Chester Chronicle - Low Carbon

Low Carbon: Go Green at Work

2009-07-20T11:55:45Z

You might be the keenest eco champ at home, but when it comes to the office, your recycling ethos goes out the window. Getting your office to go green - and getting your colleagues to think in a more eco-friendly way - isn't as hard as you'd think. Kate Hodal finds out how best to go about it, without losing all your work friends.

I will admit it: I am that annoying girl in the office who turns my colleagues' computer monitors at night, fishes drinks bottles and cans out of their bins, and asks them (nicely) if they really need to print out yet another email.

Ask me if my eco efforts have won me any friends at work, however, and the answer is a resounding 'No!'. I blame this on the vagaries of human nature - the fact that nine out of 10 Britons recycles at least one item at home, but will happily bin a glass bottle while at work.

This isn't entirely the individual's fault, however: while most councils provide recycling bins and advice to homes across the UK, there is no requirement for businesses to recycle any of their waste - and there's usually no recycling service provided for them, either.

But business rubbish makes up 40% of the total waste stream, compared to 10% from the domestic stream - with much of that waste being paper, plastic and glass. While you might consider doing something about it outside your remit, think again: there's actually quite a lot you can do - and you don't necessarily have to lose any friends in the process.

HOW TO APPROACH THE ISSUE

Firstly, don't approach your workplace with all eco-guns blazing, says environmental auditor Donnachadh McCarthy, author of Easy Eco Auditing: How To Make Your Home And Workplace Planet-Friendly.

"You have to approach your colleagues and managers with a constructive point of view and realise that you're asking them to change their current behaviour and habits," he warns.

"The responsibility for environmental services isn't theirs: it's someone else ordering the printer paper or taking the rubbish out. And by asking your colleagues to change their habits, you're making them move out of their safety zone. People hate having their desks moved five feet - let alone being forced to think about recycling."

McCarthy suggests initiating a chat with other colleagues or your manager about what you think your office could do to be greener: could people carshare into work? Are there any glass, plastic or can recycling facilities? Could the office start printing double-sided?

From there, identify who's in charge of what: who buys the toilet paper, printer paper, office stationery, takes care of the waste?

"If you can get on their side," says McCarthy, "you'll only have to convince one person instead of 100 - and that'll make this whole process much easier."

RECYCLING

It's likely that your office is already recycling paper waste - but if it's not, find out who's in charge of the waste bins at work and ask for a recycling bin for paper.

Once you've done that, ask for recycling bins for glass, plastic, cans and cardboard - the website Waste Aware Business [www.wasteawarebusiness.org.uk] has an online search facility to find out what companies (or councils) can recycle what in your area.

A good way to ensure that colleagues will well and truly recycle is to put recycling - and not rubbish - bins next to their desks, suggests McCarthy.

"Most of the waste on your desk is paper anyway," he says.

"By reversing the system and having recycling bins next to your desk, and one large bin for non-recyclables in a common area, appeals to the laziness of human nature. You ensure that people recycle without requiring them to stand up and walk over to the recycling bin to do it. And it works: one charity I eco-audited increased their recycling rate by 500% just by taking this step."

PRINTERS AND COMPUTERS

You've seen the electronic appeals on eco colleagues' emails to 'Think before you print', but you might still prefer paper to computer screens. But did you know that the average office worker uses around 20,000 sheets of paper a year? By switching your printer to print out double-sided by default, McCarthy reckons at least 40% of the paper used in the office could be saved by choosing this option.

Try encouraging whoever buys the printer paper and stationery to only buy recycled, as recycled paper uses 50% less energy than virgin paper, and - need I say it? - saves trees from being cut down.

As for your computer, fight the inertia of leaving it on standby when you go home for the evening: you'll waste enough energy to laser print 800 pages of A4. All you have to do is make sure you actually power off - and while it might take a few more minutes in the morning to power up again, you'll have the benefit of knowing that you're helping the planet.

LIGHTING

McCarthy is so obsessed with turning lights off in rooms that aren't used that his eco house in Camberwell, south London, can sometimes resemble a flashing disco.

While that wouldn't be helpful in the office, take a look at the lighting at work - are there energy-saving bulbs that could replace some of the conventional bulbs?

