Nigel's Eco Store asked some of the web’s leading environmental bloggers and social media users to name their favourite green sites in a number of different categories.

The mission in creating the Green Web Awards was to find the people and organisations who are in the vanguard of creating a greener future online and not just to reward the sites with the biggest budgets, but to find websites that are hidden gems, community-based sites and ones that make use of the power of the internet.

"The web is now a central part of our lives. More than any medium today, the web has the power to create communities that can change the world, to inform, and to shape opinion.

We believe that what we can achieve online today will have a massive influence on what the world becomes tomorrow.." said Nigel Berman, MD of Nigel's Eco Store.

And the Winners are...

The judges voted for sites in 12 categories, with winners and runners up in each:

Green Travel - Responsible Travel
Green Site for Kids - Recycle Zone
Ethical Health and Beauty -  Green People
Eco Blogs and News - Tree Hugger
Online Campaigns - Green Thing
Online Communities -  Freecycle
Green Energy - Good Energy
Ethical Clothing - People Tree
Greenest companies - Method
and
Worst Greenwash -  Barbie B-Cause

www.nigelsecostore.com

Distinct Extinct Design

Recycled clothing and vintage garments help reduce the need for mass produced "quick fix" clothing. Extinct Design has been set up to celebrate this individual style, recycling of ideas and clothing whilst promoting quality on trend eco-fashion.

The couture range has been hand-crafted and are all hand finished pieces incorporating vintage, pre-owned material in an imaginative and truly personalised way.

There is a range of exquisite dresses from the 50s, 60s, and 70s that will add colour and quality to your wardrobe. Quality handmade pieces that are meant to last more than one season.

'I love making things, producing one-off pieces designed and tailored just for you. I would love to hear from anyone who is interested in creating their own home-made garments or re-styling their clothing, re-using the materials.

I will be show casing Guest Designers on the site that share the same passion for beautiful works made from a eco, resourceful point of view.' states Heather from Extinct Design.

www.extinctdesign.co.uk ~ breathing life back into forgotten clothing, vintage dresses whilst restyling material into modern wonders....

Passion for the Planet's August Podcast's now available!

*Our population is 6 billion and growing, but the rate of growth has slowed and some projections suggest that it will start to decline by the middle of this century. Find out what Dan Smith, Secretary General of International Alert and author of “The atlas of the state of the world" had to say...

*We hear a lot about superfoods and how good they are for us – but what actually are they and what makes them so great? Kate Woods from Raw Living explains…

*Carbon offsetting was hailed as part of the solution to our green house gas emissions, but it also has its detractors. Some even claim it does no good at all and worse still it stops us taking responsibility. Dave Hampton, the Carbon Coach disagrees…

*Missing breakfast is costing the UK economy £8million a day – that’s two billion over the course of a year. So just why does skipping breakfast cost us so much? Nutritionist Juliette Kellow has the answers…

*In order to make decisions about how to cope with the effects of climate change we have to have an understanding of what those effects might be. And that’s where the UK Climate Impacts Programme can help. Chantal Cooke speaks to their technical director is Dr Rachendra Connell…

*If you want more energy in your life, all you have to do is tap into the universal supply. Find out how with Richard Lawrence from the Inner Potential Centre…

Find these and more by signing in for free at: www.passionfortheplanet.com

Wind Overtakes Water in Britain's Green Energy Mix

Wind supplied more of Britain's electricity that water for the first time last year, while power generators preferred gas to coal and nuclear output continued to decline, according to new government data.

Five percent of Britain's electricity came from renewable sources in 2007, up from 4.6 percent in 2006, as more wind farms started feeding clean electricity into the network, helping cut the country's carbon emissions.

"For the first time generation from wind exceeded generation from hydro and became the largest renewables technology in terms of electricity generated," the industry ministry said in its annual energy statistics.

Britain's gas production fell for the seventh consecutive year, down 10% in 2007.

Domestic coal production fell 6 percent, while imports fell by 13 percent from a record high in 2006, because of lower demand from electricity generators.

Nuclear power's contribution to Britain's power supply shrank to 15 percent, its lowest level since 1987, because of lengthy maintenance and repair work at many of the country's ageing nuclear power plants.

A 27-percent increase in installed wind power capacity helped boost green energy output and make up for some of the loss in carbon-free electricity from the nuclear sector.

Power consumption by British industry fell by 0.5 percent while households used 1.2 percent less electricity.

Blog for Ethical Business & Design

Ethical web designers Make Hay have launched a brand new blog to share news and views from the world of ethical business and design. Because Make Hay genuinely aim to contribute to the growth of ethical business they decided to share useful sites, tips & resources, usually kept for their newsletters, with a wider audience on their brand new blog.

