Heading to Vintage at Goodwood this weekend or perhaps Edinburgh Festival Fringe? Then you might want to check out the Container House from fair trade coffee maker Cafédirect. As well as being a place where you get complimentary coffee (always an added bonus) it's also a kind of eco-home.

Designed and furnished by Hemingway Designs (Wayne Hemingway and his daughter Tilly) the Container House is made from entirely sustainable materials and features, among other things, recycled coffee sack covered chairs from Restore and modified Graham and Brown wallpaper. Coloured bright orange you can't miss it.

See Tilly Hemingway explain the concept for the Container House here.

Get together with your neighbours this Sunday (18th July 2010) at The Big Lunch. It can be anything from a simple lunch to a full-blown street party with DJs and a home cooked feast.

To kickstart the event 100 people and a dog sat at a mightily long (48m!) picnic table at the Eden project in Cornwall.

For more information of the events near you on Sunday go to http://www.thebiglunch.com/map/find-a-big-lunch.php

Help raise money for tree planting in urban areas with Trees for Cities Summer auction. Due to run until July 10th, the auction comprises several great lots including the following:

* A meal at your home for ten people cooked by Tom Aikens, Michelin-starred chef of the Tom Aikens Restaurant, Chelsea (reserve £6,000)
* Jamie Oliver's back catalogue of ten books, all signed (£300)
* Two tickets to Latitude festival 15 to 18 July, featuring Vampire Weekend and Florence + The Machine
* Three tickets to watch the filming of Britain's Got Talent at the O2 on the 11 July from a private box (£600)

People can also make donations of any size, or purchase gifts from the shop on the Trees for Cities website. They can also come along to planting events from autumn to spring and help plant trees across London, Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield. They can also run the Tree-Athlon 5ks at UK cities.

Proceeds go to further urban tree planting activities in the UK and abroad. According to the charity, tree cover and green space have been shown to promote healthy lifestyles and lower crime levels by creating more welcoming streets and parks.

For more information, see the auction launch page here http://www.treesforcities.org/page.php?id=468 or Google 'Trees for Cities Summer Auction'.

Whilst we all bask in the increased temperatures of summers offerings, we might be likely to miss the 38th World Environment day. Whilst soaring temperatures might be heralded as a very welcome stranger, we might be forgetting that these temperatures also come at a price. It seems quite fitting then that World Environment day lands whilst these increased temperatures are at the forefront of our consciousness.

This much missed milestone has been 'celebrated' since it's creation by the UN General Assembly in 1972. This year the supposed environmental experts and top dog policmakers will be in Rwanda for the Environment and conservation conference with a distinct emphasis on biodiversity. i.e. Many species, one planet, one future. Given that the ecosystem rests so tentatively on the balance of the food chain, and many of these ecosystems are being slowly eroded and destroyed, we can only hope some steps to solutions emerge. The error of the androcentric perception that we as humans are removed from natures cycles is becoming increasingly acute with the numerous crises that stem from them.

Whilst the big decisions are in Rwanda debated, what can we do on this day to raise awareness? Apart from dumping our cars and talking about how this is definitely the year we are going to brave it and get a bike, obviously.

5 Ways to a Greener Weekend:

(1) Walk everywhere- with the weather as hot as it is, the last thing I would want to do is get into an overheated car. Leave a little earlier, and walk a little further. It's even quite good for you.

(2) Say no to the BBQ- with all those smokey fumes entering into the atmosphere so vividly, there's no way to deny their damage. Try a nice fresh picnic instead.

(3) Post-party recycle- Just think of how good it would be if the number of beer cans, plastic pots and plates that flood each park space every weekend, were picked up and put in a recycle bin afterwards. Seems simple because it is.

(4) Go veggie - with hotter weather, and need of fewer calories, how about watching your waistline with a bit of veggie food rather than the usual slab of beef. Cutting out the middle man (cow) means a greener future.

(5) Work on your garden- the more people who pick plants over planks of wood means more CO2 absorbed, less released, so get out your gardening gloves and make yourself your own little garden of eden.

For those who wish to go the extra mile, this weekend Camden is hosting the Green fair and bike fest on Sunday 6th of June. This is an annual festival in celebration of all things environmentally friendly, from life style choices to village green style greens this is a must see for the environmentally friendly family. Plus, very much sticking to it's eco-friendly ethos, it is entirely powered by renewable energy. Bonus points.

Internationally acclaimed sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik creates a sand sculpture to deliver a global appeal to 'Go Green to Save Earth' at Puri beach on World Earth Day.

For more information on World Earth Day check out this article in The Guardian which explains why we should all go vegan to save the planet.

Apparently a totally vegetarian diet can be produced with only 1,100 litres of water per day, while producing a diet that includes meat requires more than 15,000 litres of water per day.

Some activists will be showering in the street today behind a curtain that reads, "1kg of meat = 1 year of showers. Clean your conscience: go vegan".

To mark Earth Day and the DVD release of Avatar, Twentieth Century Fox is erecting a giant interactive replica of the Tree of Souls at Speakers' Corner in London's Hyde Park.

Due to be officially unveiled by Stephen Lang who plays Colonel Miles Quaritch in the movie, the Tree of Souls exhibit will be live for three days from Saturday 24 to Monday 26 April. Visitors will have the opportunity to bring the tree of souls to life manipulating the colours by plugging in their phones and iPods.