If your office is open plan with fluorescent bulbs, why not try working with only half of them on - most offices have windows that allow in quite a lot of light anyway, and your colleagues might like working with natural light.

If possible, try switching off the lights in the kitchen, canteen and bathroom when empty.

CANTEEN

Is your canteen stocked with disposable crockery? Why not get reusable items instead, or compostable crockery made from renewable resources like corn resin [www.biomelifestyle.com]? Take a look also at the cups and mugs being used - do your colleagues bring in their own mugs but use plastic cups for water? By asking them to bring in water glasses, you could be saving all that plastic from going to landfill (most plastic cups are made from a hard-to-recycle plastic not accepted by most councils) - a charity that McCarthy audited saved over 72,000 plastic cups a year by asking employees to use their mugs instead.

THE END RESULT

Don't forget about reconsidering how you travel to work: if you drive alone, consider a carshare scheme [www.carshare.com], or find out if your office has a cycle-to-work scheme [www.cyclescheme.co.uk]. But do remember that people take a while to change, and that by working with them, you'll get a lot more done than trying to force them to act or think a certain way.

"People can get really inspired by eco-positive changes in the office," beams McCarthy.

"It can boost morale and make them feel more positive about the company - and that makes for a happy office."

Easy Eco Auditing: How To Make Your Home And Workplace Planet-Friendly, by Donnachadh McCarthy is published by Gaia, priced £7.99. Available now.

Through his auditing company 3 Acorns Eco-audits, Donnachadh provides an environmental auditing service to individuals, families and businesses. See www.3acorns.co.uk for more information.

For more tips on how to green up your workplace, log onto the DirectGov website

Low Carbon: Queen's Park High School in Chester installs energy-saving solar panels

2009-07-20T07:21:03Z

BRIGHT sparks at Queen's Park High School, Chester, officially switched on their £20,000 solar panels this week.

The rooftop panels are half funded by The Co-operative's £2m Green Energy for Schools scheme with match-funding from the Government's Low Carbon Building Programme (LCBP).

The 875-pupil school is among 80 across the UK chosen to receive funding for renewable energy technology as part of the second phase of the scheme.

Headteacher Andrew Firman said: "We are proud to be among the schools leading the way on renewable energy through the Co-operative scheme.

"We are already working hard to reduce the school's carbon footprint and switching on these rooftop solar panels will boost our efforts while sending out a strong message about our commitment to helping the environment."

The 24 photovoltaic panels should generate around 3,300 kWh of electricity per year - enough to power one computer for 33,000 hours or to make 180,000 cups of tea for thirsty teachers.

The school can keep track of how much energy the panels are generating and the amount of carbon dioxide they have saved to date via a monitor.

Staff and pupils, including year 7 School Eco Committee members Alexandra Cavendish and Lucy Clegg, have warmly welcomed the panels.

Alexandra said: "The solar panels are good for the environment. I am glad that our school can be more eco-friendly."

Lucy added: "Not only are we saving the school money, but we are also helping to save the planet."

Eco committee chair Sarah Kearney added: "The eco committee have arranged for tree planting, recycling and taken steps to increase eco awareness and the panels will certainly help in our bid for Eco Schools Green Flag status in March 2010."

The picture shows members of the Eco-committee with design samples of the school's new solar panels.

Low carbon: Plan to paint rooftops white to fight global warming

2009-07-19T11:41:32Z

This one's from CNNMoney.com

America should attack global warming by ... painting rooftops and road surfaces white.

Seriously. No kidding.

Among those promoting the idea is Energy Secretary Steven Chu, a big-thinking physicist who has a bully pulpit and influence over billions in research and stimulus funds.

Chu spoke about the idea at a London conference last month while Congress was busy hashing out a complex, 1,400-page bill to cut greenhouse gases.

Whitening the world's roofs and roads would have the same effect on global warming as removing all the world's cars for 11 years, he said.

"So I'd like to appeal to all people -- we should convert to white limousines," he said.

Chu was joking about the limousines, of course. But his proposal for addressing climate change is genuine.

It sounds kooky, but environmentalists say the idea is legit.

They say recent research shows it's even more beneficial than previously thought. Moreover the Energy Department, flush with $38 billion in stimulus money, is in a position to make it happen.

