When it comes to Christmas trees, keeping it real doesn’t have to mean millions of trees being cut. The Little Tree Company is showing us the way forward: trees for hire.

A real Christmas tree is far lovelier than an artificial one – putting up a stunning natural fir in your home is one of those classic festive joys. But this Christmassy treat comes at a huge cost to the natural environment, with eight million trees cut each year, to bring cheer to our living rooms for a mere two weeks and then be left to die. It doesn’t have to be like this…

With The Little Tree Company, you can rent pot-grown living Christmas trees, which will then be collected when you’re finished with them and replanted back into their environment. The tree that you’ve decorated, enjoyed and looked after for a couple of weeks is then allowed to grow and continue its long life as part of Britain’s beautiful woodland.

The average tree will absorb one tonne of carbon, which offsets around 10% of your annual carbon footprint.

Tree rental schemes are inspiring and exciting for children, who can imagine the life of the tree beyond the time that it’s been ‘borrowed’ from the environment to provide its magical Christmas service for your family.

Christmas trees from The Little Tree Company can be rented for as little as £19.95. And they offer delivery and collection across the UK, which means you don’t have to worry about what to do with your tree after twelfth night.

For more info visit http://www.thelittletreecompany.com/christmas-tree-hire/

It may take a few weeks for your garden to attract an array of birds, but it’s worth the wait if you persevere – good luck!

For more tips on how to reduce the amount of food waste visit
Stop good food going to waste and
Start taking home a doggy box.

Turn your TV fully off when not in use, switch off unnecessary lights, wash your clothes a little bit colder and boil only as much water as you need and you will start seeing the results on your next bill!

Check out the new video on the subject from our friends at the Do the Green Thing:

Frankie and Mr Boots plug out

This energy saving, sci-fi adventure was imagined, illustrated, animated and edited by the out-of-this-world talent that is Phoebe Parsons.   It was produced by standard earthling Olivia Knight

The Energy Saving Trust estimates that the average UK home can save around 1.1 tonnes of CO2 and £280 per year by taking some simple energy saving steps.

Find out more:

http://www.startuk.org/save-energy/easy-energy-savings-.aspx

http://www.startuk.org/events/bq-simple-step.aspx

http://www.startuk.org/save-energy.aspx

A brand new eatery in London Fields, Happy Kitchen is leading the way in sustainable, health-giving, ethical food. A bakery at heart, but also serving salads and nourishing natural stews, this lovely cafe is all about delicious food that’s nutritionally pure and prepared with a low impact on the environment.

The first thing you might think of when you picture a bakery is sugar. But, this is a sugar-free zone. Here they only use omega-rich oils such as hemp, flax, olive and coconut to create their fabulous gluten-free, sugar-free, egg-free treats. They don’t use water on the premises, either – even for washing the vegetables. It goes through a reverse osmosis machine and is then re-mineralised before being served in water jugs on the communal tables.

A unique, and heart-warming foodie first, Happy Kitchen is showing how well you can eat sustainably without losing out on flavour or variety – and without losing that sense of treating yourself. And just this month they’ve launched a series of pop-up restaurant nights in collaboration with Wholefood Kitchen which celebrate feel-good food. The next events have been confirmed for November 11^th, with two Christmas specials on December 9^th and 16^th. For more information, visit the Happy Kitchen online at http://www.happykitchen.org.uk/.

Thousands of gardens and orchards bear an overwhelming abundance of fruit. In many cases much of this fruit is forgotten about, left to rot or finally cleared away to be composted. But there is a way we can treasure our garden-grown fruits and stop them going to waste. Fruitshare allows people to register free of charge as a Fruitsharer or Fruitseeker and post details of their surplus fruit on a ‘Fruit Available’ list or post their requirements on a ‘Fruit Wanted’ list. The lists are sorted by distance, to allow users to find or give fruit locally. Fruitsharers and Fruitseekers can then contact each other via the website to make arrangements for collection.

