I recently picked up a low cost and healthier trick from a South African friend of mine for lighting my summer barbie…soak egg cartons in regular cooking oil, this could be like sunflower oil, and then put those underneath the coals, then light and in about ten minutes you have a raging barbecue. Nice!

If you are having a barbie try to make sure its from sustainable British charcoal; thereby ensuring the good management of local woodlands by finding a use for lower value wood, such as thinnings or misshapen waste, and encouraging the restoration of derelict coppice. The latter is extremely beneficial to local wildlife whose ecosystems rely on the cyclical nature of coppice growth. Many butterflies and flowers require the sunlight that is associated with freshly cut coppice, whereas growth from the stools provides an ideal habitat after a couple of years for thrushes, finches, warblers and nightingales.

Fed up with over-packaged salad? Become your very own organic farmer! You don’t need a garden to grow your own salad and its really quite easy to do. Some salads can be grown all year round. Don’t be shy and give it a try, grow them on your windowsill or by your front door.

EU restrictions on the size and shape of 26 types of fruit and vegetables have been lifted, ending the 20-year absence of lumpy melons and suggestively shaped aubergines from supermarket shelves. Hooray for common sense and cuddly bear shaped spuds!

The average person needs a minimum of five litres (1.3 gallons) of water per day to survive in a moderate climate at an average activity level, according to UN figures. The minimum amount of water needed for drinking and cooking, bathing and sanitation is 50 litres (13 gallons). The average person in the United States uses between 250 to 300 litres of water (65-78 gallons) per day for drinking, cooking bathing, and watering their yard. The average person in the Netherlands uses only 104 litres (27 gallons) per day. The average person in the African nation of Gambia uses on 4.5 litres (1.17 gallons) of water per day.

Received any postcards lately? Help charities fundraise by sending them your used stamps. Tear the stamps off and take them into your local Oxfam shop or send them to RNIB Stamp Recycling, PO Box 185, Benfleet SS7 9BH.

First, Joanna Lumley stood up for the Gurkhas – and won. Now she’s standing up for the environment. The actor has provided the voiceover for a short animated film that will be screened at the upcoming series of Live Nation concerts being held in London’s Hyde Park, in which an estimated 300,000 people will turn up to see the likes of Blur, Neil Young and the Killers. The film will introduce the Increase Your Positive Handprint campaign which is being orchestrated by the environmental charity, Earth Restoration Service, of which Lumley is a patron. The aim of the campaign is to “commit 1 million people globally to look beyond reducing their carbon footprint, and encourages them to take positive action towards helping restore the environment”.

Restore the Earth

The findings of a strategic environmental assessment could open the way for an increase in the number of offshore wind farms, which could produce enough energy to power every household in the UK

www.theecologist.org/

Summer is a good time to think about keeping warm in the winter months! While your radiators are switched off, put reflective material behind them - this will ensure heat is reflected back into your room and keep you toasty when the weather gets colder.  You can buy radiator reflector foil from DIY stores (avoid those made from PVC), or Blue Peter styli you can make your own by wrapping tinfoil around cardboard, down Shep!

Nearly 1 in 4 car journeys are less than 2 miles. Join thousands of others and swap just 1 car trip between 29 June and 4 July 2009 for a journey by foot, bike or public transport. Sign up today: http://www.changeyourworld.org.uk/

Going on holiday this summer? Get into the habit of unplugging as many appliances as possible, to save energy and money before you leave. Even if you switch them off, appliances can still use up energy if they’re still plugged in!

Practical and sustainable, it’s an ideal material for frames, but bamboo may take a while to become the next big thing http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jun/22/bamboo-bike

Gyms and sports centres don’t appeal to everyone. BTCV Green Gym offers you an alternative - the opportunity to improve your fitness by getting involved in practical conservation activities such as planting hedges, creating and maintaining community gardens, or improving footpaths. You can join for an hour or more on a weekly or twice-weekly basis - find out more at http://www.btcv.org/greengym/

Bike Week runs from 13-21 June 2009. Events across the UK range from cycle training for novices to commuter challenges and group rides around local cycling routes; almost all are free! To find out what is taking place in your local area, visit www.bikeweek.org.uk and enter your postcode.

The latest phone in pink titanium. The latest laptop that’s 2mm thinner. Peer pressure and ad pressure means you’re incomplete unless you buy them. Trouble is, surplus consumption leads to surplus production and CO2 so far better if you can Stick With What You Got - and be happy. http://www.dothegreenthing.com/blog

Do you know exactly what you can and can’t include in your recycling collection? Different councils collect different materials so log onto www.recyclenow.com and enter your postcode to get up-to-date information on your council’s recycling. You can also read plenty of tips for reducing and reusing all sorts of household waste.