Chu's comments were based on recent research from Arthur Rosenfeld, a former colleague of Chu's at the Energy Department's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Chu's all cars for 11 years number is meant to be illustrative -- no one really expects all roofs and all roads will be painted white.

But for new projects and some retrofits, it does make sense.

A white roof has three benefits:

* It keeps buildings cooler, reducing the amount of energy required for air conditioning.
* It reduces the so-call "heat island" effect, the heating up of entire urban areas which then causes other buildings in the vicinity to heat up, whether they are in direct contact with the sun or not.
* A white roof or road will actually reflect the sun's rays back into space, keeping the atmosphere cooler.

Read the full original article at CNNMoney.com

Low Carbon: Connah's Quay's Deeside College promotes sustainable living with help from Flintshire County Council

2009-07-17T13:12:08Z

FLINTSHIRE County Council chief executive Colin Everett joined staff at Deeside College to celebrate its inaugural sustainability day.

Mr Everett joined staff co-ordinating the college's Trees to You team to plant a rowan tree at the front of the college in Connah's Quay.

The Trees to You scheme is run by IT students studying the Welsh Baccalaureate.
It encourages local businesses to be more environmentally friendly and buy a tree, which is then planted by the students.

As part of the scheme, the students have set up a website, developed a brand and approached a large number of local employers.

The group has also received training on the correct way to plant trees from the Welsh College of Horticulture in Northop.

A conference-style programme of seminars and films was available throughout the day which raised awareness of sustainable development.

The keynote speaker was environmental campaigner Phil Williams, of Plan-It Eco who promotes environmental, sustainable and cultured respect and understanding of our planet.

There were also exhibitors from a range of companies providing products and services for sustainable living.

They shared best practice and offered college staff environmentally friendly gifts such as energy saving light bulbs. In other events, lecturers took part in workshops on ESDGC (Education for Sustainable Development & Global Citizenship) which will help staff embed this important topic through the curriculum.

Deeside College already leads the way on sustainable issues and promotes a more sustainable way of living by its proactive management of energy and waste. The College are the only Further Education establishment in Wales to hold the highest possible level 5 Green Dragon environmental standard. This prestigious standard is supported by the Welsh Assembly Government and the Environment Agency. Students at the College also learn about sustainable living through the Welsh Baccalaureate Qualification and in Personal Tutorials.

The College aim to embed sustainability into the main curriculum and work based learning for 2009-10 onwards so that sustainability is a central feature of the Deeside College experience for staff and students alike.

Deeside College Principal and Chief Executive David Jones, said: "The sustainability day was a huge success and I would like to thank Colin for joining us. ESDGC is a key driver in the curriculum and will be a focus of the new Government Inspection Framework from 2010. The events today have reinforced the importance of this topic to staff, many of whom are already beginning to integrate sustainable themes into their teaching plans."

Speaking after the event, Colin Everett added: ""Trees symbolise purity as they recycle carbon dioxide into oxygen. The Welsh native rowan tree I was privileged to plant was a symbol of the College's first class commitment to sustainability."

The picture shows Colin Everett, chief executive of Flintshire County Council, with David Jones, Helen Wright, Rick Bedson, Niki Shuttleworth and Shirley Minton of Deeside College to plant a rowan tree as part of the college's sustainability day.

Low Carbon: Local energy businesses attend eco fair at Bickerton Village Hall

2009-07-16T10:27:10Z

BICKERTON Village Hall held its first eco fair on Saturday, July 4, with visitors coming from across the region to learn about renewable energy and environmental initiatives in the district.

The main focus was harnessing the sun's energy, with The Green Electrician, Tushingham, displaying solar panels for producing electricity and Plumb Eco, Whitchurch, showing how to heat water using a roof-mounted system.

The sun was also being used to run the lights in Bickerton Village Hall thanks to the new solar PV array on its roof. It also ran the solar plate spinner for the children and a rechargeable battery unit.

Other companies included the Energy Saving Trust, Master Composters, Cheshire Wildlife Trust, Low Carbon Communities Network and EcoNet, while Tattenhall's Manor Farm shop ensured no-one went home empty- handed.

