Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has been named top 'green' celebrity in a new survey, ahead of Jamie Oliver and HRH the Prince of Wales.

Rio Ferdinand - who is developing an eco-mansion in South East London - and Cornish TV star Dick Strawbridge were also in the top five.

The survey by Tata Steel Packaging Recycling also looked at awareness for recycling and found that nearly half (49%) of adults admitted their children know more about recycling than they do. Paper was the most known recyclable material.

Nicola Bennett of Tata Steel Packaging Recycling, said: "The results are testimony the work done by Hugh on sustainable living and the impact this has had on the public. It's also no surprise to see many adults admit children are the future when it comes to recycling as the average school now recycles 45 kg of waste a year, compared to a 138 kg per adult. This gap is very small when one considers the amount of waste an adult creates.

"Many adults identify with recycling products rather than materials which mean some recyclable products can be put in non recyclable waste. Steel, for example, takes many forms and your son's old bike is just as recyclable as a can of beans. More can be done to increase awareness of materials rather than just products as this will help adults follow the lead of children and help Britain recycle more."

The top ten UK eco celebs are:

Sunday 5 June is World Environment Day (WED) which is an annual event aimed at being the biggest and most widely celebrated global day for positive environmental action.

WED celebration began in 1972 and has grown to become the one of the main vehicles through which the UN stimulates worldwide awareness of the environment and encourages political attention and action.

It is a day for people from all walks of life to come together and ensure a cleaner, greener and brighter outlook for both themselves and generations to come.

This year the theme is Forests: Nature at your service (there is some interesting facts about forests below)

Now every little thing counts here: you can organise a clean-up of your neighbourhood or street; take a vow to stop using plastic bags; plant a tree or do some urban guerrilla gardening; leave the car and walk to work; or start recycling more. If you're lacking ideas check out the WED Pack for inspiration.

Now back to the forests...

Forests cover one third of the earth's land mass, performing vital functions and services around the world which make our planet alive with possibilities. In fact, 1.6 billion people depend on forests for their livelihoods. They play a key role in our battle against climate change, releasing oxygen into the atmosphere while storing carbon dioxide.

Short-term investments for immediate gains (e.g., logging) compound these losses. People who depend on forests for their livelihoods are struggling to survive. Many precious species face extinction. Biodiversity is being obliterated. What's more, economists around the world have proven that by not integrating the values of forests into their budgets, countries and businesses are paying a high price. One that ultimately impoverishes us all as harm to our forest life-support system continues each and every single day.

The winners of the 2011 Earthkeeper Fund have been announced. The initiative is a collaboration between Timberland and Project Dirt that promotes green activity in both London communities and nationally, and sees £10,000 going to the selected projects who will all receive funding of up to £2,000.

The winning projects are:

Brightwell Allotment Project: Is a joint enterprise between Brightwell Children's Home which offers short-term respite care for children with physical and/or learning disabilities and Merton Youth Justice Service. The fund will help plant fruit trees, buy compost, plant protection & tools.

Transforming the River Wandle Trust: The Wandle Trust has been organising monthly river clean-up events for nearly ten years. The trust enables local people to come together and work safely to improve their surroundings, making their community a better place in which to live. The fund will enable The Wandle Trust to buy wildflower seeds, 10 new PVC waders and to repair 40 of their older waders.

Together we can Grow, Jason Lee House: Is a 24 hour homeless hostel which used to be completely run by volunteers and still relies on many of them. They aim to prevent homelessness and promote the social inclusion of the clients into society. The fund will help buy a Greenhouse, Hedges, Tables & Chairs, Bulbs, plants and to ensure training on the above.

Homeless Hostels Food Alliance: The Homeless Hostels Food Alliance came about in February 2010 after homeless people and a staff member from the city's YMCA got together with 12 other hostels to address the food inadequacies in Liverpool. The Fund will cover relocation costs, stocking polytunnel with tree saplings (11 types), truck hire and a new irrigation system.

