We all know what men secretly want for Christmas. That's right...power tools!

But do they - really? I've got to say I've never bought a man a power tool at Christmas or indeed at any other time of year, but someone must be doing it, or else we wouldn't be seeing all these drills and chainsaws covered in tinsel and lurking under Christmas trees.

Bosch has made a change from its usual offer this year, however, with a new range of 'green' tools. They include the XEO (pictured left) whose favourite chore is chopping up cardboard packaging to make it ready for recycling, while the kitchen stays free of clutter. It also works well on fabric, if you're into customising your own clothes. It's available now at B&Q for £34.99.

Not all griff-graff has to be an eyesore: Edina Tokodi's work is clean, green, alive and made of moss!

The eco-minded artist brings the greenery of the countryside to the city with her installations, many of which you can see at Inhabitat. "City dwellers often have no relationship with animals or greenery", says Tokodi: "As a public artist I feel a sense of duty to draw attention to deficiencies in our everyday life."

We Brits love a good curry, but how much better would your vegetable bhuna taste if you knew that part of its price was helping victims of the Bangladesh cyclone get their lives back on track?

The donation scheme was set up by the British Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce (BBCC), which called upon all Bangladeshi-owned curry houses in the UK to introduce the voluntary £1 donation in their restaurants. They've teamed up with Oxfam, whose Bangladesh campaign is detailed here.

[Via New Consumer]

I'm not sure when it started, but I seem to be harbouring a serious obsession for finding good energy efficient bulbs. Maybe it's because so many of them are utterly rubbish, but I do find myself spending longer than is really healthy staring at online eco-friendly bulb stores. And then I saw these fancy looking Plumen bulbs from Hulger and my heart skipped a little beat. Sadly, my joy didn't last very long: the bulbs are concept designs only, aimed at tackling the rather dull design of most energy-efficient lighting solutions. According to Hulger, it's "a reaction to the lack of real diversity, imagination and personality offered by the market today".

Belts are tough old things, which makes them tricky to dispose of, and great for turning into robust new items. You can even walk on them, as this vintage belt flooring goes to show.

And you can also turn them into strong and stylish bags! This vintage belt camera bag available at EcoCentric is made from carefully selected, discarded belts that the makers say 'improves with age'. If you are wondering why it is called a camera bag allow Susi from Shiny Shiny to explain: "You may be able to spot that the bag bears some resemblance to an old-fashioned Super 8 camera bag." [Via The Bag Lady]

The festive season is doing great PR for LED technology! We've seen that can now buy stunning LED fairy lights for your home, but they're also being put to good use in public decorations, including the spectacular Rockefeller Center Christmas tree in New York.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced yesterday that the tree will be lit up with LED lights for the first time - no less than 30,000 of them. It has been claimed that this will reduce the tree's energy consumption from 3,510 kilowatt hours per day to just 1,297 -- a savings that, as the AP points out, is roughly equivalent to the amount of electricity consumed by a typical 2,000-square-foot house in a month. [Via Engadget]

Watch this space for our forthcoming guide to a greener Christmas tree!

Today, I'm told, is thanksgiving. So it's appropriate that we've got some helpful suggestions to our question yesterday - on where the hell the US-based green gadget sites are hiding! So, if any of our American readers aren't already tucking into their turkey, they might want to check out the following sites...

C.Crane is top dog for gadgets, out of all the site's we've had recommended. There's a fantastic selection of windup radios, LED lighting and plenty more hi-tech eco geekery.

Gaiam.com is a really well-rounded eco lifestyle store, with loads of great clothes, accessories, home and outdoor stuff. But they also have a great solar living section with gadgets to get you as self-sufficient as you want to be.

Please keep your suggestions coming in!

You may have heard that this Saturday is Buy Nothing Day; a worldwide moratorium on consumer spending organised by Adbusters. Now, I'm guessing that this won't stop Oxford Street being thoroughly rammed on Saturday, but for those who do want to participate in the war on consumerism, there are all kind of pranks and high jinks to take part in that will send a firm one finger salute to the retail industry.

These activities include 'whirl mart', where participants silently drive shopping trolleys around in a long, inexplicable conga line without ever actually buying anything and public, ceremonious 'credit card cut-ups'.