The picture shows exhibitors Chris Bainbridge of Cheshire Recycling, Stephen and Claire Davies of the Green Electrician, organiser Carol Shadbolt, Tracey Todhunter, Dean Dignam and Heather Gott of the Energy Saving Trust.

Low Carbon: Shropshire schools awarded for green travel plans

2009-07-16T10:27:10Z

AT LEAST 176 Shropshire schools have completed travel plans to make school journeys more environmentally friendly.

Of these schools, 17 will attend Shropshire Council's annual school travel plan awards ceremony in Shrewsbury.

Schools which have really taken on board their travel plans will be awarded silver and gold awards to recognise their achievements in promoting walking and cycling and reducing car travel.

County schools have been working on travel plans since 2002 and at least 166 maintained schools and 10 independent ones have completed them.

Martin Taylor-Smith, Shropshire Council's cabinet member for strategic planning and transport, said: "It is really inspiring to hear what schools have been doing and to catch some of their enthusiasm for their travel to school initiatives. The pupils, parents and staff at each school really deserve our congratulations. It is a great achievement."

Low Carbon: Government announces low carbon transport policy

2009-07-15T12:10:03Z

Carbon emissions from domestic transport will be reduced by up to 14 percent over the next decade as a result of the Government's carbon reduction strategy, published today by Transport Secretary Andrew Adonis.

Transport currently makes up 21 per cent of all UK domestic carbon emissions. The strategy entitled 'Low carbon transport: a greener future' sets out the policies and proposals for reducing transport sector emissions through to 2022.

It also frames the debate for the longer-term decarbonisation of transport to give people and businesses more low carbon choices about when, where and how to travel or transport goods.

Transport Secretary Andrew Adonis said: "Transport accounts for a significant amount of our domestic emissions. Therefore decarbonising this sector has to be front and centre of efforts to meet our obligations and commitments to tackle climate change.

"Our strategy sets out a long-term vision for a fundamentally different transport system in our country, where carbon reduction is a central consideration in the way we do business.

"If we are to safeguard the future of transport then we must also safeguard the environment that it impacts upon - I am determined to do that."

To read the full article click here

Low Carbon: Energy policy 'too wind focused'

2009-07-14T11:51:08Z

The UK must invest more in nuclear and clean coal energy and put less emphasis on wind power if it wants a secure low-carbon future, business leaders say.

The CBI says government energy policy is "disjointed" and it is urging a "more balanced" energy mix.

The current approach means the UK might miss climate change targets, it added.

The government said putting in place a balanced mix of renewables, new nuclear and cleaner fossil fuels was at the heart of its energy policy.

It is due to set out its Energy White Paper on Wednesday.

But the CBI is calling for more action in its report "Decision Time".

"The government's disjointed approach is deterring the private sector investment needed to get our energy system up to scratch, bolster security and cut emissions," said CBI deputy director general John Cridland.

"While we have generous subsidies for wind power, we urgently need the national planning statements needed to build new nuclear plants.

"If we carry on like this we will end up putting too many of our energy eggs in one basket."

The full original version of this story can be found at the BBC website.

Low Carbon: Reaching for the sky

2009-07-13T10:44:44Z

The world's tallest buildings keep getting taller, but are they getting any greener? Kate Hodal talks to the man who pioneered the notion of the 'eco skyscraper' about how buildings can - and must - get eco-friendly.

Think skyscraper, and the word 'eco' doesn't really come into it.

But if Chinese architect Ken Yeang has anything to do with the way our future cities unfold, all that's about to change.

One third of the prestigious London-based group Llewelyn Davies Yeang, Yeang more or less invented the notion of 'eco skyscrapers', having dedicated the past three decades of his professional practice to greening up the world's tallest buildings and going so far as to write a whole book about it, too.

Lumbered together with endless tonnes of steel, glass, concrete and precious metals, skyscrapers are, Yeang admits, "probably the most ecologically unfriendly of all building types".

But until we find better ways of living and working, skyscrapers are with us to stay. So just how, exactly, can we make them as humane and sustainable as possible?

