Gair Rhydd

Mouse trap

Jobs & Money Editor Gillian Roberts looks at how the phrase ‘shop till you drop’ could be a thing of the past, due to the increase of online buying.

It only takes a click of a button and Bob’s your uncle, within two to three days your internet purchase is on your doorstep.

In the past few years online shopping has boomed; the industry is constantly expanding into a vast web of sites which tickle your spending each week.

Alps under pressure

Tourists and wildlife are competing for shrinking resources

Snow sports are putting fragile Alpine ecosystems under pressure.

Scientists from the University of Bern say that winter sports – such as snowboarding and off-piste skiing – are an increasing threat to the local wildlife.

Cardiff: the first Fairtrade capital

Yousar Jafar looks at the provision of Fairtrade City status, and how the University and the Students’ Union can get involved

In 2004, Cardiff was given the title of the UK’s first Fairtrade city by the Fairtrade Foundation on St David’s Day 2004, beating Edinburgh to the title after demonstrating that more places in the city stocked fair-trade goods. The city’s cafes, shops, businesses, schools and supermarkets have all committed to stocking fair-trade products, thereby offering Third World farmers a better deal than they would have otherwise received on the free market.

There are now over 150 shops, cafes and organisations selling and using fairly traded products in Cardiff. owever, Cardiff University has yet to join this growing list. By the end of the academic year the Union plans to be certified as a Fairtrade Union (a title Swansea University has already gained) and this will have a positive impact on Cardiff’s Fairtrade capital status as Cardiff University is one of the largest institutions and employers in Cardiff. This will ultimately aid the efforts being made towards Wales becoming the world’s first Fairtrade country.

Better to be safe than sorry

As more and more stories apper in the media concerning women’s sexual health, Health editor Liz Stauber look at the three main issues causing controversy.

1. HIV

The BBC recently reported that, according to a new survey, seven out of 10 young women do not believe that they are at any risk of being infected with HIV.

Rhino birth on web

Science In Brief

Thousands watched as a rare black rhino giving birth was broadcast live on the internet. The birth at Paignton Zoo in Devon was a world first and broadcast live by the BBC on their website last Monday. A webcam caught the black rhino, Sina, giving birth to a female calf and zookeepers say that she’s taken her first steps and is doing well. Black rhinos are one of the world’s most endangered species and in the 1990s at most 2,400 still existed in the wild.

UN targets e-waste

Science In Brief

The UN has launched plans to create a global recycling standard for electronic devices with major global companies including Ericsson, Dell and Microsoft. The project, Solving the E-Waste Problem or StEP, aims to work together with private companies to decrease the estimated more than 40m tonnes of e-waste per year. The figure is growing as electronic devices get cheaper and technology becomes out of date quicker than ever before. If not properly disposed of toxic substances in e-waste can harm the local enviroment.

Wikipedia invades the classroom

Postgraduates at the University of East Anglia are finding that Wikipedia will form an integral part of their MA.

For those that do not know, Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia with a difference. Rather than the articles being written by a community of academics, anyone can write or edit an informative Wikipedia page.

The Fairtrade Taskforce attacks

Unknown to most, Cardiff University plays host to a small but active ‘Fairtrade Taskforce’ – a Fairtrade steering group that was set up at the end of the last academic year, and has been fully operational since January.

This small group of eight is a fusion of representatives from the University, the Union executive, People and Planet society, the Cardiff Council, and Fair Do’s, a Fairtrade shop in Canton.

The environmentally friendly choice?

Fairtrade prides itself on presenting an ethical alternative, but how sustainable and environmentally sound is it? Lydia Jones investigates.

As climate change and the carbon footprint of our actions continue to be increasingly important in politics, the media and our own consciences, many people have begun to explore if, and how, Fairtrade can be compatible with saving the environment.

Trade, both free and fair, is known for its adverse effects on the climate. What allows products to be shipped and flown all around the world to give consumers choice has led to the UK needing more than three planet Earths to sustain the current level of consumption.

Fairtrade Fashion

More and more high street stores are now stocking Fairtrade lines Hollie Clemence reveals all

Fairtrade clothing. Have you turned the page already? Adamant that Fairtrade and fashion can’t go hand in hand? Well you’d be missing out, because Fairtrade clothes are set to be the next big thing and by reading on you can find out how to make a difference.

Clothes shopping is a hugely popular pastime in the UK, where consumers spend billions each year on jeans, dresses, jewellery, going-out tops, staying-in tops, sportswear, suits, skirts and seasonal styles.

China crackdown

Science In Brief

No more internet cafes will open in China in the next year after a ban set down by the Chinese government. The ban has been described by the state news agency, Xinhua, as part of a campaign to tackle internet and internet gambling addiction. There are already more than 100,000 internet cafes in China with 132 million people use the internet there. The Chinese government has been criticised in the past for its ‘Great Firewall’ censoring content it finds offensive or subversive like articles on Wikipedia and Google searches.