Cycling is a great way of keeping fit, staying healthy and building up your strength to save the planet. A bike can also help to combat those awful tube strikes in London. Here are few handy links to help you decide whether to bike the strike

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/roadusers/cycling/11598.aspx

www.biketube.org.uk/

www.sustrans.org

On the fareway - how the golfing green fares poorly on eco-credentials. Golf originated in Scotland (ironically, it is first mentioned in two 15th-century Scottish laws that prohibit its playing) and as a sport. There are 2,500 courses in the UK, more than 32,000 worldwide and 59 million golfers chipping and putting internationally – roughly the population of the UK. The billions they raise in revenue go some way to explaining golf’s global spread to places as incongruous as Kazakhstan and Nicaragua, and as questionable as Burma and Afghanistan. But just how green and sustainable is it?

http://www.theecologist.org/pages/archive_detail.asp?content_id=1912

The first lock to be built in London for nearly two decades has been opened, creating a new low-carbon freight route to the site for the London 2012 Olympic games.

 http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jun/05/water-unlocks-route-olympic-games

Just as if you didn’t need another excuse to go out and buy organic produce the Environmental Working Group published part of their Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides, it’s all part of the group’s ongoing efforts to educate the world about the environmental health implications of what we consume and use every day. Sweet bell peppers are atop the list of vegetables found with the most pesticide residue; on a single pepper, there were 11 different pesticides found. The peppers also had 64 pesticides, in total, found on the sample.

Boots and training shoes are not the first things that spring to mind when you think about the root causes of rainforest destruction and climate change. But just because the connection isn’t obvious doesn’t mean it isn’t real – Greenpeace researchers have been busy proving in a new report released at the beginning of this week. Read this interesting article http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/blog/forests/slaughtering-amazon-20090529

Last night Trace and myself had a wonderful evening chatting to old and new friends at the VPF Ball http://www.vpf.org.uk/ and one topic that first emerged amongst the group was that of the safe use of plastic bottles. So I thought I would put a post up on the issue first thing. Here goes…the news about plastics has been pretty alarming, causing some of us to go dashing for the water bottles to see what kind of plastic they are—and find out if we’ve been unwittingly poisoning our children and ourselves with chemicals leaching into the water from them. Here is a handy chart that identifies the good, bad, and OK plastics and where they are found:

1 Polyethylene terephthalate (PET or PETE)
Used to make soft drink, water, sports drink, ketchup, and salad dressing bottles, and peanut butter, pickle, jelly and jam jars. GOOD: Not known to leach any chemicals that are suspected of causing cancer or disrupting hormones.

2 High density polyethylene (HDPE)
Milk, water, and juice bottles, yogurt and margarine tubs, cereal box liners, and grocery, trash, and retail bags. GOOD: Not known to leach any chemicals that are suspected of causing cancer or disrupting hormones.

3 Polyvinyl chloride (V or PVC)
Most cling-wrapped meats, cheeses, and other foods sold in delicatessens and groceries are wrapped in PVC. BAD: To soften into its flexible form, manufacturers add “plasticizers” during production. Traces of these chemicals can leach out of PVC when in contact with foods. According to the National Institutes of Health, di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP), commonly found in PVC, is a suspected human carcinogen.

4 Low-density polyethylene (LDPE)
Some bread and frozen food bags and squeezable bottles. OK: Not known to leach any chemicals that are suspected of causing cancer or disrupting hormones, but not as widely recycled as #1 or #2.

5 Polypropylene (PP) Some ketchup bottles and yogurt and margarine tubs.
OK: Hazardous during production, but not known to leach any chemicals that are suspected of causing cancer or disrupting hormones. Not as widely recycled as #1 and #2.

6 Polystyrene (PS)
Foam insulation and also for hard applications (e.g. cups, some toys) BAD: Benzene (material used in production) is a known human carcinogen. Butadiene and styrene (the basic building block of the plastic) are suspected carcinogens. Energy intensive and poor recycling.

7 Other (usually polycarbonate)
Baby bottles, microwave ovenware, eating utensils, plastic coating for metal cans. BAD: Made with biphenyl-A, a chemical invented in the 1930s in search for synthetic estrogens. A hormone disruptor known to simulate the action of estrogen when tested in human breast cancer studies. Can leach into food as the product ages.

Still on the fish theme for today, why not give the End of the Line widget a try or send it on to one of your sushi loving friends it allows you to check whether the fish you are planning to buy or eat is caught or farmed in a way that is sustainable good luck http://endoftheline.com/campaign/widget

As Greenpeace revealed last year, Nobu, who pride themselves as market leaders and an exclusive venue, were serving up bluefin tuna as sushi. Bluefin is an endangered species, like rhinos, tigers, or gorillas, and after it was pointed out to them last September (although the species had been on the IUCN red list of endangered species for 12 years, had they bothered to check), they gave assurances that they would do something about it. When the last fish has been eaten then…we shall eat our hats! Find out more about this story and The End of The Line campaign visit http://endoftheline.com/blog/archives/394 go on nothing fishy going on here!

Have you ever tried your mates clothes on and thought you look better in it than they do? Then why not ring the changes in your wardrobe with a Clothes Swap Party - they’re great fun and a good excuse to get your mates round for an evening.

Here on the blog we’ve covered the plight of the humble bumblebee many times before. We’ve explained the key they play in maintaining food supplies and how we rely on their ability to pollinate crops. Now we hear that the bumblebee which died out in the UK, but survived in New Zealand after being shipped there more than 100 years ago, is to be reintroduced here under new plans announced today. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jun/01/wildlife-conservation