THINKING OUTSIDE THE (TALL) BOX

We think of them as the plaything of King Kong, or of towering over our capital cities with their steel-and-glass designs, but skyscrapers have been around for a long time - they just had a different name. The Great Pyramid at Giza, built around 2650BC at nearly 500 feet, was the tallest building in the world until the 14th century, when Europe started to catch up with its campaniles, forts and towers.

Today Taiwan boasts the world's tallest building - the Taipei 101, standing at 1,670ft - which will soon be surpassed by Dubai's 2,700ft-tall Burj Tower when it's completed this year in September. Boasting 162 floors, the Burj Dubai will be a multi-use building made out of glass and concrete, and has been specifically designed to attract tourists to the desert city - for business, not ecological, purposes.

The inherent problem with skyscrapers is that they are highly energy inefficient. Sure, they might save space, but building up actually requires one-third more energy than building across. Cooled all day and lit up all night, they need constant supplies of electricity, reflect heat back into our cities and lag behind on even the most basic of green steps like recycling.

But as architects across the world seem to have developed Napoleon complexes, turning the competition from the world's tallest skyscrapers into its greenest might do us some good.

"Our future will be won and lost in our cities," explains the soft-spoken Yeang, who was recently voted by the Guardian as one of the 50 people in the world who could save the planet.

"That's where we have the highest concentration of people and buildings, so we need to make them as green as possible. And that means looking at the way our buildings use, and exude, energy."

Yeang is all about bio-integration - using architecture to mimic nature's forms and methods. That means looking at the way a building uses its energy, how it gathers its water, if it can provide food for the people in it, and how it heats and cools itself.

"In nature, there is no waste," explains the architect, whose key works include the spiral-gardened and solar-powered Menara Mesiniaga tower in Malaysia, and the Great Ormond Street hospital extension in London.

"A concrete structure is inanimate and completely detached from nature, whilst an eco skyscraper, which includes vertical landscaping, can help bridge the gap between nature and the built environment."

'Vertical landscaping' is a fancy term whereby plants are used not only for their ecological and aesthetic benefits, but also to cool buildings. Designed to face outward or inner courts of upper parts of tall buildings, the plants absorb carbon dioxide and generate oxygen, benefiting the building and its surroundings.

VERTICAL FARMS

While some buildings already boast vertical landscaping - see Paris's Musee du Quai Branly for a taster - what Yeang wants to see better incorporated into our buildings are vertical farms.

"We have a worldwide food problem, with an increasing number of mouths to feed and fewer means of actually feeding them," he explains. "Turning our skyscrapers into vertical farms turns urban land into productive centres for agriculture."

Growing food indoors isn't anything particularly new - the many hothouses and conservatories that dot our landscapes prove as much - but using skyscrapers and buildings to help feed the 3 billion people that now live in the world's cities, is.

"Bringing vegetation into buildings softens their hard syntheticness and inorganicness," explains Yeang.

"It improves the ambient temperature of a city by reducing its heat island effect [whereby the city is significantly warmer than the surrounding countryside], improves the local microclimate because the plants absorb CO2 and give off oxygen through photosynthesis, provides insulation between the inside and outside and helps promote biodiversity."

One vertical farm that has already taken off is located smack in the middle of Tokyo. Human resources group Pasona installed a 930 square foot farm in the midst of its office, turning six rooms into rice paddies and strawberry, tomato, lettuce and daisy fields run by computer-controlled lighting and temperatures.

But vertical farms don't just help feed us, they help heal us too.

"Studies have shown that patients in hospitals with green walls and gardens heal faster than those who look at concrete walls," explains Yeang. "It's a system called 'biophilia'."

Yeang's Children's Medical Centre at Great Ormond Street Hospital (pictured), scheduled for completion in 2011, addresses the benefits of biophilia by boasting green roofs, water-saving devices, and natural ventilation systems that diminish the need for constant air-con.

The development - which will comprise one new clinical building and revamp of the old cardiac wing - will offset around 20,000 tonnes of CO2 a year, achieving a 20% carbon emission reduction for the whole hospital.

INTRODUCING... NATURE

So if the benefits are so clear, why aren't more buildings going green? In a word: cost.

"Most developers have not yet got to grips with sustainability," says Yeang. "They still think 'sustainability' means putting gadgets into buildings like photovoltaics and groundsource heatpumps. The next generation of green architecture will have to be a whole host of things apart from conventional buildings with eco add-ons."

