The first week after Easter, and the project seems to be gaining interest from many quarters, including people visiting my Fairtrade Store here in Newport on the Isle of Wight. It is actually about 4 weeks since I officially started this project and in the first couple of weeks I spoke to a number of businesses who felt like I do that Fairtrade and Enviromental Issues went hand in hand and that more public awareness was a good thing. A project like this one, called millioneurosin90days.com was received with much praise and thoughtful wishes of "good luck", and "hope you do it", and "what a good idea". Well this was all well and good and certainly raised my spirits as this was very much a new idea, and an untested one at that. Still I knew that if I maintained my focus on the core reasons for doing it this would prevail not only in succeeding in the long term but keeping on track in the short term. When all is said and done, and say a business says "yes,I would love to sponsor a sqaure, please invoice me" I feel like it is all worth it, however in the back of my mind I also feel a little unease as with all things, the old saying "Its seemed like a good idea at the time" persists in the back of my mind. I duly invoiced the first businesses who wanted to join, and waited for a response. I had sent with the invoice a self addressed envelope so as to make things as simple as possible, then I waited , and I waited some more. To my pleasent surprise I received today several payments from the early recruitment period and was I thrilled. In fact I was very pleased even more so as my faith in humanity was renewed. This whole project has to achieve more than a social message, it must raise the money I have set out to achieve, and it must be done in a set time span. Someone the other day said, "A million euros in 90 days, why do that, at least if you do don't count the weekends, or bank holidays as no one is available to speak to". So I thought about it and realised that he was right, so I have taken weekends and bank holidays out of the equation and this leaves me with a finishing date in mid July. This will also give me a little more time to approach more potential sponsors. The money will be used in two ways, a donation to Charities working in third world countries, the kind of countries that many Fairtrade products come from, and the other half will be used for the design and build of my new Caffe-Society Eco Fairtrader Store, which will incorporate all the latest technology available to make this store simply the best enviromental store there has been to date. Its interesting to note that the link between Fairtrade Products and Enviromental Issues is a very strong one. Fairtrade Standards aim to protect and improve the enviroment. Extra income from fairtrade means farmers can invest in sound agricultural practices. This pays dividends - better protection for farmers and their communities and better products for us. By cutting weeds instead of using herbicides, 1900 organic coffee farmers in Sumatra, Indonesia are helping protect local endangered species, including the Sumatran Tiger.

In the Dominican Republic, 9,000 cocoa farmers have used the Fairtrade premium to convert to organic farming. A group of 133 banana farmers in Colombia have set up an enviromental protection programme that includes reforestation, a community rubbish collection service and a plastic waste recycling programme. It is heart warming to read and hear about stories from all over the world where Fairtrade has had a positive effect. I was reading my Sunday paper, which told of a story about the famous Store Top Shop. They sell a fabulous range of Jewellery which is produced by local crafts people in one of Kenya's largest slums. Its the brainchild of Cristina Cisilino, who believes passionately in helping local people through Fairtrade.

In Nairobi there is to be found the largest slum of the city called Kibera, where a third of residents are HIV positive. A london based fairtrade company called "Made" which is owned by Cristina Cisilino and her husband Gerson Barnett have discovered huge potential from the skills of local people in the art of making jewllery from brass, bone and wood. They are developing the idea in a number of outlets of Top Shop and have proved very popular with customers.

Kibera, though is a place most fashion companies would hate you to see. Its sits on an ocean of garbage and plastic bags, a cruel export from Europe.Its sewers are an open wound in the dry red earth at the roadside. Its the size of central park in New York and home to 1 million people. For more details of this great company, visit www.made.uk.com .

For the last six years coffee prices have remained below the cost of production, causing immense hardship for millions of farmers. In 2001, prices plummeted to just 45 US cents per lb. By selling just a small amount of their coffee at the guaranteed and stable Fairtrade price of US$1.26 per lb, members of Kilmanjaro Native Cooperative Union (KNCU) in Tanzania have been able to stay afloat during the crisis. Members of Coocafe a cooperative in Costa Rica, sell 405 of their coffee to the Fairtrade market. With the extra income they have bought a processing plant and now market their own roast and ground coffee. Millions of farmers depend on selling their crops to survive, but its a risky business - when prices drop it can spell disaster for farmers. If they earn less than it costs to run the farm, they face real hardship - struggling to buy food or keep their children in school. Ultimately they may lose their land and their livelihood. By buyingg Fairtrade certified products, you're giving farmers a chance to sell their products at a stable price that covers their costs and enables them to support their families and invest in a better future.

Next week I will be showing members of the public how best to create interesting dishes from Fairtrade ingredients. One of the dishes is a simple Banana Split, but i will be using Fairtrade Bananas, Fairtrade Vanilla Ice Cream, and Fairtrade Chocolate Sauce. The Bananas that I will be using are from the Windwards Islands, in the Caribbean, where thousands of families make their living growing bananas on small hilly farms. During the 1990s many of them were forced out of business by large scale Latin american banana plantations where labour is cheaper and costs are lower. When prices dropped, the economy went down to zero because bananas are the heartbeat of the country. The farmers joined forces when they saw Fairtrade was the only way to survive in a cut throat market. Through Fairtrade, producers learn how best to sell their products and what the international market and consumers want. Today 730 of Dominica's remaining 1000 banana farmers are members of Fairtrade groups. So come and see for your self , and watch me present these dishes to you, while helping these farmers in the Windwards Islands. I will be outside the store next wednesday afternoon. If the day or times change I will update this information on this blog, so keep reading. You will also see film footage on this site in the near future so if you can not actually be there then you will not miss out. If you have any comments of any sort please let me know as it is interesting to hear from you.

CO2 Report 34 miles travelled today be car.