If you run a fleet of white vans or are a white van driver yourself you should have a good look at Smith Electric Vehicles. Their Edison van, based on a Ford Transit, is fully electric and beats a diesel from 0-30mph. Come on, that has to entice the average white van man – good for a race off the lights or nippy over-taking.

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Yes, you heard me right, you can carbon offset your sprog, your driving and your flights. Allgreenthings.net offers various Carbon Clear packages. Many parents choose disposable over re-usable nappies. With a Carbon Clear package for £10, you can help to offset 650kg of greenhouse gases created by your baby’s nappy use for the first 2.5 years of life, via the planting of 7 trees. These trees will absorb: nappy manufacture, including transport to the retailer, electricity and packaging at the retailer, transportation to your home and disposal impact, including land use and methane emissions.

The British Gas site make it greener now is currently giving away Green Survival Packs containing energy-saving lightbulbs, tips on saving energy and various other items.

I can’t really comment on whether this signals a genuine commitment to saving energy and cutting emissions or if it’s more a ‘jumping on the bandwagon’ gesture, but maybe the pack might be worth getting, if only to show British Gas how many people are concerned about this issue. It appears that you don’t have to be British Gas customer to benefit from this offer although of course, you will be sending them your contact details!

The pack is advance marketing for July’s Fete for the Future which includes a British Gas Sustainability Station as well as music, theatre and organic food.

PODs, the UK's first and only green courier, is launching this month. Using a fleet of delivery vans running on either electricity, LPG or a mix of low-sulphur Biodiesel, the Heathrow based company has invested £2 million in alternative energy vehicles. They will have three electric-powered Modec delivery vans, each with a range of 100 miles on a single charge, and another 15 vans which run on LPG.

Olympic gold medalist Linford Christie has been signed as the face of the company, I assume because they want to give the impression that they are fast, even though Linford also runs on biofuel. PODs are aiming to capture clients such as internet-based companies who rely on couriers to run their businesses.

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If you are keen to step on the recycling path but are worried that you might trip up, get yourself a copy of Recycle – The Essential Guide (Black Dog Publishing) from Ethical Superstore. This book discusses the necessity of recycling on an individual and global scale, demonstrating what the reader as an individual can do in their own home, to make a difference.

The book kicks off with an introduction from renowned Guardian journalist, Lucy Siegle, where she discusses recycling in the the global economy and raises questions about the future of recycling.

There are thorough sections on recyclable materials, how they affect the environment, and how the each individual reader can initiate the recycling process.

These 'tree trunk' memory sticks really made me giggle. Clearly designed for the 'want to be green but not quite sure what it means' brigade, they aim to make your electricity-guzzling PC look eco-friendly.

While there's clearly nothing green about these gadgets (trees were harmed in the process, too), they are a great example of a certain trend towards greenness that's based purely on image. I can imagine the same people that bought Anya Hindmarch bags in great big polythene carriers plugging these into their wood-encased laptops and 'feeling all warm and fuzzy inside' - but not quite knowing why.

On a recent sojourn to my local Goldsmith’s jewellers, I was pleased to discover that Goldsmith’s diamonds are all conflict free. I hinted to my partner that perhaps he could buy me an engagement ring from Goldsmiths, but he looked rather concerned, so I have given up on that one. Back to my point, Goldsmith’s acquire all their diamonds through legitimate sources that have no involvement in funding conflicts and all diamonds comply with the United Nations Resolution.

The diamond trade in Africa is financing the activities of a range of rebel groups, causing death and suffering to hundreds of thousands of people and that is apart from the environmental issues of diamond mining in general.

Recently my partner and I have been thinking (well actually dreaming) or moving to the countryside and when we do it would be nice if we could grow our own fruit and vegetables. Unfortunately we are both very lazy when it comes to lawn sprucing and complete garden novices, so to help us out I am planning to purchase Let’s Grow Veg magazine.

This new publication comes with everything you need to create your own vegetable plot, including: information about how to plant and harvest your own produce in easy steps, advice from leading experts such as Alan Titchmarsh and celebrity recipes.

Sandicliffe Motor Group is the UK’s first major car retailer to actively promote the sale of eco-friendly cars as well as reducing carbon emissions from its own day to day operations. The network, comprising 10 dealerships of Ford, Mazda, Chevrolet, Suzuki and Kia, is one of the largest motor groups in the Midlands. Their initiative will see labelling all new cars on sale with an efficiency rating to help customers understand the environmental impact of each vehicle. It also offers free environmental engine tests across its Rapid Fit centres to provide drivers with advice on how to make their own cars run more efficiently and has introduced an emission control service available at every dealership, which improves a car’s emissions levels by cleaning the fuel system. The sceptics among us will always be on the lookout for companies pulling the green wool over our eyes in an attempt to woo eco-custom, although when you read the rest of Sandicliffes commitments the sceptic may think again.

Related stories: Vectrix electric scooter | Green car guide

How’s this for a headline: “Murdoch turns his empire carbon neutral” or this: “Rupert Murdoch buys a hybrid car” Well according to The Independent both of these are true. The owner of News Corporation has turned green! Mr Murdoch is aiming to convert his world-wide operations’ carbon footprint of 641,150 tons a year to carbon neutral by 2010. As well as changing the way his organisation deals with global warming, he has the potential to influence many millions of people through out the world with his media empire. He actually wants to use his media outlets ‘to raise awareness and to stimulate action’.

[Via The Independent]

On a daily basis we readily slather ourselves in an array of beauty and skincare products containing a cocktail of chemicals. The skin is the largest organ of the body and according to research some of the ingredients in these products can be absorbed into the bloodstream and circulated around the body, causing a range of negative health affects and scares.

To save you all the hard work I have taken the liberty of seeking out some great organic beauty buys that harness the awesome power of nature.

Something amazing is clearly happening if 560 big-wigs in business are attending conferences to cut their carbon emissions. The Low Carbon World Conference held in London last week hosted some top names in UK business including senior representatives from Marks and Spencer, Google Inc. and KPMG. The event closed with 93% of business leaders committing to measure their organisation’s COproduction.

UK’s first carbon neutral chair | Kodak Gallery: first carbon neutral cycling team

One of the disadvantages of ethical shopping is the rather hefty price tags in comparison to non eco-products. Whilst some of us are happy to dish out our cash, others are significantly put off by it. With that in mind Bags of Change have established a loyalty scheme where you purchase a stylish and robust, re-usable hemp-cotton bag, which awards you discounts on local, organic and Fairtrade products at participating stores. You will also receive a monthly e-newsletter, providing information on where to shop ethically in your locality for organic, sustainable and Fairtrade products.

Unlike the big prying supermarkets, Bags of Change do not track your purchases to encourage you to buy more rubbish; they simply provide information on where to purchase cheaper ethical products.

It costs £14.85 for a bag and you can choose red or blue, to best suit your wardrobe.

PC World is hoping to entice shoppers with their new 'green' PC, due to go on sale this autumn. Much of it will be made from recycled materials, and the company also say they will plant trees to offset the carbon produced from the manufacturing process, and advise customers on the most energy-efficient way to configure their new PC.

I'm not entirely convinced. Leaving aside any dislike for PC World as a place to shop, there's the question of whether planting trees to offset carbon emissions really helps. Would it be better to recycle old computers ourselves and make sure we save energy as much as possible, or is this a step in the right direction? we'll keep you updated once the product launches.

Related posts: Dell goes green | Google specs standards to save power - LOTS of power