There is so much doom and gloom about the environment it can often seem impossible to do any good - but people across sussex are rallying together to prove lots of little bits of good make one very big difference. Sarah Lewis and Gavin Meany find out the who's who of an exceedingly green Sussex.

Eco-Schools
"Get them while they're young," says Caroline Sudgen, green co-ordinator of Rose Green Infant's School, Bognor Regis. "And make green a habit." So runs the philosophy of Eco-Schools, a global children's environment project.
There are more than 150 Eco-Schools in Sussex, so only a handful are shown on the map.
Rose Green Infant's is the only school in Sussex to be awarded a permanent "green flag" for their eco-efforts.
Mrs Sugden says: "The oldest children are only seven so we keep it basic, such as turning off computers and lights." The school has a weekly lunch club where pupils plant veg seeds and at harvest time they pick, peel, chop and cook up a big soup.
"We also compost food waste. It shows them the whole process." says Caroline. Rose Green also boasts a pond, a quiet garden, a maze and a woodland walk.

St Mary's C of E School, near Littlehampton, may not have a green flag but they have a nine-metre wind turbine which creates electricity for the school.

It is linked to a digital display in the school hall so the children can see how much energy the turbine creates and how much carbon dioxide it saves.

Woodlands and wood
Sussex is famous for its countryside and woodland so beautiful even Pooh Bear took up residence here.
Bad forest management threatens precious woodland but Sussex and Surrey Coppice group and the Woodland Enterprise Centre in Flimwell care for these areas through coppicing the practice of keeping trees alive and healthy, while cutting parts for use as wood.
The wood can be used for everything from furniture, fencing, trellises and rose arches to, of course, the famous Sussex trugs (small wooden baskets).
The coppice group also provides important services in coppice cutting, training, woodland training, hedge planting and laying and coppice restoration.
For more information, visit www.woodnet.org.uk/sscg. Find out about traditional trug making from Peter Marden at www.sussextrugmaker.co.uk or call 01323 846658.

Homes
According to the Energy Savings Trust, each house in the UK creates about six tonnes of carbon dioxide. Can you imagine cutting that to zero, with a home powered by nature and which turns your waste to compost?
Welcome aboard the Earthship...
Earthships are completely self-sustaining homes which, because they are made from used tyres, also help tackle a massive waste problem.
They use the sun and rain to provide heat, power and water so don't need to rely on any mains supplies. The Brighton Earthship is in Stanmer Park and is often open for public visits.
Last week, the people behind it, the Low Carbon Network, were granted planning permission to build a settlement of 16 homes at Brighton Marina.
For more information, visit www.earthship.org, www.lowcarbon.co.uk or call 07974 122770.

Energy
Without electricity we'd have very few of the comforts we're used to: no computers, televisions, radios, mobile phones or iPods.
Yet with it, we are creating thousands of tonnes of those nasty greenhouse gases.
Shoreham power station is a familiar part of the Sussex skyline and even though it is gas fired it is actually incredibly efficient.
Normal power stations can lose up to 50 per cent of their energy as heat, but Shoreham captures this heat and turns it back into electricity.
We also have many green energy projects in Sussex, from a rapeseed oil farm for biofuel on the Goodwood Estate near Chichester, to Blooming Futures pure plant oil fuel company in Brighton, to a spattering of wind turbines popping up all across the county.

Vineyards
Local food is getting easier and easier to find, with more than 35 farmers' markets across the county but what about a nice glass of vin rouge or blanc?
With 11 vineyards in Sussex, your bottle of Californian plonk, weighing heavy with CO2, may begin to seem unnecessary.
On the map you can find Carr-Taylor's in Westfield and Bookers of Bolney Wine Estate.
Both award-winning producers are family businesses which have been flying the flag for Sussex wines since the early-Seventies.
You can also take a sniff at the English Wine Centre in Alfriston.
Owner Christopher Ann is dedicated to promoting regional wines.
He also stocks locally produced breads, baked in traditional brick ovens. Yum.
Visit www.carr-taylor.co.uk, www.bookersvineyard.co.uk, www.englishwine.co.uk or call the English Wine Centre on 01323 870164.

Bees and Honey
Sussex bees produce two-and-a-half tons of honey every year, yet we still ship the sticky stuff in from Australia.
Einstein once said that, without bees, the human race would be gone within four years.
"Bees pollinate more than 150 types of natural plants, so they are very important for the environment," says Ben Pratt, president of the Sussex Beekeeper's Association.
"In 2005, DEFRA estimated bees were worth £250 million to our economy." With diseases killing almost all wild bees, the beekeepers are doing an amazing job maintaining this environmental and economic, er, honey-pot.
Sussex honey is readily available at all farmers' markets.

Arts & Crafts
Creative, ingenious, inspiring. Who says being green can't be fun?
Jeweller Jasmine Fish says: "People are amazed when I tell them the piece of jewellery they are admiring is a piece of rubbish." Jasmine transforms household waste into trinkets, gifts, boxes and much more, saying her work demonstrates the value of things we throw away without thinking.
Matt Kemp took his band, Nimomashtic, and walked 900 miles in 60 days, playing 40 gigs and planting apple seeds as they went.
This year they are doing it all over again and are heading to the Eden Project in Cornwall.
Matt says: "We do small things in our everyday lives, and everyone can do them. Little ripples make waves." To make beautiful things from waste with Jasmine, call 07877 880244.
Listen to Matt's music at www.walkyourtalk.org.uk

To see our green map of Sussex, click here.

  • We have only been able to highlight a small number of the fantastic green projects countywide. Tell us about yours below.