As pilots, we get an unrivalled view of the Earth and its beauty. And the air can be a very unforgiving environment. So it is hardly surprising that we care passionately about our surroundings.

At Strathaven Airfield, we have adopted the mantra: reduce, reuse, recycle.

On taking over the airfield in 2006, we faced a major challenge in reversing years of neglect. But it also gave us a chance to start from a clean slate.

One of the first tasks was to refurbish the clubhouse. You may notice the cement around the windows doesn't quite match the rest. That's because we bought all the windows after seeing an advert in AdTrader from a house in Bearsden, Glasgow, whose builder had ordered them the wrong size!

Well, size isn't everything when you can re-use something that might otherwise have gone to landfill. Hence the patchy cement to fill the gaps. And they are double-glazed too!

Another visible energy saver is our lights - which are all LEDs. You may not often see these, but these must be the future for energy saving light. Each one uses just 1W! So even if every light was on, we would still use less electricty than one standard 60W incandescent bulb!

What electricity we do use is provided by Ecotricity, the world's first renewable energy company and the largest alternative electricity supplier in Europe. Why not try them for your home or work? ps Our electric heaters are recycled too - bought on Ebay.

We also have CFC-free insulation under the floor, in the walls and above the ceiling.

On the airfield, we still use a traditional diesel-fuelled tractor to cut the grass. It is a very old Massey Fergusson. Our next idea is to try and see if we can get it fuelled with used cooking oil (Strathaven has quite a few restaurants, take-aways and chip shops). But at least the traditional grass runways are absorbing some CO2, which concrete ones wouldn't.

For safety, we are restricted by the Civil Aviation Authority in what materials are used to build aircraft, and what is used to fuel them.

The aircraft we use for flight training are powered by unleaded petrol, the same stuff you put in your car. Just one aircraft at Strathaven Airfield uses the 100 octane low-lead aviation petrol. And our training aircraft aircraft all have four-stroke engines which use less fuel and oil than the earlier, less fuel efficient two-strokes.

Our used engine oil is collected for recycling, as are redundant aluminium airframe components.

How we treat our planet is one thing, but how we treat our fellow human beings is also very important.

As a result, The Scottish Flying Club is working to make Strathaven Airfiled the world's first Fair Trade airfield. We already supply only Fair Trade tea and coffee, and we are now looking at a range of Fair Trade club garments. Strathaven, with Aberfeldy, was Scotland's first Fairtrade Town.