A coal mining company is set to begin blasting off the ridgetop on Coal River Mountain, the site of a proposed wind farm. Urge Governor Manchin to stop the Massey mountaintop removal operation and to act on his commitment to renewable energy.

Offshore drilling would not significantly lower gas prices or solve the energy crisis. Instead of more drilling, we need real, long-term solutions that will end our dependence on oil once and for all.

Offshore drilling would not significantly lower gas prices or solve the energy crisis. Instead of more drilling, we need real, long-term solutions that will end our dependence on oil once and for all.

For me, it used to be kettle on, tea for two, then back to bed for another cheeky five minutes. My slumbering other half might have stirred by this point and be reaching out for his mug, blinking like a sleepy mole.

These days, it’s all change. I go straight into the garden. Breath in the morning smells, examine the snail damage from the night before and generally take an inventory of what’s going on out there. It’s lovely, even though the sun has rarely reached it and barefoot, in my nighty, it’s chilly. But this isn’t proper gardening time. I resist the urge to check my tomato plants for aphids (here’s one in the picture), or pinch out any shoulder branches, or even excavate tiny slugs from my strawberries. Otherwise I’d never get to work. Instead I wander around taking deep breaths, listening to birds and wondering if the neighbours think I’m a loon.

If I was a scientist, I’d say something about how taking deep breaths outside helps you benefit from extra oxygen which gets you off to a good start. If I was an anti-caffeine freak, I’d say it was almost as good as a shot of espresso. As it is, I’ll simply say that since taking up the habit my days have been calmer, more pleasurable altogether. This week, I’m nominating my tiny Hackney garden as my favourite green space.

If you have somewhere similarly inspirational, please nominate it for our 2008 Green Spaces Travel Awards. It could be somewhere you’ve stayed on holiday, a lunch hour hideaway or simply a journey that you’ve taken. If we feature it either in The Times or timesonline as part of our monthly selection, you’ll win a copy of Alastair Sawday’s Green Places to Stay. Click here to enter.

Congress is considering legislation that would effectively restrict the destructive dumping of mountaintop removal mining waste into Appalachia’s streams and valleys. Send a message this week urging your representative to co-sponsor the bill and curtail mountaintop removal mining.

Although lead causes brain, kidney, developmental and cardiovascular damage in children, the EPA has proposed new airborne lead standards that are weaker than scientists recommend. Send a comment by the July 21st deadline telling the EPA to strengthen the standards to levels that will protect children from this dangerous toxin.

Tempting as it is to raid Topshop as soon as the weather warms up, there’s really no need with the selection of affordable and chic dresses from ethical labels. Start by browsing Adili or my current favourite, the LaLesso website. Yes, you may have to order online, but at least this keeps you away from the lure of the high street.

The sultry madam on the left is wearing a Tiwi dress from Lalesso, a label that is one of ethical fashion’s best kept secrets. It offers dresses and skirts made according to fair trade principles. This one is ?34, made by one of 22 workers at the workshop on Diani Beach, Kenya, each of whom is paid over three times the average manufacturer’s wage. To find out more, click here.

The Marianne Dress, a lightweight number for the beach or lounging around on hot days, is inspired by free-spirit pop princess Marianne Faithful. It is made from organic cotton by Organic Stereo, Brighton-based designers of ‘progressive clothing’. Newcomers on the ethical fashion bloc, the company uses eco dyes for its garments, which are made in a factory in Portugal.

This organic shift dress from the Natural Collection might not dazzle immediately, but it strikes me as one of those dresses you end up wearing day in day out, sometimes over jeans, and in winter, over tights. Best of all, it’s reduced to ?30. It’s made by a French label called Ideo that recognizes the need for affordable ethical fashion. French speakers should check out its website here.

Behold this clever design that manages to be both a dress and a skirt. It’s called, predictably, a skirt dress top. The elastic top has straps that can be tied up if you wish. It comes in three different colours, for the unbeatable price of ?17.50. Its ethical credentials are impressive. Read here about Nomads Clothing’s fair trade and environmental policy.

Made in New Zealand, this splotch print dress (below) makes up for in style what it might lose in transport emissions. And remember, it is organic cotton. I love the fact that it can be worn back to front to create a V-neck, and that it’s callled ’splotch print’. Sounds as if a mucky barbecue wouldn’t worry it, which makes it my kind of summer dress.

Most of us have to ease green issues gently into our romantic lives. While love may conquer all, it won’t survive an in-depth interrogation about a partner’s recycling habits on the first date. Once you’ve been together a few years (in my case make that eight) you reach a point in your relationship when you can happily hurl abuse at your loved one if he (or she) so much as leaves the tap on a for a moment longer than is necessary to rinse a plate or dampen a toothbrush. By then, the extent of your eco-fascism will have been revealed. But at the beginning, my advice would be to take it slow.

