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.

Music experts will tell you that the finest guitars are made using exotic wood, such as rosewood, ebony and mahogany. But as usual, voracious human appetite is taking its toll on the timber of the world and while guitar makers' part in the devastation of deforestation is relatively small - they are starting to feel the strain.

But one group of Finnish instrument makers claims to have found a harmonious solution in the "flaxwood tree"; a piece of mythical fauna said to grow in the northern woods around Joensuu in Eastern Finland, where vast misty forests abound and the locals' hearts are "full of music". But the tree has one major drawback...

Emily Tan writes: In an effort to channel the burning energy that fueled the women's suffrage movement into saving the planet, Oxfam has launched the Sisters on the Planet. In a series of moving short films, Oxfam argues that while climate change is a problem shouldered by all, it's the women who are hit hardest by it.

The films show the tale of Martina, who with her sisters in Uganda must walk further each day to gather water, and of Sahena in Bangladesh who, along with the women in her village are responsible for the safety of the community during the annual floods. Oxfam's stance is that women should be the ones therefore to spearhead the movement to rescue our environment by lobbying, petitioning and leading the way to "living greener".

Eco-Schools is such a good idea I'm surprised it hasn't appeared on Hippyshopper before. It's just common sense that if you really want to change the future then you have to approach the generation that's shaping it. Making ecologically sound living part of the curriculum means that thousands of children will take simple eco-friendly measures to be standard practice and use the time-honoured nagging technique to talk their parents and friends round.

The project provides an advisory framework for making schools more sustainable. This stimulates every child's environmental education and reduces the environmental impact of the school itself. It is not, it stresses "about environmental excellence, it is about your school starting to look at how it impacts upon the environment" and the way this can be managed.

Involving students in the process is a key part of this, and having conducted a self-assessment there is an award scheme for schools to show their progress within the community. An external assessment can lead to a coveted Green Flag.

The threat to biodiversity, global warming and human rights represented by the demand for palm oil is by now a well publicised one. Ancient rainforests are being destroyed to make way for palm oil plantations, a situation which is leaving a trail of havoc in its wake. Wild orangutans in Sumatra and Borneo are being threatened with extinction, indigenous peoples are being robbed of their land, causing violent conflict, and peat fires used to clear land for plantations represent the third largest contributor to CO2 emissions in the world.

The situation is not a good one. Especially when you consider that most of us are directly contributing to the problem, with one in ten products in the supermarket containing palm oil. For example, a whole 6% of palm oil produced goes into making sure you're not sitting at your desk emitting BO and frightening your colleagues (or perhaps you are, I don't know...). At least on this front, however, help is at hand - cosmetics company Lush has spent most of the past year attempting to develop a palm oil free formula with which it can create all its soap...

Newsflash! An answer may have been found down under, to the seemingly intractable problem of flatulent cattle. Yes, it's those farting cows again, but a breakthrough may be imminent...

Here's the science bit. Although kangaroos eat a similar diet to Daisy et. al, unlike cows, they do not produce large quantities of the greenhouse gas methane. This has got researchers quite excited about kangaroos' digestive systems, in the hope that a similar action could be replicated in cattle. And an experiment is about to take place introducing microbes found in kangaroos' stomachs into those of cows kept for meat and dairy products.

I know some of you super-organised people out there will already have started thinking about decorating your homes in anticipation of the festive season - and I imagine the suddenly rather wintery weather may well have been a catalyst! If you like to go overboard in the run-up to Christmas, but aren't so keen on the idea of the usual plastic, planet-pillaging decor, keep reading... Instead of tinsel and baubles, use potted poinsettias, rosemary, thyme and sage, branches of mistletoe and holly wreaths. Eschewing a tacky plastic tree is also better for the environment, as well as being far more aesthetically pleasing. If you look after it properly, you can use a living, potted tree year after year, and it won't get tatty round the edges like its artificial counterparts, or shed its needles like a cut tree.

If you need further inspiration on what to use and how, there's plenty of help out there. For instance, leafing (ho ho) through the latest Royal Horticultural Society Diary of Events this morning, I spotted a flower-arranging demonstration entitled 'A merry floral Christmas' taking place in Lawrence Hall on Greycoat Street in London on the 9th November - the demonstration takes place at 2.15pm, and is repeated at 4.15pm. If you're considering getting yourself a living Christmas tree, these tips should help you keep it healthy.

Dam Tam is a London-based company specialising in organic, ethically produced, eco friendly baby clothes. Their styles err more in the direction of minimalist baby fashion - using block colours and simple patterns - than the cartoony side of baby fashion, but this is no bad thing... I defy anyone not to adore these fairtrade organic cotton spotty trousers, or this organic cotton pink banana beany hat! This is baby fashion to appeal to stylish adults as well as babies (it's just a shame their gorgeous stripey organic babygro doesn't come in my size...).

It is evident throughout the site that the company is run exclusively by mothers - they even offer washing advice for their clothes tailored for babies with sensitive skin, as well as a links page full of useful sites for the green-minded mother.

