In the organic industry and amongst ethical product (as opposed to service) based companies it's common for suppliers to go down the non-air freighted route of delivery for the sake of their environmental values. Some of the active ingredients of our favourite organic skin care products just can't be grown locally in the UK and have to be imported from abroad.

Air freight produces 100 times as much CO2 per tonne kilometre, according to Scenta the information and resource body for the science, engineering and technology industries. But Scenta also highlights that ‘shipping carries 80% of world trade and 92% of British trade. It is a vastly bigger industry than aviation and performs a completely different role.'

The United Nations shipping agency IMO (International Maritime Organization) has started to implement measures to clean up and reduce the harmful emissions from ships. The package of new measures has been ratified by 53 countries which equates to 82% of the total gross tonnage of the world's merchant shipping fleet. A global sulphur cap will be gradually reduced from the current 4.5 percent to 0.5 percent in 2020 as ships start to use cleaner forms of residual fuel oil.

So Organic-ites everywhere (manufacturers, retailers and of course consumers) can rest assured that actions are being taken to make our industry as clean and environmentally ethical as possible.

According to Environment Canada, cows produce about three-quarters of total methane emissions with most of their gas coming from their burps. Burps are a powerful thing it seems; twenty times more potent than CO2 as a greenhouse gas in fact.

With this fact as the eco focus Canadian scientists set out to help the humble cow reduce its footprint. Scientists first examined the genes in all four of a cow's stomachs (no wonder they produce so much gas) responsible for methane production in the hope they may be able to breed more efficient, eco friendly cows. It seems by using advanced genetic technologies it's possible to breed animals that produce 25% less methane.

Other ways we can reduce the ecological footprint of cattle is by farmers breeding cattle that grow faster. This will reduce the time the animals are left standing in a paddock and moved to market faster (which doesn't bode well to animal advocates) and reduce their gas emissions.

Another method is to feed cows a diet higher in energy and rich in edible oils such as alfalfa, flax and hemp. These forms of food nutrients will ferment less than grass and lower quality feed.

Burp-less beef could be the way forward for meat eaters everywhere.

The suburb of Vauban in the German town of Freiburg has taken a bold move to reduce its air and noise pollution; it's removed all the cars from the streets. If you want to own a car you have to pay €20,000 for a space to park it in a garage on the outskirts of the district. Over half the residents have sold a car in favour of the very efficient tram service that will take them to the centre of Frieburg within 15 minutes.

Somewhat of an eco experiment the Vauban project sounds like a great idea for towns where public transport is good and an enthusiasm to tackle climate change by reducing community CO2 emission head on. For holidays or shifting things people can hire a car, become a member of a car club (like Streetcar) or share a vehicle with others.

The suburb was revamped somewhat from it's former army barracks into quite the eco-conscious and sustainable community. Sixty architects were commissioned to recreate Vauban as an alternative to nuclear power.

The sign at entrance to the suburb ‘we are creating the world we want' says a lot about the green intentions of Vauban. Some of the eco-friendly technology that is used in the buildings includes triple-glazed windows, an intricate ventilation system fitted with heat exchangers, solar panels, biological toilets that compost waste, co-generator engines that run on wood chips and 35cm thick walls for superb insulation where just one extra person in an apartment can change the internal temperature.

Heating for a four roomed house costs €114 a year to heat, which is what some neighbouring areas buildings pay in a month. It's no surprise then that Vauban produce excess electricity that they sell to the power companies that run the national electricity grids. Just another benefit of going green.

Researchers at the University of California have found that children up to the age of 7 are more susceptible to the toxic effect of some pesticides. The reason being they lack a particular enzyme called paraoxonase which helps to protect most of us from some of these toxins by neutralizing and then eliminating them from the body.

This enzyme increases as we grow but it does take those young formative years to be effective in helping the body fight off toxins. Organophosphate pesticides are the prime suspects; extremely toxic and banned from home use they are still used widely in agriculture.

These pesticides affect the nervous system of insects but could also have a similar effect on children. Studies have shown that mothers exposed to the pesticide during pregnancy have children with significantly lower IQs.

It's not just kids that are more susceptible. A person's genes can determine how affected they are as genes are responsible for deciding how effective the enzyme is at breaking down the toxins. Variations of the paraoxanase gene will affect the quantity and quality of the paraoxanase enzyme and thus a person's natural ability to fight the pesticides.

Our best defence is to avoid pesticides where we can. Go organic and grow your own, make your own. It's the best way to avoid these body disruptors.

The first real plan for reducing greenhouse emissions has been formulated by the government. The target in the new Low Carbon Transition Plan for farming is to reduce emissions by 6% over the next decade. Many say this is not high enough, others believe it is a achievable goal to reach for.

The Soil Association say this is a considerably ‘modest' target and a short-term when considering the huge reductions we must make by 2050. They point out that the ‘farming industry risks having to make massive cuts of over 70% between 2020 and 2050' if they start a slow 6% now. What's more the proposed reductions of carbon emissions from farming will only contribute 4% of the total the Government are hoping to save by 2020.

The Government say that their Transition Plan will ‘help protect the equivalent of over 37 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide that is currently locked into natural reservoirs of carbon in our soils and forests'. But there is nothing in this plan that reduces the loss of carbon from agricultural soils.

The Rodale Institute (a non-profit organisation which researches organic farming) in the US points out that conventional farming adds 925 billion pounds of CO2 to the atmosphere each year whilst organic farming can reduce CO2 by 1.1 trillion pounds per year by sequestering CO2 and reducing fossil fuel energy (ie commercial fertilizers which require a lot of energy to produce and distribute)

They also say that on a global scale, soils hold more than twice as much carbon as terrestrial vegetation and ‘practices like reduced tillage, the use of cover crops, and incorporation of crop residues can dramatically alter the carbon storage of arable lands'.

Perhaps more incentives for organic farming from the Government may help the agricultural industry surpass this meagre 6% target.