If the thought of 24 hours without acquiring stuff is just too much to handle, many people are organising 'swishing' parties: clothes swap events where no money changes hands. Futerra, a company that organises swishing parties will be laying on special events to keep shopaholics sane on Saturday, has a special 'swishing kit' to download, which will tell you how to get started.

We *heart* LED lights. They mean you can have Christmas sparkle without the waste, and in this video Shiny Shiny's Zara and I got to have a play with the best eco-friendly lights I've seen this season. They're stylish and tasteful, designed by Oliver Heath, and available at EcoCentric.

We all know that ethical footwear doesn't have to be frumpy, but there's no harm in another designer doing their damndest to make that point. And Kitty Cooper, fresh out of fashion college, is doing a great job of flying the ethical flag for shoes at the moment.

At Kitty's Boutique, you'll find deliciously decadent footwear that'll get your pulse racing with excitement if you have even the mildest interest in shoes. (those with a more full-on fetish should look up their credit cards first). The shoes are made to stringent sustainable standards, and fabrics, ribbons and trims are vintage - from the 1920s to the 1970s, and hand made by a family business in East London. Enjoy!

So...yesterday, I got an email from Misty in Texas, bemoaning the lack of good green shopping sites in the US -- particularly for gadgets. "All the really great green gadgets I find are only available in the UK", says Misty. So what's going on? I had a root around to find out which American suppliers are going in for eco-friendly electricals.

I found that the UK is indeed unusually blessed with some very well stocked eco superstores, and I was surprised how few US sites focus on green electricals. But a good place to start in the US is Co-Op America's Green Pages. You'll find green products of all sorts here, and loads of very useful links. If it's just gadgets you're after, I'd recommend the following sites:

Greenfeet has a good eco-gadgets section. You'll also find green and ethical gifts, homeware, toiletries and baby stuff.

3R Living is great for gifts, and has a reasonably well stocked solar section.

If you've made the handmade pledge and are looking for more gift ideas (or just want to surprise someone with a unique pressie) you'll be pleased to hear about a great idea from the Etsy Trashion Team.

The crafters, who specialise in using recycled and found materials, have teamed up with over 100 online stores selling handmade goods of all sorts. The full list is here. If you see something you like in one of these stores, be sure to make a note of it because on two consecutive dates: Sunday Nov. 25 and Sunday Dec. 2, there'll be 20% off and free shipping for all items. I'm quite keen on Space Oddities, one of the participating stores where you'll find recycled gift tags and the 'happy owlidays' cards pictured above.

Related: Etsy Trashion Team has handmade chic all sewn up | Best handmade gifts for Christmas

howies is probably one of the most ethical brands out there so when I heard about their store launch I wasn't surprised to find that they've gone to admirable lengths to live up to their reputation. The measures include the introduction of e-receipts to save on paper and drinking water in the shop to save on plastic bottles.

The store is officially launching on the 28th November and you can bet we'll be there investigating the action. See after the jump for more images, and info on what the howies guys have done to green up their shop! [Via Catwalk Queen]

It was with some sadness that I finally accepted my second solar phone charger had given up the ghost. But after a handful of uses, on both models I tried, the charge no longer appeared, no matter how long I left the panel in the sun. I plugged my phone in - nada.

At first, I put this down to my own technical ineptitude, but then I spoke to two of the biggest tech gurus in this office, both of whom reported exactly the same failure to make their hand-held solar phone chargers work after the first few attempts. Why should this be? Is the technology just not up to it yet? I'd be fascinated to hear from anyone who owns a Power Monkey, Power Chimp, Freeloader or similar and find out what went wrong. Maybe our office is just cursed...

We've got an extra special prize on offer today: the chance for you to come and work with us at Shiny Towers, home of Hippyshopper and a host of other exciting lifestyle, technology, fashion and sport blogs. We have two 6-month internships available, starting from January 2008; one for a budding video presenter and one for a video production person. So, if you're a keen blogger who'd like nothing better than to make a career of your favourite hobby, this could be the perfect opportunity for you. Watch the video below from Tech Guru Susi Weaser to find out what you need to do:

The chosen candidate will get the chance to train and work with Shiny Media, the UK’s top video blogging team. This opportunity will allow unique insight into how we plan, script and shoot up to 80 videos every month. The Shiny Media videos are watched by an audience of around 50,000 every week, and this internship offers you the chance to gain skills that will help you develop your career in the video media industry. Click here for instructions on how to enter! All videos submitted will appear on our competition YouTube channel.