Dalston Eastern Curve Garden: The Dalston Eastern Curve Garden is an ex railway station line in Hackney. The space has been transformed into a place for people to relax and get involved in environmental workshops and to enjoy growing food. The Fund will help pay for a greenhouse, glazing, bricks and skilled trade.

City Farmers: City Farmers aims to create new growers, facilitate existing growing schemes and help local government engage individuals and communities through food. The fund will offer support for existing community gardens, seedling give-away days & mapping.

As well as funding, Timberland will help to promote the winning projects within its flagship stores. It will also offer its employees as volunteers to provide a bit of manpower where needed.

Previous winners include: The London Orchard Project, Pimp Your Pavement, Spitalfields City Farm, St Lukes Community Centre, Islington, Lewisham Hostel's growing project.

Actress Joanna Lumley posed for photographer John Swannell wearing the solid gold, diamond-encrusted Shere Khan Necklace, which is hoped to raise at least £300,000 for the Born Free Foundation.

Designed by award-winning jeweller Catherine Best to depict the tiger in Rudyard Kipling's 'Jungle Book', the jewellery holds 182 precious stones set in nearly a kilo of 18ct gold and has been independently valued at more than £500,000.

Joanna, who revealed her love for cats, big and small, in a TV show last year, described the necklace as "blingtastic" and compared it to pieces worn by members of the royal family.

She said: "I feel very much that it's almost a royal piece. The necklace is so special it can be worn with anything, though I feel a strapless evening gown and long evening gloves would show it to perfection. The moment you put the necklace on, it comes alive!

"It feels great, like a badge of office, but it's incredibly comfortable and easy to wear. It reminds me of the fabulous pieces in the Duchess of Windsor's collection - panthers and leopards. I adore extreme looks and this is blingtastic!"

The Sher Khan Necklace will be auctioned worldwide from yesterday May 31 until June 17, when a gala evening will be held at the Savoy Hotel in London to mark the 80th birthday of actress Virginia McKenna, who founded the Born Free Foundation.

Many of you will be putting the last efforts into summer and beach season preparation these days. Soon all those morning jogs during the cold winter months will pay off when you can head to the British beaches looking fantastic in your new swimwear. But which beach to go to?

Today, the Marine Conservation Society has released its Good Beach Guide for 2011, and the bathing water quality at UK beaches has reached one of its highest levels in the last 25 years. Hurrah!

Having measured the water quality at beaches across all of the UK and Channel Islands - 782 sites in total - the MCS awarded 461 sites with its top "recommended" awards this year, which is 42 more than in 2010.

In 2011 many South West beaches have done well, with several sites in Cornwall, Devon and the Isle of Wight coming up with trumps.

However, 46 beaches failed to meet the basic European standards which the Good Beach Guide uses as a measurement tool. The reason for this is that many areas that are hit by floods can still legally pump raw sewage out into the sea without very little monitoring - and this does not good bath water make.

Places that failed to get on the good list this year include Blacpool's south and central beaches, St Andrews' east sands and church beach in Lyme Regis, Dorset.

But it's not all doom and gloom. Two Cornwall beaches - Bude's Summerleaze and Par - that failed to pass in 2010, have now both achieved the recommended status ahead of this year's beach season.

Photo Credit: Tim Ireland/PA Wire

As part of my role as editor of Bridalwave, I stopped by the White Gallery International Bridal Design Fair this weekend to check out what's to come in bridal design in 2012.

One of the designers I came across was Sanyukta Shrestha, whose bridal creations, from her innovative bridal gowns to bridal millinery and accessories are embedded with her vision of 'love green - believe in ethics' ethos.

Sanyukta's original vintage-inspired bridal gowns and hats, radiate true romance that embrace the best from the 1920's to the 1970's.

Each style is made following ecologically green guidelines, with fabrics from ethical and fair-trade certified manufacturers. The making of each piece is made using innovative sustainable fabrics, such as organic silk, 100% bamboo, soya, 100% organic and fair-traded cotton and even banana!

Check out some of her designs below!

Oxfam today launches its first ever national emergency appeal for stock donations after it faces a stock crisis following a fire at its recycling facility. This is the biggest loss of donations in its 69-year history.