Local wi-fi and bluetooth networks will also allow people to upload images and messages to a screen built in the tree as well as being able to make social networking status updates via mobile.

Created using 20 miles of fibre optic cable for branches, sensors within the tree's trunk will change the colour and intensity of its glow in response to movements made by visitors to the tree.

(Artwork: Aaron Burr, http://www.avatar-forums.com/fan-art/5371-tree-souls-painting.html

Tomorrow, October 24, 2009 is 350 day, a day of international climate action taking place across the planet.

According to scientists, 350 parts per million CO2 in the atmosphere is the safe limit for humanity. Currently the level we are at is 387 parts per million which means we need to get act quickly to get levels of CO2 down.

Some of the events going on to highlight the urgent need for climate action include rallies in big cities, mountain climbers on peaks with banners, underwater demonstrations in island nations threatened by sea level rise, churches and mosques and synagogues and ashrams engaged in symbolic action, star athletes organising mass bike rides and hundreds of community events to raise awareness of the need for urgent action.

Every event will highlight the number 350 with people gathering at some point for a big group photo depicting that all important message. You can see the visual petition at 350.org.

To see what events are going on near you click on http://www.350.org/map

If you didn't know yet, today is the first ever Green Britain Day. Started to try and get Britain greener by the 2012 Olympics, there will be events around our fair country to raise awareness of environmental issues and to convince us to make a change.

It all kicks off with a concert at The Eden Project headlined by Paul Weller, and featuring Brit award winning Florence and the Machine. For more information on tickets visit the Eden Project website.

Visit the Team Britain website for tips and idea for getting greener, from throwing a clothes swapping party, to hosting a neighborhood lunch. For more information on the events happening today go here.

Diaries at the ready: If you want the chance to help those less fortunate than yourself this summer (while still having a damn good time) then get yourself down to the Smoke on June 28th and enjoy some fine Indian cuisine and some top entertainment at the prestigious Chelsea Conservatory.

The Pratham UK Indian Summer Party has been organised to help raise funds to try and improve the lot of India's 210 million children (half of whom are unable to read) by providing them with the education they need to succeed. The charity has already managed to help over 21 million kids improve their literacy and numeracy skills thanks to generous donations from the likes of IT super-hero Bill Gates amongst others. But there's still a way to go before Pratham reaches its target of transforming the lives of 100 million children by 2010.

Read on to find out how you can help

We're into the second week of Fairtrade Fortnight now, and judging by the official calendar of events, this second half of the event seems to be all about the tastier things in life: if you're in Brighton, you can drop in on Infinity Foods on North Road for a spot of chocolate tasting, all day with Divine. In Leicestershire, kids can take part in what's promisingly called a 'choca moneky challenge' at South Wigston High School, Wigston, while Bassaleg school in Newport is holding 'Bring a banana to school day'.

So what's the big deal with bananas?

London mayor Boris Johnson has given his backing to a new scheme which seeks to transform unused land in the capital into gardens and plots for locally produced food.

Capital Growth is encouraging enterprising Londoners to convert as many areas as they can to green spaces capable of growing food - that means gardens of schools and nursing homes, as well as the flat roofs of commercial and residential buildings.

The hope is to achieve 2,012 new gardens by the time the Olympics come around. It sounds like a lot, but with four years to go and a large amount of unused space available, it's not unrealistic to imagine that green-at-heart city-dwellers will rise to the challenge.

Find out how you can get involved - whether by growing your own, or by offering space to others - at Capital Growth.

[via Treehugger]

I do know that hearing the words 'charity' and 'comedy' in the same sentence can chill the heart, but Hot and Bothered promises to do nothing but warm it: not only is the charity in question a good 'un (it's the Rainforest Foundation) but there's a top lineup too, including Patrick Monahan the fabulous Josie Long, with XFM's Alex Zane comparing.

[Via Green Girls Global]

Many of us make an effort to avoid mass-produced clothes and accessories; a life choice that would once have been seen as a major sacrifice. But now, the craft revolution is in full swing, meaning we can make a 'handmade choice' towards goods made on a smaller scale that are often of better quality than their high street equivalents. As someone who loves seeing hand-made items on show, I can't wait to feast my eyes on a wide range of crafty goodies at a forthcoming show in the stunning surroundings of Crowthorne.

Follow the jump for more info.

Party season is on its way, but how can you have fun without stomping all over the planet? Eco My Party can help, with a new site full of products that are as green and ethically produced as possible -- all designed to make your event go with a bang. You'll find everything from compostable cutlery to fab eco decorations, including a lovely organic and fairtrade cotton bunting. Everything sold at the online store is biodegradable, so the only thing left 'hanging around' at the end of your party will be those last few stubborn guests...

Follow the jump for a few suggestions for how you can make your party a little bit greener...

Related: Eco-friendly party loot bags from little cherry | Throw a green party with disposable leaf plates

English wines are a bit of a guilty pleasure, in that they may only be possible as a result of climate change. It's only since temperatures have soared that we've started to see Vineyards in Sussex, let alone produced wine that anyone wants to take seriously. But they're also part of the solution, because now we can make wine to rival the New World and France, a delicious glass of white clocks up far fewer transport miles now we can grow it on our doorstep. And you can celebrate the best in homegrown vino at a festival taking place this weekend...