While Yeang encourages building new and building greener, he's weary about a collective inertia that could prevent us from upgrading our existing buildings into eco-friendlier ones.

"Converting our stock into greener buildings is more pressing than building new," he says. "The French government started to demolish and rebuild many of their high-rises in order to bring them up to energy standards, but we know now we can retrofit them to the same standard without having to tear them down - and all for the same price."

Recycling existing structures and building newer green ones will be more possible by tax breaks and grants, or the allocation of penalties, which the Government should all have a hand in, Yeang says.

But the future of buildings also depends on public attitude toward them - and that means that we need to wisen up, fast.

"We always had a cavalier attitude toward nature until we became aware of the impacts of climate change and the increasing natural disasters that have impacted many human communities," he says.

"All these have made society become more aware of the need to coexist harmoniously with nature rather than to recklessly dominate it without concern for its impact."

Let's just hope it's a lesson learned - and not too late.

Low Carbon: Ellesmere Port's Westminster Community Primary School wins walk to school competition

2009-07-09T09:50:04Z

Pupils at Westminster Community Primary School, Ellesmere Port, have been awarded £200 of school equipment for winning first prize in a Walk to School week contest.

As part of the event, children were asked to bring in something green on their walk and among the many creative entries were green stick insects, a dog dressed in a green outfit, and imaginative costumes.

Headteacher Sue Finch dressed up as a bunch of green grapes and the children also composed a green poem.

All competition entries have been put on display at the Riverside Reception of County Hall in Chester.

The leader of the Labour group on Cheshire West and Chester Council, Cllr Derek Bateman, said: "I would like to congratulate the children for their hard work in showing that doing their bit for the environment can be lots of fun too."

Headteacher Sue Finch said: "We were delighted to be able to get involved with Walk to School week again this year.

"The green theme this year was well received by staff, children and families and we had a great deal of fun."

Low Carbon: Rural promenade between Nantwich and Crewe unveiled

2009-07-09T09:50:04Z

AN AMBITIOUS scheme to create a rural promenade between Nantwich and Crewe has been unveiled.

The £1.46m project, funded through green group Sustrans' Connect2, plans to provide a safe and attractive environment for walking and cycling between the two towns in a bid to reduce the number of cars on Cheshire East Council roads.

Council staff were on hand at the Connect2 event, held in Crewe's Queen's Park, to provide information on the project.

Residents were given the chance to express their views on the scheme and provide feedback.

Cllr David Brickhill, portfolio holder for environmental services, said: "This project will not only create a scenic and peaceful route between Nantwich and Crewe but will also help to reduce the number of cars travelling along the nearby A530.

"It will also increase safety for cyclists, who will now have an alternative to Middlewich Road.

"It will connect the riverside walks in Nantwich with Queen's Park in Crewe. It will also create links to Malbank School, Reaseheath College, Middlewich Road and Nantwich town centre.

"A footbridge across the River Weaver in Nantwich has already been completed."

Low Carbon: Fly the green flag on friday

2009-07-07T13:56:47Z

We all know Britain is Great, but now we can make our green and pleasant land even greener - with the first Green Britain Day.

Friday is when everyone starts working together to cut our carbon footprint in time for the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games.

Among the celebrities taking part are Olympic hero James Cracknell and gold medal Paralympic swimmer Eleanor Simmonds. This time they are leading a race of a different kind - against climate change.

But you don't have to have a gold medal on your chest to take part.

Edf Energy, the first sustainability partner of the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, has come up with a range of ways you can help.

And pupils at more than 800 schools have been working out how the nation can go greener before the Games. On Friday, they will open their doors to invite local communities to share their energy-saving ideas.

At 20 cities, including London, Bristol, Brighton and Edinburgh, there will be eco-events to help people learn more about going green.

The free advice will include cycle surgeries to help you leave your car and get back on your bike. Garden experts will also give tips on how to grow your own fruit and vegetables.

You can even sign up to your own team at the Team Green Britain website. Log on and pick an area of your life where you feel you can make the most difference - whether it's what you eat, wear, or how you travel.

Team Swap encourages people to exchange unwanted clothes by holding "swap shop" parties. And by joining Team Energy, you can find how to save up to 20 per cent off energy bills.

