Last night I did a talk at Loughborough Student Union's ‘Sustainability Awards' Evening and for the second time in the last few weeks I came home feeling buoyed up and excited by the passion and commitment that some of our young people are putting into environmental and ethical issues.

Loughborough University has worked extremely hard over the last couple of years to reduce their carbon footprint and they have been winning all manner of awards for their achievements...not to mention the fact that they jumped 28 places last year to become the 5th greenest university in the UK.

Yesterday I met some of their amazingly dedicated students and I saw first hand how a few committed people really can make a huge difference within an organisation.

The evening was arranged by Sarah Ettlinger, who works tirelessly within LSU to help ‘green-up' the university. She runs the Ethics and Environment page on their website http://www.lufbra.net/eande/ which has just won the Communications Award from ‘The Ecologist Magazine'.

One of the best parts of the evening for me (apart from the delicious organic and locally sourced food) was when two of the boys living in one of the halls asked me how they could build a bee hotel to attract bees. I can't remember your names guys, but if you are reading this, here's a link to how to make a ‘posh' hotel... http://www.bbcgardenersworldlive.com/node/133 .

If you don't have the materials to make the model in the above link, then all you need to make the hotel I was describing last night (and it works just as well) is an old piece of wood with fairly deep ‘bee-sized' holes drilled into it (drill at a slight angle to avoid them filling up with rain water). Stick the piece of wood in the ground, facing south, and plant some nice bee attracting plants close by (borage, foxgloves or sunflowers are easy). If you build it, they will come!

Ooh! The other good news is that Loughborough University have booked the Big Green Bus for their centenary open day on Sunday 14th June! I'll make sure we post further details on the home page and in the news page as soon as we have them.

Thank you so much, Sarah, for inviting me to speak at your awards evening yesterday evening. You and your fellow students are truly inspirational!