If you like staying in hotels with a difference, you might want to consider Das Parkhotel in Otteneheim, Germany for a future holiday: the concept behind it is possibly the wackiest example of recycling I've seen yet! All the rooms are made from converted drain pipes, each of which are large enough to comfortable house a couple of friendly humans.

I don't speak German, but I'm pretty sure that the customer comment "Es ist wunderbar ..." is a recommendation. So what does sleeping in a pipe actually involve? The 'pods' you stay in simple and modern with a double bed, storage, light, power, woolly blanket and light cotton sleeping bag. For the other hotel amenities like toilets, showers, minibar, cafe etc, you'llneed to visit the surrounding public space. Perhaps most interestingly, a stay in this recycled forest dwelling, you pay as little or as much as you wish. If this is stirring you to put it on your wishlist for a 2008 getaway, the park is open from May to October.

[Via Haute*Nature]

Being small, cheap and essentially pointless bits of fun, stocking fillers are top candidates for being wastefully and unethically made. But they don't have to be! Here are just a few of the best eco-friendly and fairtrade miniature items I've seen over the past few weeks of which eco-santa would wholeheartedly approve. They'll make great small presents for kids, or for your office secret santa.

An Onya Bag makes a great present as it's designed to be tiny, the name refers to the fact that it can be 'on ya' at all times. Available in loads of styles and colours, the plastic bag alternatives will suit kids and adults alike. They squish down into a little key ring sized pouch, so you'll never be caught without one. The original bag costs £6.50

Ecoutlet has a great selection of gifts up to £10. Browse this section for novelty recycled bottle openers, LED torches, fun bags and more. In their kids section there are fun mini lights, recycled lunch boxes and more.

Lush is my shop of choice for tiny gifts, and this year I'm happy to say the chain is greener than ever. Rumour even has it that the popcorn packaging they brought in last year is set to get even more earth-friendly as the company has plans to move its giant popcorn-making machine to a new location where it can run entirely on wind power! Choose from all the usual smellies, as well as Christmas bath bombs.

If you appreciated the chance to take the old rubber dinghy down the high street and had fun swimming to the shops this 'summer' you may be pleased to here that experts are taking the possibility of another rainy season in 2008 very seriously. In fact, they want floods to be given the same priorities as terrorism.

Sir Michael Pitt, who led a review into why a bit of extra rain caused such chaos and is advising the government said: "Despite the immense devastation - 48,000 homes were flooded - it could have been very much worse indeed." As well as the cash injection and contingency plans, he is now advising homeowners to put together a 'flood kit' consisting of quipment including torches, a radio, first aid kit and blankets.

Whether or not the powers will be are willing to listen remains to be seen. So if you want to be fully flood-proof next year, your first step might be to invest in a windup radio and torch! I knew that emergency survival kit would come in useful someday, but it seems incredible to think this advice applies to life in the UK...

Brilliantly funny cult comedian Mark Watson, whose efforts to be 'less crap' at green living have been the focus of his recent tour, is to bring out a book to accompany the highly successful stand-up run.

Having already harnessed the power of Facebook and MySpace, Watson is now moving into print to bring together his experiences of going from apathetic novice to fully-fledged eco-warrior. The past year has seen him pimping plant pots, bussing across Australia, staging a 24-hour green comedy show and being trained by Al Gore as a climate change campaigner. His initial aim was to halve his carbon footprint in a year but, he claims, 'the whole thing got rather out of hand'!

The book, to be published by Hodder & Stoughton will be out in June 2008.

I've always been a bit uncomfortable with the term 'global warming'. For a start, it's inaccurate - warming in one part of the planet doesn't mean a temperature rise in another, and particularly to us Brits, the weather getting warmer just sounds a bit to...well...appealing. It conjures up images of palm trees and parrots setting up residence in Yorkshire, much like this one.

So I think it's great news that this misleading terminology may soon be replaced with a far more realistic phrase: global weirding which was used in the New York Times last week. This acknowledges the fact that climate change encompasses all the strangeness, not only the temperature.

Here's another great gift idea for those who want to look good as they do good: high-end handbag designer Nicold Farhi has teamed up with photographer John Keane and Christian Aid to launch a limited edition fashion range, after witnessing the plight of millions of children in war-torn Angola - and to help fund work in the area. The bags were made brought out to coincide with Children in Conflict, an exhibition featuring Keane's images of some of those children.

Karen Hedges, PR manager for Christian Aid, explained: ‘Half of the Angolan population is under the age of 16, the majority of whom live in terrible conditions. It is a country rich in resources, yet after five years of peace millions of children are still unable to access even basic education and healthcare.'

