Green businesses get a Branson boost

"The future is bright, green, and apparently shaped like a football. Soccket, an energy-generating soccer ball for the developing world, is just one of a new range of inventions promising to defy a commonly held belief: that business and ethics don't mix" - and this article in the Independent titled "Great Green Inventions: Introducing the ethical Dragons Den" says that business really can be people and planet-friendly in a competition sponsored by Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson. Spotted by our Luke, ideas include the campaigning lingerie brand Who Made Your Pants? who buy end-of-season fabrics from big underwear companies and creates new pairs of pants, the Rapanui clothing brand whose eithical surfers clobber uses sustainable organic cotton clothes  made in factories powered by wind and solar energy and  Karma Exchange, which offers its visitors discounts on everything from events, products and trips, just like Expedia, Group-On or eBay. The difference is that all the profits go to fund Create Change, a non-profit outfit providing access to clean water and education in northern Ghana. Sarah Morrison's excellent article is here in the Independent http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/great-green-inventions-introducing-an-ethical-dragons-den-7687503.html