and footwear, personal care products, and even baby products.

The silver lining is, now companies must submit chemical reports due to policies under Washington State’s Children’s Safe Products Act of 2008. Thanks to the Act, companies in Washington have to admit when they use toxic chemicals in their products. The bad news is that the rest of the USA is not so lucky, as Washington State is the first state to implement such a comprehensive chemical reporting program. That said, Washington should serve as a model example for other states. Additionally, although companies must now report their chemical use in Washington, it’s obviously not ensuring that they cut back on chemicals, especially when you consider that this new report shows that thousands of consumer products currently contain toxic chemicals. This seriously underscores the need for greater transparency and stronger regulations to protect consumers.
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TIGER NIKE NUKE DEAL

Rumours abound that Tiger will sign a new deal with Nike. Golf Refugees offer the opportunity to wear ethically made apparel manufactured solely from renewable wind and solar power. Even for an extremely wealthy successful sportsman it appears wearing sweatshop apparel manufactured using high polluting coal power stations based upon 'plastic' petroleum derived polyester embedded with upto 15 toxic untested chemicals is more appealing.
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SPIRAL BALL TEST SAMPLES

If you would like to test these pre-production 'spiral balls' by golf refugees, please let us know via e-mail.
refugees@btinternet.com
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TUBE CHAIR WITH ROSCOE

Designed from recycled cardboard tubes secured with cable ties to form a rigid modular structure. Tube chair requested for MK Gallery 2013 summer exhibition.
On location somewhere in suburbia with Roscoe.
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