Over the past years beekeepers and researchers have seen a worrying worldwide drop of bee populations, which could, if not addressed, could leave to bees disappearing completely.

Now Dutch based organic fruit and vegetables distributor Nature & More have teamed up with a number of NGOs to launch initiative Bees Love Organic to distribute 400,000 bags of organic seeds throughout Europe during the coming summer. The aim is to create over 400,000 square metres of bee flower pasture.

In the Netherlands, a popular 1,000 km long cycle trail that runs along farms and countryside will be transformed into a 'bee path' after more than one thousand environmentally aware cyclists have helped sow the seeds.

Further north, the Swedish Youth Initiative Program has created a flowering meadow as well as an online video that features buzzing students.

According to a Bees Love Organic campaign spokesperson, bees have better survival chances with organic farming, not only because pesticides are not used, but also because organic farming increases biodiversity. Nature & More founder Volkert Engelsman said: "Since the '90's of last century we have been trying to get across that 'organic' means much more than not using chemical inputs. Farmers in Asia, America and Europe, who work with us, recognise that the future of agriculture must lie in teaming up with nature, instead of fighting it. The bees are our allies, so let's support them."

Find out more about the campaign at www.natureandmore.com.

Anti-animal testing activists rejoice! Lush has put the horrific sequences of animal testing into a space where no-one can ignore it: one of London's busiest shopping streets.

Joining forces with Humane Society International, Lush Cosmetics today launched the largest-ever global campaign to end animal testing on cosmetics in its Regent Street store window.

Image via The Drum

Horrified shoppers witnessed the 'test subject', a young woman called Jaqueline Traide, being put through a series of tests that highlight the pain and cruelty inflicted on animals during laboratory tests on cosmetics.

Unlike the real life animals that through painful experiments each and every single day for the sake of beauty, 24-year-old Jaqueline had volunteered to be put through tests such as:
- Being force-fed, her mouth stretched open with two metal hooks
- Having irritant sprayed into her eyes
- Being restrained for ten hours
- Having a large strip of her hairline shaved off using electronic clippers
- Being manhandled by a lab technician

Publicly humiliated and nursing the red-raw skin on her cheeks after having various wonder creams put on her body, Jaqueline was, unlike helpless animals around the world, free to go home after the experiments had ended. The animals on the other hand will have suffered a miserable death.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, Lush campaign manager Tamsin Omond said: 'The ironic thing is that if it was a beagle in the window and we were doing all these things to it, we'd have the police and RSPCA here in minutes. But somewhere in the world, this kind of thing is happening to an animal every few seconds on average. The difference is, it's normally hidden. We need to remind people it is still going on.'

Humane Society spokeswoman Wendy Higgins said it was 'morally unthinkable' that cosmetic companies should continue to profit from animal suffering, adding there could be 'no justification for subjecting animals to pain for the sake of producing lipstick and eye shadow'.

Well done for Lush and Humane Society International for taking a risk and showing people exactly what is going on behind closed lab doors!

Sign the petition here.

More images and a video can be found on The Daily Mail.

London tourists certainly got a different view of Big Ben as blonde beauty Victoria Eisermann - the female winner of PETA's 2007 Sexiest Vegetarian in Europe contest - gave bloodbath a new meaning this morning.

Sitting in a bathtub filled with fake blood with a banner that read "Stop the Bloodbath, Dr Cable: Support EU's Cosmetics Testing Ban", the naked lady was in full view of the Houses of Parliament earlier today.

Eisermann and PETA's 'blood bath' took place to make a statement to the European Commission, which is considering postponing the 2013 deadline for banning the sale of cosmetics that have been partially or fully tested on animals after pressure from the cosmetics industry.

Why was Vince Cable, UK Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, targeted? Because he has refused to commit to backing the ban as scheduled. Naughty Mr Cable, very naughty.

"Everyone knows that cosmetics testing on animals is a bloody, indefensible business, but the government is standing by and doing nothing while the EU ban on selling cosmetics that have been tested on animals is under threat", says Victoria, a vegan and an ex-Playboy model. "Vince Cable needs to stand up for what's right, represent the people of this country and throw Britain's weight behind the 2013 ban."

In 2003, the European Parliament voted to end the sale of all cosmetics and toiletries containing ingredients tested on animals, setting a final deadline of 2013 for a full ban. Although the testing of cosmetics on animals is already banned in the EU, companies that test elsewhere can still sell their products in the EU until then.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk.

We love that feeling of doing something for the environment and living sustainable lives. Unfortunately, depending on where you work, it isn't always easy to keep up your good intentions during the working day. But now there appears to be even more reason for UK employers to reconsider their and their workers' green efforts.