From the ‘Client News Round-up’ where you can find out about all kinds of exciting green activities to useful articles such as marketing ideas for ethical businesses the blog is packed full of information. Make Hay will keep you up to date with their own plans and ventures including their web design and green hosting news, the latest from the Make Noise community (raising the profile of positive work) and the mighty Green Girls Global & Green Guys Global blogs.

So, if you want to know where to find really useful articles and news then check out the Make Hay blog: www.makehay.co.uk/blog

Who are Make Hay? The team behind the Make Hay Blog founded the ethical web design business ‘Make Hay Ethical E-media’ in 2004. The purpose behind Make Hay back then and still today is to create beautiful, accessible websites and use the wonderful medium of the web to raise the profile of ethical business.

Over the past few years Make Hay have expanded their services to include green website hosting, using 100% wind power and Make Mail e-mail marketing. They work in a way that is environmentally friendly by using renewable energy for their office, sourcing products from green and ethical businesses and implementing their environmental and ethical policies. www.makehay.co.uk

Peace One Day

In 1999, Jeremy Gilley founded Peace One Day, a non-profit organisation, and in 2001 Peace One Day's efforts were rewarded when the United Nations unanimously adopted the first-ever day of global ceasefire and non-violence on 21 September annually – Peace Day.

In 2007 according to the UN, over 100 million people were active on Peace Day, in 192 countries.

Peace One Day aims to raise global awareness of Peace Day and inspire people to observe the Day by working in the following areas:

Documentary Films: The first Peace One Day documentary has become a key tool in raising awareness. The second film, The Day After Peace was released internationally in 2008.

Annual Celebration: The 2007 flagship concert took place at London's Royal Albert Hall. In 2008 Peace One Day will hold special events in both New York and London.

Education: Peace One Day Education aims to advance education in the areas of conflict resolution, global citizenship, human rights and the link between sustainability and peace.

Football: Our One Day One Goal initiative aims to manifest football matches all over the world on Peace Day.

Global Ask: Each year, Peace One Day works to inspire a wide spectrum of the global community to act on Peace Day.

POD TV: This dedicated peace channel will launch across a multitude of online video platforms.

Portal for Peace: Our vision for our website is that it become a key "peace portal", inspiring and holding content from around the world, related to peace, non-violence and sustainability.

To find out more information on how to get involved on this year's Peace One Day on 21st September, go to www.peaceoneday.org.

Green Travel Insurance

With an increasing number of holiday makers concerned about their carbon footprint, a new type of travel insurance has been launched for the environmentally-aware traveller. The new green travel insurance policy introduced by the ETA includes a discount of up to 25 per cent for trips that do not involve flying.

The ETA have put together a travel insurance package for members, which offers excellent value for money along with the reliability that members have come to expect. If you intend to make two or more journeys during your membership year, then chances are you could save even more money by taking out an ETA annual policy.

A spokesperson for the Environmental Transport Association said: “An increasing number of holiday makers are keen to reduce the environmental impact of their travels – they want to go green without compromising on quality. This travel insurance offers a discount for the increasing number of people who choose not to fly for environmental reasons.”

With cover for travel in Europe or Worldwide, on an annual or period basis; cover for winter sports is also available; an “Eco-discount” is available for trips that don’t involve any air travel, plus three levels of cover, to suit your requirements and budget.

The ETA is a not-for-profit ethical organisation providing motorists and cyclists with carbon-neutral breakdown cover and insurance products. As well as encouraging responsible driving to reduce carbon, the ETA campaigns for sustainable transport. www.eta.co.uk.

My Zero Waste

Join a family of four in the UK, as they set themselves a zero waste challenge! Mr, Mrs, Little Miss and Pussus Green are increasing their recycling and changing their shopping habits with the intention of having NOTHING to put out for landfill each week.

They started at the beginning of June 2008 with an 'average' 1 metal dustbin & 2 swing bin liners full of rubbish per week heading for the landfill.

In five short weeks, they've reduced this to just 200 grams of rubbish - that's one small carrier bag's worth!

During the first week in September, they will be tackling their first official 'Zero Waste Week'. To celebrate this, they have some wonderful companies offering generous prizes every day that week. All the prizes are either recycled, recyclable or help readers to increase their own recycling in some way.

On their site, you can follow their daily progress, take part in polls, read product reviews, join in with their monthly challenge, find discounts and promotions and leave your comments. There are also lots of informative articles about how YOU can reduce your weekly rubbish too.

The site is light hearted and fun but with a serious message. Be sure to follow their progress leading up to Zero Waste Week and be in with a change of getting some great prizes. myzerowaste.com