I still can't think of floatation tanks without recalling Jennifer Saunders in Ab Fab. Word has it, however, that they've moved on - especially if a new emporium in Notting Hill called Float is anything to go by. The centre uses non-toxic products wherever possible - from cleaning stuff to printed materials - and is apparently positively zealous about recycling. Plus its beauty treatments employ organic toiletries from Living Nature (more about them soon). The big spot of good news is that, as a Hippyshopper reader, you can get 15 per cent off the cost of a floatation session or a beauty treatment at Float. All you have to do is mention Hippyshopper when you book on 020 7727 7133. You'll get 10 per cent off Living Nature products on the day, too.

The Cloud Appreciation Society has just won the YAHOO 'Find of 2005' in the 'Weird and Wonderful' category and if, like me, you love clouds (clear blue sky always freaks me out), you will love this site. See The Cloud of the Month, The New and Old Cloud Gallery, Cloud Poetry, Art and other fluffy stuff too cumulus to mention. Join up for £2.00 and you get a badge and certificate. www.cloudappreciationsociety.org (Ian Harris)

The kind lads and lasses over at Make a Difference (MAD) this month described Hippyshopper as 'probably the best blog on the web' in their newsletter. That's not why I'm featuring the MAD Show here though. Honest. The show, held 2-4th June at Earls Court in London, has earned its place on the grounds that it's promising to be the most comprehensive ethical shopping gig to hit town. The four main 'zones' are food and drink, travel and transport, home and garden, fashion and beauty; exhibitors are being confirmed. Tickets go on sale later in the year but you can register for an email alert now. Capital dwellers should also check out the London Sustainability Weeks (4-18th June) which I'll be writing more about soon.[written by Adam]

I'm downing tools on Hippyshopper until 3rd January 2006, when business will commence as usual. Our guest editor, Elana is going to take care of the site next week, so make sure you keep reading. Thank you, thank you and thank you to all those who've helped support me and Hippyshopper in its first 9 months.

In the interim, cast your eyes over some of this year's highlights:

• Dominic Bates' superb Organic Beers of the Week series
• Hippy Shopper's Green Gadget of the Year: the Voltaic solar backpack
• Dave Reay's rousing climate change book
• Arbor's eco-minded snowboard
• Fairtrade after-dinner mint chocs, organic choc-covered seeds, a new Green & Blacks rival
• Richard Taylor's beautiful recycled hat stands
• Wind-up torches, wind-up radios and wind-up remote controls
• How to: recycle your mobile, get rid of unused paint, drive and save money

Remember the fabulous eco-minded alternative to Habitat I wrote about recently? Well, Biome Lifestyle, purveyor of such fine homeware as these cushions - made from recycled vintage scarves - is offering Hippyshopper readers a 20 per cent discount in time for Christmas. All you need to do is head over to Biome Lifestyle's site, spend some cash and enter the discount code of 2H3G58AB to get your money off.

Know more than Vogue about ethical fashion? Regularly buy and taste the finest organic food and drink? Love solar gadgets? If you can write and know something about ethical consumer stuff, I'd like to hear from you. For now, there's no cash involved - the renumeration is simply the joy of the wordsmith and the prestige of being read on a site that gets more than a thousand hits every day. Interested? Email me with a sample Hippyshopper story - in the style of the site - on a subject you're interested in. Please paste it into the body of the mail rather than sending it as an attachment.

This isn't something you can buy, unless you're Roman Abromavich and have a few paltry billion burning a hole in your pocket. Instead, it's news to warm your cockles - Birmingham yesterday joined cities such as Brighton & Hove and Aberdeen by earning the sobriquet of Fairtrade City. According to the council's website, that means at least 100 local shops sell Fairtrade stuff, a minimum of 50 Brum cafes flog Fairtrade food and drinks and all tea and coffee at the council is Fairtrade. It's roit bosta news, innit? Check out the full list of Fairtrade towns, cities and boroughs for ethical brews on your 2006 UK summer holidays. [Brum Bullring photo by supermoving]

You’ve had the Oscars, the Brits and the Baftas. Now meet the Telewest Shiny Awards - the first ever alternative technology awards presented by Shiny Media websites Hippyshopper, Tech Digest, Shiny Shiny and Games Digest. Hippy's category is the best Green Gadget of 2005. You can find out which of the following four shortlisters cut the organic mustard on 2nd December.