As a result, Oxfam is calling on the British public to help it overcome the unprecedented loss by donating any unwanted clothing and accessories to their local Oxfam shop or donation bank across the UK.

The fire wiped out the clothing stock held for Oxfam's popular festivals shop, which last year raised £250,000 and is scheduled to be at seven of this year's biggest festivals, including Glastonbury, Leeds and Bestival.

The appeal is being backed by big names from the fashion and retail industries including Whistles chief Jane Shepherdson and Red or Dead founder Wayne Hemingway.

Oxfam works in more than 70 countries worldwide, delivering lifesaving and life-changing work in everything from humanitarian emergencies to long-term work battling the effects of climate change. Oxfam's shop network is a vital part of this, generating around £23 million profit every year to fight poverty.

If you're a regular reader of Hippyshopper and a follower of eco fashion, you already know that ethical fashion has shaken off its 'hippy' image a long time ago. With our Eco Fashion Focus series we're trying to bring you our latest fashion forward green finds.

This week a tweety bird told us about Wear Chemistry. The label aims to make sustainable choices in sustainable fashion more appealing and to change people's perception of eco-clothing.

Launched last year, Wear Chemistry combine original design with great-fitting sustainable fabric (70% bamboo and 30% organic cotton), which means one thing: it's wearable!

Today, 12 May, Wear Chemistry took the catwalk for its new collection to the centre of London - and the busiest crossing - Oxford Circus to show shoppers the styles and designs available for both men and women.

If you like what you see you can check out their website or on Asos Marketplace.

Whether you eat fish or not, could you ever imagine a world without fish in the sea?

London landmark retailer Selfridges has launched a new initiative with the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) called Project Ocean through which the department store is collaborating with campaigners to increase awareness, inspire consumers to change their habits and to raise funds to help the world's marine life.

Launched today, 11 May 2011, the project is both a celebration of the oceans and a forum for conservationists to issue and urgent appeal for people to address issues of sustainability, overfishing and marine protection.

If we continue like today, we might experience a world with no more fish in the sea in the near future - and we don't want that!

Driven by this unthinkable prospect, Selfridges has given itself over to leading international marine protection campaigners and 22 environmental NGOs as well as high profile activists from the worlds of art, fashion, culinary arts and entertainment.
From today until 12 June Project Ocean will take over the store. Everything from its iconic windows, façade and atrium, to The Wonder Room, foodhall and restaurant will be transformed in homage to the ocean. The Ultralound will act as the hub of all activity so make sure you head down there to see it for yourself! Every Friday evening for five weeks, the Ultralounge will also emerge as the Dive Bar, and be host to musical acts and performances.

Former England and Manchester United footballer Gary Neville has finally been given the green light to build his new partially underground pad.

The eco-friendly house has been in the plans for a long time, as the 36-year-old has spent more than a year battling to win planning permission.

Gary will now start building the flower-shaped property - which has a striking resemblance to the set of popular kids' TV show Teletubbies - on the grounds of his £8 million estate. It will have four bedrooms, a children's play area and a swimming pool - all nicely located in its petals.

We wonder if MTV cribs will want to visit environmentally aware Gary Neville's home when it's finished. We applaud you for fighting for it Gary!

We're all for new and creative ways of using natural sources to produce energy. We've previously written how installing solar panels is an excellent way to use renewable energy sources, but underwater kites?

Swedish site The Local writes that Swedish company Minesto believes that "a device modelled on a children's toy will make harnessing energy from the world's oceans as easy as flying a kite."

Perhaps the world's oceans could provide a viable clean-energy alternative other resources?

The underwater kite solution, called Deep Green, harnesses energy from ocean tides and currents at a far more efficient rate than wind turbines above the surface. Moving - or flying - in a circular motion converting tidal currents into energy, the devices can generate 800 times more energy than if they were in the sky. This is due to the fact that seawater is 800 times denser than air.

