20 ways to live a greener life

20 ways to live a greener life

Top tips to help you live a more sustainable and environmentally friendly lifestyle

16. Buy Fairtrade products

It guarantees farmers a fair price for products and also ensures some environmental benefits. A Fairtrade banana plantation, for example, is not allowed to expand into virgin forests. Some chemicals are banned and the use of fertilisers and pesticides is minimal. Visit Fairtrade for more information.

17. Support farmers' markets

Supermarket lorries travel 408 million miles a year - the equivalent of going around the M25 nearly 3 million times! A report called How green is your supermarket?, produced by the Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker, revealed that just 26 per cent of the cost of a typical supermarket basket of groceries goes towards the food itself. The rest covers packaging, processing, transport, store overheads, advertising and supermarket mark-up. It's a different story if you shop at a local farmers' market. Find your nearest farmers' market.

18. Save energy

Let food cool before refrigerating it; replace ordinary light bulbs with energy-efficient bulbs; turn off lights when you're not in the kitchen; use the lowest temperature on your dishwasher.

19. Re-use carrier bags

Around 17 billion plastic bags are given out annually by the nine main supermarkets - enough to cover England in just over 21 years. A carrier bag can take more than 100 years to break down, so don't discard. Use them again and again.

20. Avoid genetically modified produce

Around 6 million farmers worldwide grow GM crops, although there are none in the UK. Organic farmers say that if GM crops were grown here, it would be impossible to prevent contamination of organic crops. Follow the debate at Friend's of the Earth.