Voltaic Systems Solar backpack
Citizen Eco Drive watches
Freeplay Devo DAB windup radio
Solio solar iPod and mobile charger

It's Buy Nothing Day. Bugger. I just bought some soya milk from Sainsburys Local. And bread from the local baker. Um, and an energy-saving lightbulb. It may, then, be a farce to most people, but there is something worth buying from Buy Nothing Day - even for a blog about ethical consumerism. The day's basically a good spot of education, a lightning bolt up the rear end to shock us Shaun of the Dead zombies into questioning why we buy unnecessary stuff and what the impact of all that stuff is. For a limited period, Buy Nothing Day is free for Hippy readers. Also check out Buy Nothing Christmas.

A big thank you to the ladies and gents of Vogue today for listing Hippyshopper as number 92 in the 2005 Vogue List. That's, ahem, above Jamie Oliver, who comes in at 100. In the magazine's own words, the List is the 'definitive top 100: the trends, the people, the places' and Hippy 'caters to the needs of those of us wannabe hippies who can't quite sever our consumerist ties.' It's in the December issue of the mag; you can see the page by clicking on the pic on the right.

Related stories:
Princess high heels with ethics
Recycled vintage bags
Vegan heidi boots
Super recycled saris

Roll up, roll up - it's time to get yourself lathered and cleansed, organic-style. Hippyshopper has joined forces with Avalon Organics to give you a chance to win its entire range of organic health and beauty goodies. As regular readers will know, I'm a big fan of Avalon [story  here]. That's partly because most of its stuff is organic, partly because everything's made without animal testing, but mostly because the products just do their job with aplomb. To win the range of hair, body and skin bottles - worth £100 - all you have to do is email me with a suggestion for a Hippyshopper story. One lucky winner will be plucked at random on the  closing date, which is 18th November. Avalon will be sending the prize direct. Here's what you could get: Shampoo and Conditioner,  Shower Gel, Hand and Body Lotion, Roll-on Deodorant, Hand Soap, Renewal Facial Serum, Ultimate Moisture Serum, Daily Moisturiser, Facial Cleansing Milk, Facial Cleansing Gel, Exfoliating Enzyme Scrub and - last but not least - Hydrating Toner.

What's new from some of our other top blogs this week?

Pop Junkie (Great Lost Pop Albums): Kylie - Impossible Princess, Bettie Serveert - Palomine, Paul Weller

Bayraider (eBay Blog): Enough with the crazy frog!, Bob Dylan tape, Pepsi bottle with a razor blade in

Tech Digest: 02 launches Xda sp, NTL buys telewest for $6 billion, Wireless cameras arrive in the UK

HDTV: Tosh's top-end LCD HD sets, First laptop with a HD-DVD ROM announced, Microsoft and Intel choose HD DVD

It's go-go-go with new blogs from Shiny this week. First up is Pop Junkie, a homage to forgotten pop albums which already includes Presley's From Elvis in Memphis and is thus good by me. There's also Trashionista - a paean to the airport novels of this world - and HDTV, a guide to everything you need to know about the high definition telly that's coming to the UK in 2006. I suspect I'll mostly be found throwing in my penny's worth on Pop Junkie rediscoverd gems.

It's not often I blow my own (ethical, recycled) trumpet, but I found out today that Hippyshopper's been listed as one of the top six UK blogs by the British Council. The Council's Japanese mag listed Hippy as one of its "favourite British blogs" alongisde sites such as the brilliant Tube-obsessed Going Underground. The British Council's UK NOW is also online (in Japanese, naturally).

From Time Out, May 2005: