Have your say on green issues and you could win £100

Nowadays, everyone has their own views about climate change but how concerned are you about it and the effect it may have on you and your family in the near-to-mid future?

Are you making any efforts to cut down on the pollution and waste you generate in everyday life? What about your workplace or your local council - are they doing enough to encourage others to help the environment?

Or do you feel that the whole issue is being blown out of proportion and there is no need for all the talk and action currently taking place?

The survey should take a maximum of 8-10 minutes and, as a thank you for taking the time to give us your views, we will enter you into a prize draw to win one of five £100 prizes.

Closing date for the draw is 11pm on Tuesday 8th July 2008. Terms and conditions apply.

WIN! £200 worth of your favourite eco-friendly gadgets and goodies!

We're giving you the chance to win £200 worth of your favourite eco-friendly gifts, gadgets and goodies of your choice from the Big Green Shop.

CLICK HERE FOR YOUR CHANCE TO WIN!

Simply take a look through the Big Green Shop and build yourself a dream Shopping List of all the great things you'd love to buy from it up to the total value of £200. We'll then pick one of our visitors' Shopping Lists at random - and pay for everything on the winning list!

Whether you're out to save energy and money on your bills using a range of clever energy-saving gadgets or looking to pamper yourself with a host of organic and natural body and skincare products, this is your chance to scoop a huge shopping basket full of brilliant eco-friendly goodies you really want.

The competition is open until 30th June and is free to enter to anyone who registers with the Big Green Switch or Big Green Shop websites. Other terms & conditions apply.

So click here now for your chance to win your pick of £200 worth of top green goodies!

National Vegetarian Week - 19th to 25th May 2008

National Vegetarian Week (NVW), the annual awareness-raising campaign promoting inspirational vegetarian food and the benefits of a meat-free lifestyle, kicks off on Monday.
Celebrated by The Vegetarian Society since 1992, the Week is now an established event and everyone from small businesses to big corporations, schools, community groups and individuals are welcome to come on board and make the week a success.

During the week, you can find out more about the benefits of vegetarianism, including how it can cut your carbon footprint, and get involved with a number of local and national events.


More details at http://www.vegsoc.org/nvw/

National Work from Home Day - Thursday 15th May

This Thursday (May 15) is National Work from Home Day when up to five million workers are expected to work from home across the UK.

The environmental benefits of working from home more regularly can be considerable as you reduce your commuting emissions with each day you do from home. Read more about the green benefits of working from home by clicking here.

Nearly 3.5 million people already work from home in the UK - 12.2 per cent or one-in-eight of the population - an increase of 600,000 since 1997.

The highest proportion of home workers is in the South West with 15.7 per cent, followed by Eastern England with 14.4 per cent. The lowest is in the North East with 9.3 per cent, followed by Scotland with 9.4 per cent.

National Work from Home Day kicks off the start of Work Wise Week, a series of events from Work Wise UK, a not-for-profit organisation which encourages UK businesses to adopt smarter working practices with the aim of turning the country into one of the most progressive economies in the world.

Phil Flaxton, chief executive of Work Wise UK, is keen to extoll the many positives of working from home. Phil said: "Not only does it reduce the amount of commuting people have to do, enhancing their work-life balance, but many are actually more productive.

"Although many organisations practise the age-old philosophy of 'presenteeism', they should open their eyes to the new work ethic spreading across the UK and try out home working: they may well be surprised."

Home working is one of the smarter working practises being promoted through the Work Wise UK campaign, which is entering its third year. Others include flexible working, including condensed hours and nine-day fortnights, mobile and remote working. Work Wise partners include the TUC, CBI, British Chambers of Commerce, BT and Transport for London. It aims to encourage half the working population, some 14 million people, to be offered smarter working by 2011.

Find out more about National Work from Home Day and Work Wise Week at http://www.workwiseuk.org/.

For more tips and ideas for ways to go green in the workplace, visit http://www.biggreenswitch.co.uk/workplace?ito=1714&itc=0.

WIN! Green bathroom goodies!

Win one of three sets of top-quality eco-friendly bathroom goodies worth over £65 each.

CLICK HERE FOR YOUR CHANCE TO WIN!

Each set comprises:

Large water saving showerhead
Water-saving showerhead designed to cut water and energy bills by up to 70% with no loss of performance.

Duck shower timer gift pack
Bright and colourful shower timer together with biodegradable glycerin soap, a microfibre/hemp sponge glove and a zip up, re-useable toiletries bag.

Set of three Method skin care products
Eco-friendly skin care set including moisturising and foaming hand soaps plus hand wash.

Set of four Method cleaning sprays
Natural cleaning products including an all-purpose spray, tub and tile spray, shower spray and window/glass cleaner.

The competition is open until 9th June and is free to enter to anyone who registers with the Big Green Switch website. Other terms & conditions apply.

So click here now for your chance to win one of these great sets of eco-friendly bathroom goodies!

Are you aware of London Aware 08?

This weekend sees the first London Aware event being held at the Barbican in London.

At the event, you can expect to find all of the information, advice and inspiration you need to live more sustainably. Whether you are taking your first steps towards greener living or looking to go the extra mile this is the event for you.

You will find information from hundreds of companies and products that cover all areas of sustainable living from environmentally friendly transport to banking, health and even DIY.

London Aware 08 will also host two lecture theatres with a series of talks on climate change from speakers including Trevor Baylis, inventor of the wind-up radio and known for his appearances on Tomorrow's World, as well as Martyn Williams from Friends of the Earth, Arctic explorer Nathan Allen and IKEA's Charlie Brown just to name a few.

The exhibition is open daily from 10am on Saturday and Sunday and tickets are just £5 each. So if you're in the area, why not pop along and see what ideas and inspiration you might pick up from the event. More info.

WIN! One of 10 cool wind-up MP3 players!

Don't miss your chance to win one of 10 cool Verio wind-up MP3 players with integrated flashlight and mobile phone charger!

CLICK HERE FOR YOUR CHANCE TO WIN!

Make dead batteries a thing of the past, and ensure you always have access to your music with the new Verio wind-up MP3 player from Ethical Superstore.

Just wind up the Verio for 1 minute to provide 15-20 minutes of listening time. Also included is a USB and mains charger for when electricity is available. When fully charged, it will provide music for up to four hours.

Featuring 1 Gigabyte of internal memory, the player ensures that you always have a huge music library available on this compact and rugged MP3 player. And if that wasn't enough, it also includes an integrated flashlight and mobile phone charger too!

We've teamed up with Ethical Superstore to give you the chance to win one of 10 of these fantastic MP3 players. The competition is open until 27th May and is free to enter to anyone who registers with the Big Green Switch website. Other terms & conditions apply.

So click here now for your chance to win one of these great wind-up MP3 players!

Stretch your legs for Walk in the Woods month

Today sees the start of Walk in the Woods month, the Tree Council's annual festival to encourage everyone to enjoy trees and woods in spring.

Across the UK, walks, talks and other events take place in town and countryside throughout May - a great month to go down to the woods or to a local park or just enjoy tree-lined streets.

Walk in the Woods month is a great time to organise an event and get new people interested in trees - especially in their local patch. A particular aim of Walk in the Woods is to attract people who rarely, if ever, visit woods - even those on their doorstep.

To find out more and get involved in either organising or participating in events, visit the Walk in the Woods website.

And you can click here for more ideas for green recreational activities.