Related: Kit N Kin street style baby gear

Leaked cabinet papers have revealed that Labour has no intention of implementing its proposed plans to make a fifth of European energy come from renewable sources by 2020. The papers say that although attempting to back down from the agreement would be a "controversial" move for Labour, it is a necessary one, as reaching the targets would be expensive and involve "severe practical difficulties".

Also included in the papers are rather shocking plans involving John Hutton, secretary of state for business, attempting to persuade Gordon Brown to helping lower the targets. Brown is to be encouraged to speak to countries such as Poland, who do not consider global warming such a threat as other governments, and have them join forces with him in getting Germany and other more environmentally conscious governments to accept more "realistic" targets!

Planning to move house? It seems that Bradford is the place to go for the green minded individual. The city was revealed to have the lowest environmental impact of any British city, in spite of its undeniably large role in the Industrial Revolution. Contrary to popular belief, Bradford's rivers were not polluted beyond redemption during this period in its history, and the streams surrounding the city are now a veritable haven of wildlife! Bradford also boasts large areas of green space, and has a number of successful recycling schemes in place. You can read more about Bradford's environmental initiatives - from their 'real nappy' scheme to the Forest of Bradford project, which aims to extend areas of woodland in Bradford - at the Bradford Environmental Action Trust.

Liverpool was voted the least sustainable place to live, with poor water quality and a lack of evidence that it is working towards a more sustainable future dragging it to the bottom of the list.

The survey of cities was carried out by charity Forum for the Future.

Want to make sure you don't get the requisite garish pair of socks and large box of non-vegan chocolates for Christmas this year? Fed up with people forgetting your birthday? You could do a lot worse than making your way to the award-winning Natural Collection website. Once you're there, you can browse the fabulous range of products and make yourself a Gift List filled with deeply desirable eco-friendly treats.

With goodies ranging from beautiful items of fairly traded jewellery to handy and affordable eco-gadgets, and from eco-friendly baby accessories to green accessories for the office or study, I defy anyone not to find something they want on this site. Start securing yourself a Cool Yule now, and ward off the mouldy old Quality Street and the nasty socks before they're even a twinkle in the mother-in-law's eye!

British Telecom today unveiled plans to meet a quarter of its electricity needs using wind turbines by the year 2016. BT already reduced its carbon emissions by 60 per cent between 1996 and 2006, and it is estimated that the use of turbines will cut BT's C02 emissions by a further 500,000 tonnes. The project is set to be the largest corporate wind power initiative outside the energy sector. The cost of the project will be in the region of £250 million.

BT has applied for planning permission to build test masts at Goonhilly Satellite Earth Station in Cornwall, Wideford Hill Radio Station in Orkney and Scousburgh Radio Station in Shetland. It is hoped that 100MW of energy will already be being produced by turbines by 2012.

Related: Turbulence for home wind turbines | Visit a wind farm | Wind turbines in your back yard | How to build a wind turbine | Renewable energy versus the environment

Despite the fact that it is a signatory of the 1959 Antarctic treaty, which stipulates that no new claims shall be made over any land in the Arctic, the Foreign Office has revealed that Britain has made plans to extend its rights to oil, gas and mineral exploitation up to 350 miles offshore into the Southern ocean. A good proportion of the resources which Britain plans to extract from the Antarctic are yet to reach levels shallow enough for them to be mined, but fears nevertheless abound regarding the possibly detrimental impact which Britain's proposed move will have on the environment.

This proposal comes at the same time as WWF are calling for areas of the Antarctic to be turned into marine reserves in order to protect endangered species.

Where satellites and submarines have failed, Pen Hadlow and his intrepid team hope to succeed. Hadlow was the first man ever to trek to the North Pole alone, and now he's making the same journey again, albeit this time with a very serious purpose in mind.

Scientists have had problems using satellites and submarines to make accurate assessments of how thick the Artic ice is, due to the fact that neither is able to differentiate between the ice and the snow which lies on top of it. Learning how thick the ice is is imperative if we are to discover exactly how long it is before the ice cap disappears completely. This is where Hadlow and co. come in. They plan to set off on a trip to the Arctic next February, with the express purpose of maintaining the precise thickness of the polar ice cap.

If you're finding your daily grind unsatisfying, and you long to get up every morning with saving the world on your mind as well as paying the bills, then this guide could well provide you with some food for thought. 'The Ethical Careers Guide' offers a range of advice on different careers, as well as fascinating case studies of people in positions ranging from a Campaigns Officer in a charity to a social worker working for a local council.

I was given a copy of this book by a friend after I left university. I'd decided my next step was to find some voluntary work - with the eventual aim of doing some paid work for a charity - and I definitely found the book useful in terms of inspiring me in my quest. In particular, I think the fact that it includes a large number of case studies makes things sound a little less daunting, as the case studies make you feel as if you're having an informal chat with someone rather than reading a 'guide' per se.