The last few decades have been dominated by urbanisation, digitalisation and an admiration for consumption. These days, you'll find a growing number of counter-movements springing up that advocating for a more sustainable and responsible way of dealing with our environment and bringing nature back to our cities.

My Green City - Back to Nature with Attitude and Style (Gestalten, £35.00) is a compilation of the ideas and projects from around the world that are promoting a more environmentally friendly lifestyle - from urban farming initiatives and architectural visions that are changing our cities, to furniture and other everyday objects that can make our streets and homes greener.

Among the many inspirational projects included in this book, some of our favourites are: Vacant Lot allotment garden by What if: projects (Shoreditch, London May 2007) which took use of vacant and unloved city spaces and turned them into temporary allotment gardens; the Ann Demeulemeester shop in Seoul, Korea by Mass Studies which is covered in grass on the exterior surfaces; the many varieties of seed bombs - the munitions of guerrilla gardeners in the fight against the neglect of public spaces. In fact, there are far too many great eco-friendly ideas to mention!

We liked the book so much that we have teamed up with Gestalten to give one lucky Hippyshopper reader the chance to add 'My Green City' to their book collection.

TO ENTER

To enter the competition simply Like Hippyshopper's Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/Hippyshopper and leave us a comment below telling us which city in the world you think is greenest and why. We'll pick the winner based on our favourite message, so don't be shy!

COMPETITION CONDITIONS

- Competition closes on Friday 27th May 2011 at 23:59.

- Only Hippyshopper Facebook page fans will be eligible to win the prize.

In the first of a series on how to green up your home, we look at one kitchen appliance it seems us Brits can't live without: the kettle. Kettles use big bursts of energy to heat water up to boiling point, but the good ones will do this quickly, with as little energy loss as possible.

Eco kettles tend to fit into one of two categories: the first work by heating the water with as little energy as possible (sometimes to a temperature that's not quite boiling); the second are designed with in-built features to try and stop you boiling more than you need.

We've tried all sorts, and from an office that has far too many kettles for its own good, I bring you our roundup of kettles we've tested, and our verdict on which one offers the greenest cup of tea.

Follow the jump for the results

This week, I've been testing out the Baylis Revolution media player; the new and more streamlined version of the world's first wind-up MP3 player. The Revolution, which is available for £129 at Ethical Superstore, is similar to its predecessor, but has more memory and comes in a sexier-looking case that doesn't scream "I'm an eco gadget" too loudly.

Follow the jump for the rest of the review

If I learnt one thing from my recent energy monitoring challenge, it's not to use the tumble dryer so often. But what about when you really need to get your jacket dry in time for a meeting, or don't have any dry, clean sheets? I'd not tried these little alien-looking balls before now, but surprsingly, they do seem to dramatically reduce the amount of time needed to get things dry as well as making them softer to the touch and less creased than usual.

So how do they work?

If you like your skincare products light, you'll love this new range of natural products that includes a facewash, anti-ageing day and night moisturiser, eye serum and cleanser. All products have been given the thumbs-up by the Vegan Society, come in recycled packaging and have been formulated to adhere to current thinking from the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, so you can feel confident that your face is in safe hands!

Read on over the jump for my review

Related: Bulldog natural male grooming range expands | Fight of the foaming natural cleansers: Madara vs. Philosophy

After reading Leila's "Can you have a plastic-free period?" article here on Dollymix, I decided to bite the bullet and finally get myself kitted out with a hippy-sounding Mooncup. How did I fare? Keep reading to find out!

I've been trying out a range of products by Africology this week: they're new to the UK, and their sales benefit good causes as well as your skin.

All products in the range contain natural ingredients with anti-aging properties are fragranced using essential oils, not synthetic perfurmes. I was biased towards several of these products alredy, mostly because several of them contain neroli, my absolute favourite essential oil, which is native to Africa. The marula skin conditioning body oil, for example, is absolutely heavenly, and a real treat for skin that's looking a bit tired. Seemed to work a treat on my dreaded mosquito bites, too!

Mineral makeup is everywhere right now, and Afterglow is one of the newer additions to the UK cosmetics counter, having been a huge success in the States. It's got great ethical credentials, is certified cruelty-free by the BUAV and contains no parabens or fragrances. So how well does it actually work?

I managed to get my hands on a few samples of the '80% organic, 100% natural' range, and have asked a few members of the office to give me their verdict on the brand. Follow the jump to find out what they thought.

Related: Mineral makeup - what is it, and how do I use it? | Abi's mineral makeup trial with Bella Pierre

I'd heard good things about MyPure by a friend who swears by them as a reliable source of body, bath and beauty products, so was really excited to sample some of these for the site. In particular, my nature-loving friend had raved about Australian haircare range A'Kin, available exclusively at MyPure in the UK, so I opted to give it a try.

MyPure's three promises are that it only sells products that are non-toxic, non irritating and non sensitising, which means that any unnecessary synthetic ingredients are outlawed. I tried a few different A'Kin products: read on after the jump for my verdict.

There's a long weekend coming up, so you'll have no more excuses not to do those chores: It's time to dust away the cobwebs and get to work on your house, flat, yurt or caravan for your big 2008 spring clean! To help you make this your greenest spring clean yet, we've rounded up some of the best eco-friendly cleaning products and asked consumers what they thought of them.

Follow the jump for our roundup of green cleaning products...

The first thing I noticed when I tried the new Beyond Organic skincare range was the deliciously fresh fragrance that jumps out of every product as soon as you open the tin. With scents like mallow and Lady's Mantle, burdock and yarrow, these aren't smells you get to experience every day, and the quality is no disappointment either.

Unlike some paraben-free moisturisers, there's no chalkiness or stickiness to the moisturisers, which are super-smooth and blend into the skin like a dream. The replenishing hand cream (£11.25) is great for overworked hands, and worked wonders on my dry and cracked fingers. Another favourite of mine from the range I tried is the exceptionally light moisturising day cream (£14.50), which quenches delicate facial skin without a hint of greasiness.

All products in this range are certified organic, free from parabens, petrochemicals, GM materials and artificial colours and fragrances. This makes it ideal for sensitive and reactive skins, so why not give it a try? You can buy all products online.

ReForm School is my latest eco-discovery, and has one of those captivating sites that could quite easily eat a morning...Selling everything from toys to crockery to clothing, all you'll find here is recycled or re-claimed, and spruced up with the appliance of some really strong design talent.

Their recycled wood treehouse is particularly impressive, and would make a good home for dolls, toy furniture, small rodents or any other knick-knacks you'd care to put in it. It's crafted from recycled European cherry and elder wood. There's also some original art made from re-claimed materials, posters and prints to check out.

Bikes are faster than cars if you commute in cities -- it's official, and proven to us by none other than Mr. Gas-Guzzler himself, Jeremy Clarkson. But we didn't need him to tell us that.

So what could be faster (and greener) than a bike that does half the work for you? The new Powabyke commuter bike with lithium batter is the first in a series of electric bikes we put to the test.

You'll be sorted if you get caught out in a rainstorm with the Eton Radio; not only is it a windup radio with great reception - it will also charge your mobile, work as a torch and make an almighty racket with its siren feature. Alex Roumbas of Shiny Shiny and I had a play with it in the office.

Last week, we discovered that more than 60 per cent of Hippyshopper readers are wary about using cosmetics that contain parabens. There does seem to be a general shift away from questionable chemical ingredients in cosmetics, so how do you feel about aluminium? We tested some of the best known aluminium-free deodorants (during the one week this year that the sun reached Britain) and compared how much they made us smell...here are the results!