Made it to the Natural History Museum for 7: 30, but Government ministers rarely get to interviews on time due to their busy diaries, so ended up having to wait until around 8:20 to talk with him. We had a chat about the Summit in Copenhagen, what he hopes to achieve there, and a little bit about what he plans to do if Labour win the election next year. He seemed like a genuinely nice guy, who has a real passion for helping reduce climate change, even if i do have a natural sceptical streak when speaking to politicians! You can have a listen to the interview yourself, and see how green Mr Milliband is... just click on the link on the main Global Challenge page.

I then went to have a chat with Kathleen Soriano, who’s put together an exhibition at the Royal Academy called ‘Earth’. It highlights issues about the enivronment and climate change, using peices from artists such as Anthony Gormley and Tracy Emin, but without preaching or scaremongering. Kathleen told me she wanted to try out a different approach to convince people to change their lifestyles to be more environmentally friendly – she believes that by demonstrating the beauty of the natural world you can make people remember the everyday things they may take for granted but love nevertheless. She hopes this will provoke a passion in people which will make them care about saving the planet. It was a very refreshing approach, after spending weeks reading information that tries to win over people through fear of the worst case scenario, and i think this type of thinking could have a big part to play in winning the battle against climate change.

Next stop was the Eurostar... I was travelling with a group of journalists to Brussells for an overnight stay, before the final leg of the journey tomorrow. I’d travelled on the Eurostar before, so knew what to expect here – comfortable wide seat, fast journey times between the centre of European cities, good service from staff, etc. What i didn’t know though was the work the company are doing to help people travel to Europe in a sustainable way. I met their Chief Executive Richard Brown on the train, and he told me that even though trains were already significantly less damaging to the environment than car or air travel, they were still working hard to reduce their emissions further, meeting their initial target of a 25% reduction this year, and hoping to meet their new, revised target of 35% by 2011. He also told me that the equivalent London to Brussels journey by train would create 10 times more CO2 emissions, and that Eurostar offset all emissions they create on every train at no extra cost to the customers. They also ensure this offsetting is done before the train departs, unlike many rival travel companies who take customers carbon offsetting fees, sit on them for a year or two to collect interest, then invest the original sum in carbon offsetting projects and keep the interest for themselves!

So, right now i’m sitting in the living room of my friend’s flat in Queen’s Park, London, one day into my journey to Copenhagen. I decided that it would be a bit hypocritical of me to fly to and from an environmental conference, so instead of taking the easy option i thought it would be interesting to see if i could get there in the most sustainable and eco-friendly way possible. I also wanted to try out new forms of environmentally friendly transport to see if they are any good and practical for use in everyday life.

My first vehicle was an electric bicycle, lent to me by the guys at Elecscoot in Consett. It’s basically the same as a normal bike, except there’s a battery underneath the seat that gives extra power to the back wheel. It adjusts how much power it gives by what gear you’re in, so when you change down gears for a hill it boosts the power and makes it a lot easier. There’s also a throttle on it which you can use when you want, so if you get tired and need a break you just let the engine do the work for you while you have a little rest. I absolutely loved it! My destination was in Chester le Street, which is two towns away, but i got there in super fast time and without even breaking sweat, despite having to climb a couple of tricky hills on the way. I even sped past a fellow cyclist on the road who was obviously a much more seasoned cyclist than i was... i felt like Lance Armstrong!

I picked up my final vehicle of the day at Darlington station at lunchtime (after i’d had a quick hug from my Mam who’d come there to see me off!). It was a Honda Insight hybrid car, which uses a mixture of electric power and fuel to offer a more environmentally friendly way of driving long distances... the perfect way to get down to London. Yet again, i was surprised at how well the car performed, and i could notice no difference with any other type of cars in it’s class. In the city, it was often running solely on electricity, saving emmisions and money, but not compromising on quality of driving. The car also has a very cool futuristic dashboard, which lights up different colours depending on how economically you are driving – green for good, light blue for average and dark blue for bad... it really made me aware of how i was driving, and i became determined to try to get it to stay green as much as possible, meaning i saved fuel and reduced my emissions. I drove all the way down to London in comfort, and really enjoyed it, stopping only once to get a bite to eat, and a hot drink to warm up from my earlier experiences on the scooter. I also had some company – a man called Keith (who i’m sure Honda had put there to make sure i didn’t nick the car when they found out i was from Teesside!!!) did the journey with me, meaning we reduced the carbon emissions per person even more, and i also had someone to talk to about our shared love of all things Apple...

Anyway, it’s getting pretty late, so i better hit the sack as i’ve got another early start and long day tomorrow. Night night!