Olympic gold medal cyclist Victoria Pendleton will show us how to make our wardrobes more sustainable. She will be wearing a green Union Flag dress made by British designer Wayne Hemingway using recycled materials.

For its first year, Green Britain Day - which is expected to become an annual event - will climax with a concert at the Eden Project, starring rock legend Paul Weller and indie soul band Florence and the Machine.

Double Olympic gold medallist James Cracknell says: "Three years from now, Britain will play host to the biggest show on earth.

"It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us to inspire people across the globe with the very best of British - including worldleading environmental change.

"We must, as a nation, start taking action now."

Sebastian Coe, chairman of the London 2012 Organising Committee, adds: "Green Britain Day is a great way for people to come together and make a difference."

Do something green today, by visiting teamgreenbritain.org

Low Carbon: Fairtrade beauty products

2009-07-06T11:24:02Z

You may have your larder stocked with Fairtrade teas and pulses but what about your beauty shelves? Kate Hodal looks at the newly launched Fairtrade beauty products to see what's in store.

Once upon a time, beauty rituals consisted of milk baths and sugar scrubs - or at least Cleopatra's did.

But with natural ingredients making a huge comeback over their synthetic counterparts, it looks as though green Brits will no longer have to rely on their larder for natural beauty inspiration.

Milk and mint facial cleansers, oatmeal bath bombs and vinegar hair rinses have long been touted by green-thinking women keen to avert the artificial ingredients present in most beauty products.

But now a jaunt along the high street will lend itself to an entirely new era of beauty regimes: one of organic, natural and Fairtrade products to cleanse, scrub and moisturise our worries away.

To date, the Fairtrade logo has filled our homes via coffees, teas, wines and chocolates, but all that is set to change as the Fairtrade Foundation has just given its trademark logo to 57 beauty products here in the UK.

The move followed research which found that 31% of Brits were interested in buying Fairtrade cosmetics, meaning that lip balms, face masks, body butters and shower gels from Boots, Bubble & Balm, Essential Care, Lush and Neal's Yard will now have one or more Fairtrade ingredients in them, be it cocoa butter, shea butter, sugar or brazil-nut oil.

Five billion units of cosmetics are sold every year in Europe, according to the European Commission, using an estimated 1.5 million tonnes of ingredients. Converting some of those ingredients to Fairtrade ones increases the chances of our beauty regimes being better for our health, as well as being better for the global economy too, says Harriet Lamb of the Fairtrade Foundation.

"It's great news that the beauty industry is getting a Fairtrade makeover and that the farmers who grow the natural ingredients will get a fairer deal," she explains.

"The producers need Fairtrade now more than ever, and as the public has said they want to lead a sustainable lifestyle, this is the next step along the path to looking good and feeling great."

Consumers worldwide spent £1.6 billion on Fairtrade-certified products in 2007, with 64% of the UK population linking the mark to a better deal for producers in the developing world.

And now with more Fairtrade beauty products in the works, the logo is set to become ever more popular - which will in turn increase the benefits to the farmers producing them, says TV presenter Fearne Cotton, a long-standing Fairtrade supporter.

"I've tried out several of the new beauty products for myself and I love them," she says.

"They're great quality, but they also make me feel good because I know that the farmers who grew the ingredients that went into them are now able to improve their lives."

So how do the new Fairtrade beauty products feel on our skin? We tried and tested a few so that you don't have to. For more information on where you can buy them, visit www.fairtrade.org.uk.

Boots' Extracts Mango Body Butter (£7.34 for 200ml).

It's made with organic mango extract and organic shea butter, fairly traded and sustainably sourced from Ghana.

The verdict? "This is the best body butter I've tried to date," said our mystery tester. "The smell is absolutely divine, and the butter glides on smoothly and leaves my skin nicely moisturised and creamy, but not at all sticky."

Bubble and Balm's Herbal Mint Butter Scrub Bath Salts (£7.95 for 110g, www.bubbleandbalm.co.uk).

Made with Fairtrade cocoa butter, jojoba oil and Vitamin E, along with a heap of essential oils including mint.