According to a national survey, companies who take their environmental responsibility seriously are far more likely to benefit from a productive, happy and motivated workforce. More than half of the respondents feel they would be more positive at work if their employers were more supportive in their efforts to be green.

But all is not rosy. Despite a clear link between being green and happiness levels, 41% of workers said they had previously found themselves in awkward situations with their bosses in the past simply for trying to positively implement green practices at work.

All of this has left over one third (40%) saying they would avoid suggesting greener working initiatives as they're afraid it would be seen as 'nagging' and reflect badly on their career prospects.

It is a shame that UK companies are not more open for suggestions when it comes to creating a greener working environment and possibly a greener future. Luckily the study also found that a whopping 60% of workers look at the company's environmental credentials when applying for jobs, meaning non eco-friendly businesses are missing out on top talent.

How green is your office? Leave a comment below to inspire or condemn.

*The study was commissioned as part of Avery Green Office Week (14 - 18 May 2012).

Wouldn't it be great if there was a place where all sustainably produced goods were listed to make life easier for the conscientious consumer? Well this brings us one step closer to that reality.

The Rainforest Alliance has launched Shop the Frog, a consumer directory of all Rainforest Alliance Certified products available around the world. Wherever you are, you can now locate goods that support a healthy environment and good conditions for workers, families and communities with just a few clicks. All you have to do is specify which country you'd like to shop in, pick between five categories, including food & beverages, building materials or health & beauty, and select the type of product you're after.

At present, Shop the Frog features more than 300 brand names, retail locations and online retailers that all carry the green frog seal of approval - a sure sign what you're buying is good for you and the environment. But there are still many categories to expand on, so if you represent a frog carrying product, do make sure you're on the list!

Visit the site today and find out where you can Shop the Frog.

Two weeks into my newfound pescetarianism, I've had some negative comments (mostly from people who don't really eat much greens or fish in general), but I'd like to think that's just ignorance. Overall most of my friends and family have been extremely supportive, and when I said no to lamb for Easter lunch at a friend's place they dished up salmon instead.

I am now doing my part and am feeling much better for it (am not missing meat much to be honest), and this latest piece of research will certainly make me think more than twice about returning to my carnivorous past.

New research warns that meat eaters in developed countries will have to cut their meat consumption by 50% to avoid the worst consequences of future climate change.

According to guardian.co.uk, a study published in Environmental Research Letters warns that we have to make drastic changes in both food production and at the dinner table by 2050 to prevent 'catastrophic global warming'.

Food production and the fertilisers used in farming are responsible for a significant share of the global warming that causes climate change. Only by cutting the use of fertilisers by 50% and persuading consumers in the developed world to stop eating so much meat can climate change be prevented, researchers are now warning.

As most people in the developed world consider meat a staple part of their diet (see mention above) it will not be an easy task to change this behaviour. Even more worryingly, in developing economies like China and India meat consumption is now rising along with prosperity.

Artificial meat could be a solution, and the fact is that, with a rapidly expanding population, we simply can't afford to continue to consume the volume of meat as we're currently doing.

While I'm not saying that everyone should stop eating meat altogether - some of my friends have said they never could - I do wish people did think more about where their food is coming from, how farming is impacting our planet and be more aware of their actions. It is all part of a chain: eating less meat would reduce the demand for fertilisers to grow feed crops for cattle and pigs. A reduction in demand for meat would reduce the number of farm animals required, which in turn would reduce the amount of manure produced - fertilisers and animal manure causes nitrous oxide which is the most potent of the greenhouse gases causing climate change.

What can be done to reduce meat consumption? What should governments do?

I, personally, can't help but think now that steak, as yummy as I still think it can be, was once a bull like Ferdinand...

Joss Stone has become the latest celeb to support BUAV's new global non-profit organisation Cruelty Free International and its mission to end product testing on animals worldwide.

Shockingly over 80% of the world still allows animals to be used in cruel experiments for the sake of beauty. Despite progress with some countries and companies, animals that many consider pets, such as rabbits, guinea pigs, mice and rats, are routinely injected, gassed, force-fed or killed for cosmetic testing.

Joss Stone said: "I'm proud to support Cruelty Free International. At last someone has stepped up to the plate to take on the task of ending cosmetics tests on animals around the world."

"Thousands of animals continue to die each year for lipstick, toothpaste, fragrance and other products, so it's crucial that we campaign for a global ban. Cruelty Free International has taken on this challenge and I am pleased to support them, and I urge you all to do the same."

Stone joins UK actor Ricky Gervais, who is the Ambassador of Cruelty Free International. See what Ricky has to say below:

Over half of the UK's population cannot see stars in the sky because the night skies are still 'saturated' with light pollution, campaigners have warned.

