This year at the London International Documentary Festival Ecover's Working With Water short film was screened. It follows two Ecover employees to the Ethiopian communities where Ecover, with the help of the charity Water Aid, is helping to provide safe water and sanitation for hundreds of people.

Working With Water shows how villages in the Hintalo-Wajarat region benefiting from the project Ecover has funded with the help of course of us buying their fantastic eco-friendly cleaning products. The project empowers local people by giving them the tools they need to provide safe water facilities. So far, 2 springs have been capped, 4 hand-dug wells and 16 traditional latrines have been build. Children especially benefit as they are often the ones given the job of collecting the water. For some having clean water closer to home means they can now go to school.

But there is still a lot of work to be done. As you will see from the film, there are still many children suffering from poor health because of the water they have access to - unsafe water that they walk six hours to fill containers twice the size of the containers on our Ecover refill station.

Because Ecover realise water is such a precious commodity they have created products that use water more efficiently. Their toilet cleaner requires 400 times less water to neutralise after use than any other product.

Here, Natalie Imbruglia explains how using water and 'clean' household products will benefit you and those in need of good water all over the world.

This is definitely a stereotype but one that can often rightly be put into use: teenagers are ‘looks' absorbed. Not all, but most - it comes with the territory of chaotic hormone activity during puberty, figuring out what your equally paddling-like-a duck-underwater peers think and adjusting to the ideals of the world (mostly the ideals of pop icons and rock gods).

So to get the attention of teens when it comes to the greener issues of life it's good to pretty it up a bit. I came across this green website the other day called Teens Turning Green. It's basically teenagers giving other teenagers advice on how to be healthier and more sustainable the eco way. They investigate areas of lives where they are exposed to toxins. They also work to advocate change in policy and habits not only amongst their peers but also their schools and communities.

The Project Green Prom Toolkit caught my eye as a useful and charming way to get teens beauty green. The Project Green Dorm Toolkit is another nifty idea. As you can tell the site is American - it would be great to see a similar site set up for other countries by enthusiastic teens.

The UK based skin care company Green People realise the influence teenagers can have on setting the bar and eco standards of the next generation of politicians, eco entrepreneurs and mothers. Their new Oy! Organic Young range of skin care products make a great Christmas present for all teenagers - especially the ones who care about their complexions and the environment.

If you haven't heard yet there's a very important meeting happening in Copenhagen in December which will essentially (or rather hopefully) decide what we're (the people of planet Earth) are going to do about slowing climate change before (at the risk of sounding dramatic for the scientific truth of it) it's too late.

The hope for the United Nations Climate Change Conference (to be held from December 7-18th) is that the world's leaders from 192 countries will ‘establish an ambitious global climate agreement for the period from 2012'. They must do this whilst fending off pressure from the fuel industry, which is a very real threat to how our governments handle the negotiations. It's been reported that some negotiators are getting nervous that the talks will not go anywhere because of this.

But it's not just the oil tycoons that can exert pressure. We can too by supporting campaigns like this one. The folk from Free Range Studios have created this short sketch to highlight the best of the 350.org (see blog) movement. International Day of Climate Action is on 24 October, just six weeks before the Copenhagen talks so it's the perfect opportunity to push the voice of the people forward.

Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Ros have contributed their inspirational music for the sound track to motivate us all to get out there and illustrate to the powers that be that we want action from them too.

"Together we will solve the climate crisis and transform our world."

It's so common for weekend newspapers, magazines and morning shows to feature some green tip/sustainable living piece - we all want to be greener and the media are entertaining our minds with the details of how we could go about it. But how often do watch or read a ‘how to' and fail ‘to do'? Most of us would have to admit a lot.

What if you were given a list of practical courses that didn't cost the earth (literally), promised to be fun and educational? The Soil Association, with the support of the Daylesford Foundation, has launched a series of 300 courses which could be your ticket to self-sufficiency.

From one-day introduction courses to longer professional level courses there's sure to be something of interest here that will enrich your understanding of sustainability and improve your practical skill set. Farm school makes learning easy and accessible to everyone.

Some of the kitchen courses include preserving pickles and jams, to cheese making, curing meat and gluten free baking. Growing courses include planning your kitchen garden to learning the best seasonal and organic techniques. Smallholding courses include keeping your own chickens, bees, sheep and pigs and the self-sufficiencies gained from doing so - honey and eggs for a start. Seasonal and special courses include herbal medicine making, woollen spinning, woodwork for beginners, soap making, willow garden sculpture creating and stone walling.

One student who attended the attended the Butter me up! Class at Wester Lawrenceton Farm gives us an idea of how fulfilling these courses are: "I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed myself. The day was both stimulating and relaxing. And the resultant butter and baking were delicious... I'm wondering why I didn't join years ago."

Courses are held across the UK in Somerset, Wallingford, Cornwall, Gloucestershire, Devon, Kent, Shropshire, Sheffield, Cambridgeshire and Suffolk.

For the full list of courses, locations and prices (Soil Association members receive 25% off the cost of all farm school courses) visit the Soil Associations Organic Farm School webpage here.

Autumn is a wondrous time to walk through the forests and parks of the UK. The vast array of warmer colours - yellows, oranges, pinks and red of every shade - ease us out of summer and ironically warn us of cooler times to come. It's a time, that some would argue, is the best to stroll the great parks and woodland paths of the UK. It's also an excellent time to gather seeds, fruits and nuts to eat or grow for next year.

And guess what? The Tree Council is encouraging us to do just that. From the 23rd of September until the 23rd of October these tree care campaigners have lined up a full month's worth of events to get people out and about, wandering and collecting.

With the help of the National Trust and local councils there are currently nine events registered in Devon, East Sussex, Gloucestershire, Hertfordshire, Somerset, Suffolk, Warwickshire, Wiltshire, County Down (Northern Ireland). Depending on which one you attend you could be foraging for acorns, conkers, berry seeds, nuts, haws, hips and sloes from native trees, shrubs and orchards. The event in Ipswich, Suffolk will be showing people how to plant and pot their seed findings so they can take them home to grow.

There will be guides, tree specialist and the occasional expert apple identifier to walk you through the harvest ready forests. Some seed gathering events will be free; others a couple of pounds. For dates and further details visit the Tree Council website.