Recently by Sarah Griffiths

You might be the keenest eco champ at home, but when it comes to the office, your recycling ethos goes out the window. Getting your office to go green - and getting your colleagues to think in a more eco-friendly way - isn't as hard as you'd think. Kate Hodal finds out how best to go about it, without losing all your work friends.

I will admit it: I am that annoying girl in the office who turns my colleagues' computer monitors at night, fishes drinks bottles and cans out of their bins, and asks them (nicely) if they really need to print out yet another email.

Ask me if my eco efforts have won me any friends at work, however, and the answer is a resounding 'No!'. I blame this on the vagaries of human nature - the fact that nine out of 10 Britons recycles at least one item at home, but will happily bin a glass bottle while at work.

BRIGHT sparks at Queen's Park High School, Chester, officially switched on their £20,000 solar panels this week.

The rooftop panels are half funded by The Co-operative's £2m Green Energy for Schools scheme with match-funding from the Government's Low Carbon Building Programme (LCBP).

The 875-pupil school is among 80 across the UK chosen to receive funding for renewable energy technology as part of the second phase of the scheme.

Headteacher Andrew Firman said: "We are proud to be among the schools leading the way on renewable energy through the Co-operative scheme.

FLINTSHIRE County Council chief executive Colin Everett joined staff at Deeside College to celebrate its inaugural sustainability day.

Mr Everett joined staff co-ordinating the college's Trees to You team to plant a rowan tree at the front of the college in Connah's Quay.

The Trees to You scheme is run by IT students studying the Welsh Baccalaureate.
It encourages local businesses to be more environmentally friendly and buy a tree, which is then planted by the students.

As part of the scheme, the students have set up a website, developed a brand and approached a large number of local employers.

AT LEAST 176 Shropshire schools have completed travel plans to make school journeys more environmentally friendly.

Of these schools, 17 will attend Shropshire Council's annual school travel plan awards ceremony in Shrewsbury.

Schools which have really taken on board their travel plans will be awarded silver and gold awards to recognise their achievements in promoting walking and cycling and reducing car travel.

County schools have been working on travel plans since 2002 and at least 166 maintained schools and 10 independent ones have completed them.

BICKERTON Village Hall held its first eco fair on Saturday, July 4, with visitors coming from across the region to learn about renewable energy and environmental initiatives in the district.

The main focus was harnessing the sun's energy, with The Green Electrician, Tushingham, displaying solar panels for producing electricity and Plumb Eco, Whitchurch, showing how to heat water using a roof-mounted system.

The sun was also being used to run the lights in Bickerton Village Hall thanks to the new solar PV array on its roof. It also ran the solar plate spinner for the children and a rechargeable battery unit.

Carbon emissions from domestic transport will be reduced by up to 14 percent over the next decade as a result of the Government's carbon reduction strategy, published today by Transport Secretary Andrew Adonis.

Transport currently makes up 21 per cent of all UK domestic carbon emissions. The strategy entitled 'Low carbon transport: a greener future' sets out the policies and proposals for reducing transport sector emissions through to 2022.

It also frames the debate for the longer-term decarbonisation of transport to give people and businesses more low carbon choices about when, where and how to travel or transport goods.

Transport Secretary Andrew Adonis said: "Transport accounts for a significant amount of our domestic emissions. Therefore decarbonising this sector has to be front and centre of efforts to meet our obligations and commitments to tackle climate change.

The world's tallest buildings keep getting taller, but are they getting any greener? Kate Hodal talks to the man who pioneered the notion of the 'eco skyscraper' about how buildings can - and must - get eco-friendly.

Think skyscraper, and the word 'eco' doesn't really come into it.

But if Chinese architect Ken Yeang has anything to do with the way our future cities unfold, all that's about to change.

One third of the prestigious London-based group Llewelyn Davies Yeang, Yeang more or less invented the notion of 'eco skyscrapers', having dedicated the past three decades of his professional practice to greening up the world's tallest buildings and going so far as to write a whole book about it, too.

AN AMBITIOUS scheme to create a rural promenade between Nantwich and Crewe has been unveiled.

The £1.46m project, funded through green group Sustrans' Connect2, plans to provide a safe and attractive environment for walking and cycling between the two towns in a bid to reduce the number of cars on Cheshire East Council roads.

Council staff were on hand at the Connect2 event, held in Crewe's Queen's Park, to provide information on the project.

Residents were given the chance to express their views on the scheme and provide feedback.

Pupils at Westminster Community Primary School, Ellesmere Port, have been awarded £200 of school equipment for winning first prize in a Walk to School week contest.

As part of the event, children were asked to bring in something green on their walk and among the many creative entries were green stick insects, a dog dressed in a green outfit, and imaginative costumes.

Headteacher Sue Finch dressed up as a bunch of green grapes and the children also composed a green poem.

All competition entries have been put on display at the Riverside Reception of County Hall in Chester.

You may have your larder stocked with Fairtrade teas and pulses but what about your beauty shelves? Kate Hodal looks at the newly launched Fairtrade beauty products to see what's in store.

Once upon a time, beauty rituals consisted of milk baths and sugar scrubs - or at least Cleopatra's did.

But with natural ingredients making a huge comeback over their synthetic counterparts, it looks as though green Brits will no longer have to rely on their larder for natural beauty inspiration.