The Campaign to Protect Rural England and the Campaign for Dark Skies recently undertook the annual Star Count survey and of those who participated only 53% failed to see more than 10 stars in the Orion constellation.

Despite attempts to curb street lighting the problem remains. It is a sad fact that many children growing up in Britain today will never see the Milky Way and the billions of blinking stars in the sky.

Speaking to the BBC Bob Mizon of the CfDS said: "It's like a veil of light is being drawn across the night sky, denying many people the beauty of a truly starry night.

"Many children growing up today will never see the Milky Way; never see the unimaginable glory of billions of visible stars shining above them," he said.

The government has now for the first time issued a national guidance that will encourage local planning authorities to reduce light pollution through urban design improvements.

This is great news, for as someone who grew up witnessing the starry night sky in the darkness of the Arctic regions, it is truly a wondrous sight. I would not be without it and I believe everyone should be able to see it with their own eyes.

We all have clothes in our wardrobe that we don't wear, but exactly how many bras have you got gathering dust in your drawers? According to new research by charity Oxfam, British women are guilty of hoarding nearly £1.2billion worth of bras! Perhaps the bra doesn't fit just right or it was an impulse purchase, but if you're not wearing it why not donate it to charity?

Oxfam has launched the 'Big Bra Hunt' and is appealing for women to donate their forgotten bras to the charity. The hunt, which is supported by Helen Mirren, Zoe Ball and Miquita Oliver, takes place throughout April with Oxfam hoping to collect one million bras.

Some of these bras will be sold in Oxfam shops around the UK, while others will be sent to Frip Ethique, a project run by Oxfam in Senegal that sorts and trades unsold second hand clothes from Oxfam and provides essential employment for disadvantaged women in West Africa.

Helen Mirren, says: "Before I heard about this campaign I had never thought to donate my bras to Oxfam. I'm sure many women have a number of bras stowed away left untouched for years. The Big Bra Hunt really highlights how every last item donated to Oxfam can be used in a truly unique way, making a real difference to people all around the world."

So ladies, bring your unwanted bras into an Oxfam shop near you and do your bit for charity. For other ways to donate please visit www.oxfam.org.uk/bra.

New research commissioned by Lib Dem MP Jo Swinson has found that, despite promises from the confectionery giants, little progress has been made to reduce card and plastic waste and improve recyclability associated with the popular Easter eggs.

80 million Easter eggs are bought every year which generate an estimated 3,000 tonnes of UK waste (Wrap), and the 2012 Easter Egg Packaging report shows the percentage of Easter egg boxes that is taken up by the actual chocolate egg (that's what we all want really) has not been reduced from last year's 38%.

The report also criticises some manufacturers for failing to ensure that their packaging is made from widely recyclable materials - we all know what a headache that can be as different councils seem to have different rules for what can and cannot be recycled. Luxury eggs from Thorntons, Baileys and Marks & Spencer all continue to use plastic packaging that is not recyclable in most local authorities, MP Jo Swinson found. This means that a vast amount of the Easter egg packaging will end up in landfill sites once the chocolate has been devoured.

This year though, Nestlé has become the first major confectioner to make its full Easter range 100% recyclable. Nestlé is behind one in five Easter eggs sold in the UK, so this move is set to save 726 tonnes of plastic waste going to a landfill this Easter. The company has among other things swapped the 48 tonnes of plastic used to secure mugs and eggs with recyclable cardboard certified by the FSC and a compostable film for the windows. This is a 30% reduction in packaging on mug eggs.

It is time for manufacturers to stop hiding behind green credentials and look at what in reality can be widely recycled. Alternatively perhaps the UK should look to its neighbours in the north, where papier-mâché eggs filled with sweets is the norm for Easter. These are great for the environment as they can be re-used year after year, and double-up as decoration around the house.

The latest Egg Packaging study, the sixth year it has been published analysed 11 eggs and drew comparisons between eight brands also surveyed between Mars, Nestlé, Cadbury, Thorntons, Sainbury's and Marks & Spencer.

I am not a vegetarian... yet. But more and more I am moving towards a pescaterian diet. Hey I'm from Scandinavia and will never be able to give up seafood. But an article in today's Independent about the thick pink paste American food producers add to many popular products is enough to make any normal person's stomach turn.

In the land where pizza is classified as a 'vegetable' (someone needs to educate them) scientists have found a way to turn the scraps from the abattoir floor into a substance called 'pink slime'. They clearly didn't have a PR involved in the naming of the stuff. This pink slime is then added, unknown to consumers, to things like hamburgers, tacos and other beef-based junk foods. Why? To make the mince go further.

The process goes something like this: add the cow scraps into a heated centrifuge to separate the fat from the putty. Then treat the substance with a chemical used in household cleaners to kill off salmonella and e-coli (how kind) and mix with regular beef.