Related: Bags of goodness in the Mulberry Roxanne

There's plenty going on in the green calendar this weekend, and for a bit of a European flavour, I've looked a bit further afield than the UK for this week's roundup. With the new, high-speed carbon neutral Eurostar service running from St Pancras, getting to the continental Christmas fairs has never been easier or more environmentally friendly. I just spent a weekend in Brussels checking out the winter wonderland that is the Plaisirs D'Hiver Christmas market, where you can see me slurping one of many glasses of delicious Gluhwein, and there's still time to fit in a trip before C-Day! Read on for more info.

Carbon neutral train-it to Brussels

You can now get to the Plaisirs D'Hiver Christmas market by Eurostar in approximately 2 hours from London St Pancras. Last week, my partner and I managed to book return tickets just a day in advance, so this is much more of a realistic last minute shopping prospect than it used to be! I was very impressed with the on-board catering this time around, which has switched from mostly uninviting, dry sandwiches with debatable veggie-option to offering a reasonable selection of organic and fairtrade teas, snacks and food. The napkins and even the bog-roll are all made from recycled paper, and as we reported from the grand opening of St. Pancras, Eurostar is doing all it can to make journeys carbon neutral at no extra cost to passengers.

At the end of each year, National Geographic round up the best animal photography as chosen by a panel of experts. You can see the nine winning images here, and as you'd expect, they consist of the beautiful, the bizarre and the just plain cute.

[Via Eco Worrier]

You'd expect the Aussies to know a thing or two about harnessing the power of the sun, and sure enough Adelaide in Australia has become the first city to introduce an entirely solar-powered bus to its fleet. Looking much like a normal bus, the 'Tindo' (from the Kaurna name for 'sun') will carry passengers for free around the city centre, and will re-charge as it goes.

Unlike most 'solar' vehicles, the bus has no conventional engine, so it's 100% solar, not hybrid. This makes it a very quiet and smooth ride and doesn't belch out smoke for any passing pedestrians or cyclists. If only we had enough daylight in London, I'd love to see the buses over here sometime soon! [Via EcoFriend]

As 2007 draws to a close, Shiny Media's fashion and lifestyle blogs are giving something back to the blogging community by compiling a list of the ultimate top 100 blogs. The definitive list will be published before the new year, but for now, here are the Top Ten green and ethical blogs as chosen by the Hippyshopper team. Enjoy!

1. Eco Worrier
This refreshingly down-to-earth blog from Times columnist Anna Shepherd is a personal record of one woman's attempt to live a more sustainable life. Never one to be swayed by bogus claims to greenness, Anna is a and trustworthy guide through what has become a maze of conflicting messages. Her posts are concise, relevant to everyday life and well researched, with a lot of witty observations that ensure the tone of the blog stays firmly on the right side of preachy.

2. EcoRazzi
This snarky, celeb-focused site is so of-the-moment it hurts (but in a good way, of course). Stars are falling over themselves to grab the latest organic it-bag or hybrid car at the moment, so there's no shortage of material for the site, which has itself just undergone a slick makeover as glossy as the celebs that grace its pages. Often the first to break big stories, Ecorazzi keeps a good balance between patting the Leo Di Caprios of this world on the back when they do something genuinely green and blowing a well-deserved raspberry at those nameless 'slebs who try a bit too hard to land on the eco-bandwagon for their own dubious ends.

Follow the jump for more great green blogs!

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Recycling really does make the world go round, and this creation proves that to a T. This waste paper basket is made from waste- 60 sheets of newspaper to be precise, and designer Studio Veríssimo has woven them into a traditional basket shape, which is none the less fully functional. It's a lovely unusual gift, and great for an eco conscious friend.. or yourself. Everyone will want your waste now and not in a scary stalkery way).

£40 from Magma

Related: Heal's recycle bin set: separate in style I Simplehuman's pull out recycler bin

This obi belt (£45) would make a great Christmas present for a fashionista sister or best friend and it's recycled leather giving you eco bonus points.
It's great for adding a dose of edginess to any outfit, use it to cinch in coats or floaty dresses to give your outfits a touch of tough. Look up obi-tying on the web to get that authentic looking knot.

The fledgling world of green gadgetry is to get its own event next year: the Greener Gadgets Conference due to take place in New York on 1st February 2008.

The global IT industry, itself responsible for around 2% of C02 emissions worldwide, has been told to clean up its act recently, and the launch of this event suggests that the geeks are taking heed. As well as showcasing the best in innovative, energy saving design and manufacture, the conference will be inviting some of the biggest names in technology to talk about what they're doing to make their companies greener.

[Via Engadget]

Our Christmas tree has finally arrived at Shiny Towers, and I was looking for instructions on how to make festive light bulb baubles when I stumbled on this fabulous idea for re-using old-style lightbulbs. Dead bulbs are just the right shape and size for making salt and pepper shakers and all it takes is a little wax, some soda bottle tops and ordinary household tools to make a pair of your very own.

The shakers, which you could also decorate using one of the many tutorials for making bulb baubles, are great fun and remind me of Weebles - the toys that wobble but don't fall down. Follow the jump for step-by-step instructions.