The prototype model was included in Time Magazine's '50 Best Inventions of 2010', and Minesto has raised €2 million to develop the technology further and build a scale model that will be tested off the coast of Northern Ireland after the summer.

You might ask how this will affect marine wildlife, as these giant foreign objects are placed beneath the sea surface? According to Minesto, extensive studies have been carried out to see what will happen.

"One of the major obstacles has been the threat of things getting caught up by the tethers. We will place the kites far enough apart so they cannot get intertwined, but there is a danger of floating devices and fishing nets for example," Minesto CEO Anders Jansson explains.

Speaking to The Local, Jansson added that in ways the kites can actually have a positive environmental effect as the kites pump air back into the ocean which will help clean up the water.

Remember when we wrote about solar panels and the benefits of installing them on your house? Now it appears that householders are rushing to put exactly that on their roofs! (They must all be loyal Hippyshopper readers)

According to guardian.co.uk, government subsidies have tripled the amount of solar power in the UK over the past year as people, largely homeowners, look to make nearly £1,000 a year as a result of installing solar panels.

This is most likely a result of the introduction of feed-in tariffs (Fits) last year, which pay individuals and businesses for generating green energy.

Are you planning on installing solar panels to your roof?

Photo: John Birdsall/PA

Easter is over and you're feeling all the fairtrade chocolate you devoured over the long weekend. But there are only three working days until we can do it all again! With the royal wedding on Friday and May Bank holiday next Monday us Brits are set for another long weekend (perhaps a bit less sunny and less chocolatey) than the one just gone.

If you're lost for ideas of what to do on 1 May, this cool event we came across on Facebook might be just the thing!

Sunday 1 May 2001 sees the fifth International Sunflower Guerrilla Gardening Day, where guerrilla gardeners around the world unite to sow sunflowers wherever they see fit - such a nice way to bring some beauty to the neighbourhoods.

According to event listing on Facebook by GuerillaGardening.org "make a plan for 1 May and head out to a patch of public land" and we're guessing with some sunflower seeds and get planting!

If you want to see more of what the idea is check out this YouTube clip, and if you're taking part share your photos on Facebook and Flickr.
Happy sunflower planting!

We like it when celebrities put on their environmental boots and help raise awareness about issues.

The latest to do so is US rapper Pharrell Williams who has teamed up with Kiehl's to create a Limited Edition Eco-Tote, to help raise awareness for World Earth Day, 22nd April 2011. The eco-tote is made using Bionic yarn technology in which fabrics are created from recycling plastic bottles. How cool is that!

Unfortunately it is only US customers who take part in the Kiehl's 'Recycle and Be Rewarded' scheme - recycling their empty product bottles, jars and tubes at their local Kiehl's stores from April to June - that are eligible to receive the complimentary bag. We kind of wanted one for ourselves... Is it too late to relocate across the pond??

Former Pussycat Doll Kimberly Wyatt and British actress Joanna Lumley are asking people who are buying Easter presents to help save rabbits by buying beauty and personal care gifts that have not been tested on animals.

These products can easily be identified by the Leaping Bunny Logo that symbolises the product has been approved by the BUAV's Humane Cosmetics Standard, which guarantees a company doesn't test their cosmetics and toiletries on animals.

Kimberley, who is also the founder of a new cruelty-free cosmetics brand BM Beauty, said: "Please be kind to bunnies this Easter - don't buy animal tested cosmetics and toiletries when choosing gifts for your loved ones. Look out for the BUAV's Leaping Bunny logo."

Joanna added: "I'm helping rabbits this Easter by only buying cruelty-free cosmetics. Look out for the BUAV's Leaping Bunny logo."

Despite bans in the UK and EU that prevent animals from being used to test cosmetics and toiletries, products that have been cruelly tested on animals in other parts of the world are still allowed to be sold and the BUAV is campaigning for a ban that will prevent this from happening.

Kimberley and Joanna are not the only stars lending their support to BUAV to end cruel animal testing. In March, Sir Paul McCartney joined the animal rights charity in a European campaign.

You can sign the No Cruel Cosmetics petition at www.nocruelcosmetics.org.