Now it is a while since I stopped eating McDonald and Burger King burgers (remember that photo of the McD burgers one year on... That was why I stopped). These companies have now stopped adding the slime to their burgers, but I am staying far away from them either way.

The pink slime has been legal to sell in the US since 2001, and today more than half of the ground beef sold in America contains the stuff. A sneaky legislation also doesn't make it necessary to mention it on the ingredients lists. Luckily this pink slime is banned in Europe.

Now I am all for finding solutions to make food go longer, such as growing meat in a laboratory, if it means a more sustainable food future for the world. But adding something clearly unhealthy to spend less on actual produce, in this case beef, is disgusting.

Ahead of Earth Hour 2012, WWF has launched an interactive website - Foodstory - that highlights some of the problems the world is facing when it comes to food sustainability and global hunger. These include:

Producing the meat and dairy we eat causes 30% of the loss of our natural world

30% of UK greenhouse gas emissions come from the food we eat

1.5 billion people worldwide eat too much while a billion people go hungry, which is quite ironic as enough food to feed the world and to create a healthy future for people and the planet

In the words of the WWF, 'If we want to keep our world brilliant we have to change how and what we eat.'

It is time to take action and call for the UK Government and its Food Ministers to develop a strategy to meet the challenge.

Earth Hour takes place at 8:30pm on Saturday 31st March 2012.

We're not sure this will be the saviour of the global economic crisis, but we like the sound of green banks. And if done well, it could place Britain among the top when it comes to creating a sustainable future for the world.

The first Green Investment Bank is designed to accelerate private sector investment in 'green' projects and is expected to employ 50 to 70 full-time staff across its two sites in London and Scotland. The bank's headquarters will be in Edinburgh, while the main transaction team will be based in the City of London.

Business secretary Vince Cable said: 'This decision will allow the GIB to operate effectively and achieve its mission of mobilising the additional investment needed to accelerate the UK's transition to a green economy.'

The state-owned bank will get £3 billion in public funds to help companies fund clean energy schemes and encourage private sector investment in similar projects. The Government said it will invest in green infrastructure projects from April, which include offshore wind power generation, commercial and industrial waste processing and recycling, energy from waste generation, non-domestic energy efficiency and support for the Green Deal will be the first priority sectors for the GIB, subject to approval by the European Commission.

Yeo Valley, the UK's biggest organic brand, has become the latest addition to the Soil Association's Ethical Trade scheme.

This means that all the milk used for Yeo Valley products - yoghurt, butter, cheese and milk - is now certified to Soil Association Ethical Trade standards and all products will have the Ethical Trade symbol on the packaging - showing they have gone the extra mile.

Soil Association Ethical Trade standards are an added extra to the Soil Association's existing organic standards. The standards were launched in 2008 following long standing calls to create a 'fair trading' scheme for organic farmers, in both the UK and abroad.

Sarah Compson, Soil Association Ethical Trade project manager, said: "One of the Soil Association's driving aims is to ensure that good food is available to everyone in society. For us good food is not just organically grown, minimally processed, fresh and seasonal, but it is also produced fairly - fairness being one of the four principles of organic agriculture as outlined by the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements."

It's great to see another organic business showing their ethical commitment as there is clearly an appetite for fairer trading. The Co-operative's latest Ethical Consumerism report sows that sales of Fairtrade Food increased by 36% in 2011 and overall spend on ethical food and drink was up 5%.

Find out more about the scheme on www.soilassociation.org/ethicaltrade.

Former California governor and actor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, has launched a new environmental initiative, Sustainia, that hopes to help people visualize a sustainable future using low-carbon resources.

With the support of the UN, Terminator star Schwarzenegger and Europe's climate chief, Connie Hedegaard are spearheading the virtual environmental campaign that encourages people to live a greener lifestyle.

The Sustainia initiative aims to show new and developing technologies, such as renewable energy and hydrogen-powered buses, on a virtual platform that will show people what an environmentally friendly world would be like.

Schwarzenegger says: "Being a champion in body building, in movies and in politics where I was able to lead California to renewable energy, energy efficiency, green jobs ... I believe it is important to demonstrate that sustainability is the better choice for all of us."
"For communities around the world and for the individual, the Sustainia award offers a multitude of benefits in terms of better health, more liveable regions and cities and increased productivity. But we need to actually see it to understand it. And this is what we will make possible."

Over the coming months, people will be able to visit, inhabit and help build the new world on a virtual construction site.

The project also comes with an accompanying book 'Guide to Sustainia, which was developed by Scandinavian think tank Monday Morning in a collaborative effort with 16 global companies, including Microsoft, Philips, Tetra Pak, and Cisco.

Visit www.sustainia.me for more information.