The verdict? "I poured a handful of these salts into my bath, which left the water smelling like mint and feeling silky. The instructions said I could also use the little shea butter granules as a body-and-face scrub, so I scrubbed away my dead skin before the granules melted into a creamy moisturiser on my face, leaving my skin looking buffed and clean."

Lush's Fairtrade Foot Lotion (£7.59 for 225g, www.lush.co.uk).

Spearmint and peppermint oils lend the cream a refreshing scent, while the marigold herbs help relieve stress and keep the feet cool. The lotion's also packed with Fairtrade shea butter.

The verdict? "I wasn't too sure about the smell of this stuff, as it's a little too sweet for my liking. But it turned my tired, cracked feet into polished and silky smooth skin, which is more than I can say of any other foot cream I've ever tried."

Neal's Yard Remedies Sensual Jasmine Shower Gel (£12.60 for 200ml, www.nealsyardremedies.com).

Boasting 62% organic ingredients, this is a shower gel for eco fans who like to douse their skin in extracts of honey, Fairtrade rooibos, and essential oils of jasmine and ylang ylang.

The verdict? "I found this a little drying on my skin, and hard to lather. And it smelled less like jasmine than it did like musk, but my boyfriend liked that so he's taken it away from me!"

Essential Care 2-in-1 Purifying Mint Mask (£20 for 50g, www.essential-care.co.uk).

If you like DIY facial care, this is the mask for you, as you mix the minty clay mixture together with warm water, flower water or yoghurt to create a mask tailored to your skin type. Packed full of sea kelp and green clay to detox, plus Fairtrade sugar cane and alpha-hydroxy-acids to polish, this mask is also Soil Association-organic certified.

The verdict? "My skin is quite dry, so I mixed the clay with some milk - a beauty regime first for me. But it seems the milk did wonders, as my skin isn't as tight in this heat. I've even had compliments that I look like I've been on holiday, which I haven't!"

Low Carbon: Halton Lea, Runcorn, holds Bee on Bike event for Woodland Trust

2009-07-02T11:11:19Z

A SHOPPING centre management team hopped on bikes to help tend Runcorn beauty spots.

The Halton Lea team was joined by Barry Kershaw of Rollright Facilities Ltd as they toured Runcorn's six Woodland Trust sites.

Cash raised by the seven-mile trip will fund the upkeep of the woods. The project will run in six Runcorn woods and the trust hopes residents will take part in woodland events, school sessions and conservation parties.

Halton Lea has chosen the Woodland Trust as its charity of the year and some events and has urged readers to look out for upcoming events and promotions.

The six woods are Haddocks Wood, Fountains Wood, Windmill Hill, Railway Plantation, The Gorse, and Murdishaw Wood.

Lindsay Bellis, Halton Lea deputy manager, said: "Halton Lea shopping centre would like to thank Phil Harris from JJB for supplying the bikes for the ride and all those who kindly supported and sponsored the event."

Low Carbon: Cheshire Wildlife Trust prepares to stage One Earth Festival at Bickley

2009-07-02T11:11:19Z

THE annual and highly popular One Earth Festival takes place at its new venue this Sunday from 11am-5pm.

After a long and successful stint at Grosvenor Park, Chester, the event will this year take place at Bickley Hall Farm, Bickley, near Malpas, the home of Cheshire Wildlife Trust.

"We have been working to make the farm visitor-friendly since we moved here in December 2006," said Jan Shone, acting head of people and wildlife at the Trust.

"Now that we finally have facilities in place, we wanted to invite everyone to come and visit us, to experience wildlife and the natural environment for themselves in a really fun and interactive way, and to explore the wonderful site we have here, that would normally be off limits to casual visitors."

With free entry, the festival will feature art and environmental activities including face-painting, nest box and dragonfly making, live music and food from local producers including Cheshire Ice Cream.

The activities will be based in two large barns, which are also home to a set of historic milking parlours.

Across the site there will also be pond dipping, mini-beast hunting, visits to native breed cows and sheep and guided walks.

Visitors can explore the wildlife- friendly garden and newly planted orchard, and are encouraged to take a picnic and stay for the day.

For further details, visit www. cheshirewildlifetrust.co.uk or call 01948 820728.

The picture shows Jane Shone of Cheshire Wildlife Trust.