Here is an extract from my book, How Green Are My Wellies, published by Eden Project Books on 16th June. Hope it makes you smile.

Tips for a Successful Green Date
Don’t mention the C word too early on. Climate change is not a romantic subject. Instead, indicate a passing interest in green matters by suggesting eco-friendly restaurants, such as Water House or Acorn House if you’re in London. Somewhere close to you that is known for local, seasonal produce, if you are not.

While at the restaurant, drink tap water (along with the hard stuff, obviously, I’m not expecting you to stay sober). Should your partner ask for mineral water, frown slightly to show your disapproval, while maintaining a mischievous smile.

Eat by candlelight. It will save energy and guarantee a flattering glow. This is easy at home; harder at restaurants, but you could ask your waiter for dimmer lights and more candles.

Don’t count carbon calories. There is nothing more unattractive than someone who won’t enjoy their food because they are too busy totting up its environmental impact. On a first date, forget food miles completely, or at least try not to talk about them.

By all means, ask if there is a sustainable fish policy at the restaurant. Stop short of asking for the CV of your sea bass and the lowdown on who its grandparents were.

Insist on a moonlit walk home - to save your carbon footprint and to provide plenty of kissing opportunities.

If the date has gone well, it could just end in the bedroom. Here you might think that green concerns have no place. It’d be nice, after all, to have one territory that is spared a green makeover. And shouldn’t we be ablel to drop our ideals, as well as our organic hemp knickers, at the bedroom door? This is what I thought until I was won over by the concept of an eco-boudoir - soya-wax candles burning virtuously, organic massage oils and a bamboo bed with plumped-up cushions made from recycled materials.

Hints on Greening your Bedroom Behaviour
Take baths together. Even better in the water-saving stakes is to take brief, flirty showers together since a five minute showers uses roughly 30 per cent less water than running a bath.

Undies should be organic, like these. Non-organic cotton is one of the most heavily sprayed crops around; roughly a quarter of the world’s insecticides are poured on to cotton fields each year, with about 150g being used in the making of one T-shirt.

Too embarrassed to charge a solar-powered sex toy on your sunlit balcony in full view of the neighbours. I would be, too. Stick to one that takes rechargeable batteries. And keep it in the bedroom.

The most biodegradable contraceptive on the market is a condom made from the intestinal membrane of lambs. Suitable only for lovers with a strong stomach. Definitely not for vegans, who have their own special brand, called condomi (find it here), which uses cocoa powder instead of the milk protein required to process latex.

Don’t throw normal condoms down the toilet. The Environment Agency estimates that two billion items of sanitary protection, of which condoms form a big part, end up in the UK’s sewers every year, from where they have to be removed, washed (otherwise they are seen as contaminated) and sent to landfill. Better to wrap them in some recycled loo paper and pop them in the bin.

Choose your moment carefully. Just before bedtime means that you’ll warm up the bed and yourselves, and you can turn the heating off during the winter months.

Do it for the planet. Having sex is carbon neutral and a darn sight less damaging than most other leisure activities. Providing it doesn’t always end in babies.

Invest in a Wrap-N-Mat. I like this reusable sandwich wrapper - available here - which doubles as a mat for outdoor lunching (see picture). It is nothing more complicated than a pretty napkin with a wipe-clean plastic lining on one side and a Velcro fastening strap. The idea is that instead of using cling-film or silver foil, thus adding to landfill, you wrap up your sarnies, or any other lunchtime snacks. This morning, I used it to wrap up a couple of chocolate digestives (my teatime weakness) and although this meant the package was too small to be able to use the Velcro fastening, I secured the bundle with an elastic band. When it gets mucky, I can put it in the washing machine, so long as I choose a low setting of 30 or 40 degrees, which being the predictable greenie that I am, I would do anyway.

Look for natural packaging. Choose food such as bananas and avocadoes that don’t require extra packaging. And what about boiled eggs, served with a pinch of sea salt - for which you may need to use a wrap of recyled silver foil? They may have gone out of fashion, but with such green credentials, they deserve to be reinstated.

Tumblers made from recycled glass. Made by a Bangladesh based project that is supported by Tearfund, they look as though they’d survive the odd tumble that befalls anything taken on a picnic. And in winter, you can take them out of their wicker holders to use them as hand-warming glasses for mulled wine. Find them here.

Use materials you already have. Make the most of recyclable containers that are already lying around your home. Jam jars make a brilliant home for a slug of salad dressing and old takeaway containers can be used for lettuce leaves, among other things.

Here’s a biodegradable picnic set. But I’m not convinced that the greenest way to start the outdoor eating season is to invest in a new set of everything, even if it is all made from biodegradable cassava, a tropical plant which gives us the school canteen favourite, tapioca.
I’d be inclined to pinch stuff from the kitchen, such as proper cutlery from the kitchen and those plastic plates that have been lurking at the back of kitchen cupboards.