Fruitshare is encouraging a positive community spirit, is as local as you could possibly get, and might even refine our baking, preserving and cider making skills as we try new fruits. In the process we could discover old heritage varieties, taste fruits we’d never normally get the chance to savour and hopefully make some new friends too. It’s an initiative founded by RHS award-winning gardener/designer Sharon Hockenhull and developed with the help of Richard Borrie from Orange Pippin. For more information visit the website at http://www.fruitshare.net/.

The National Trust is holding its first ever Festival of Walking from October 22^nd to 30^th, and we think this is a brilliant time of year to get outside and start really appreciating our natural landscape and our freedom to walk around it.

More than 1,000 events will be happening during the festival to help people get outdoors and closer to nature. The events are all different types of walks, from ‘little rambles’ which are 0-3 miles, ‘jolly rambles’ at 4-9 miles, to 9+ mile challenges such as the 18.6 mile walk starting from Morston Quay to Brancaster Millennium Activity Centre.

The walks are all completely free and you don’t have to have advanced walking gear to get involved; many of the walks are gentle ambles designed for families, and essential walking kit will be provided. Whichever walk you choose to join, you’ll be able to stop off for a hot chocolate somewhere along the walk, pause to take in the many beautiful views, autumn landscapes and wildlife, and perhaps pick some berries to take home. The Trust has also put together a list of walks of different lengths that you can do in your own time.

Good for the mind, body and soul, walking is the simplest form of exercise, and gets us outside and connecting with nature. Find out more about the Festival of Walking here. http://beta.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/activities/walking/walking-festival

Once you have bought your own branded life-time aluminium bottle you can fill it up for free at any tap provider as many times as you like - just ask at the till.

It’s a great way of staying hydrated, helps the environment and saves you a lot of money too. And it doesn’t stop there - GiveMeTap was created to help fund clean water projects in Africa and raise greater awareness around water issues that face us around the globe.

For more information on how to find your closest tap provider or on how to become one yourself, go to http://www.givemetap.co.uk.

Running on a battery powered motor that lasts up to 30km before needing recharging, this slim and stylish bike can get up to 22km/hour. It’s a clever alternative to using a car for errands around town, and can be stored along a hallway or in a garage just like a two-wheeler. And it can be folded easily too.

With innovative steering and suspension, the tricycle feels just like being on two wheels, while the added support of the double wheels at the back makes it extremely efficient for carrying a child in the children’s seat with safety lock, or shopping contained in the suitcase which comes in a variety of subtle, urban colours. The extendable platform can hold up to 150 litres in weight – more than the trunks of some small cars can carry.

Hackney Wild bread, from e5 Bakehouse

Tasty baking from the heart, delivered by bike…use your loaf!

It’s not the Hovis ad, but the delivery boy from the e5 Bakehouse in Hackney! Tucked away in a spruced up railway arch in East London, the E5 Bakehouse is a truly organic bakery. 

Featured at the Start Pop-up Restaurant at Lancaster House, the e5 Bakehouse uses locally milled organic flours to create a variety of sourdough breads with exotic names such as Hackney Wild, Borodinsky Bread and Seeded Multigrain. All are hand-mixed and shaped before going through a slow fermentation process creating a healthier and more flavoursome loaf.

Hands up if you’ve ever felt overwhelmed, confused or defeated when trying to pick out the better, more sustainable choices during your weekly supermarket shop.

You have? Us too! In fact, so many people find ethical shopping tricky that we’ve taken a stand. Start has teamed up with our partner Waitrose to make shopping responsibly so much easier.

For two weeks starting on the 29^th September, our little blue triangle will be appearing in Waitrose stores everywhere to point out the most resource friendly choices (and give you the reason why!). So, if you’ve ever wanted to get started being a more sustainable shopper – there’s never been a better time.

Just head into Waitrose and look out for the blue Start triangle – you might just find they’ll be pointing out some really good offers too!

And don’t forget to check out Start’s Facebook page and follow us on Twitter, where we’ll be giving you ideas of how to Start something good (look out for the hashtag #treadlightly).