Green Thing Blog

Do The Green Thing is now five years old. And throughout the whole of it's existence, we've had one motto.

Creativity vs Climate Change.

We've used every creative tool, trick and skill that we have to get climate change talked about and dealt with. And now we have something new to bring to the table.

As of tomorrow, 1st March, we will be releasing a new poster every day for 23 days, right up to Earth Hour on 23rd March.

The posters will be all the things that you've come to expect from us - beautiful, funny, cheeky, informative and ultimately a brilliant piece of ammunition in the fight against climate change.

Check out the posters everyday on our tumblr site and follow the conversation on Twitter with #23posters.

We're excited. And we hope you are too.

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We love a good infographic (who doesn't?). And this one about water usage is particularly interesting. Especially as it encourages you to swap milk for beer.

Click here to see a larger version.

(Image: Loch Ness Water Gardens)

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For years, Zoe Quirk has always signposted friends and family to good companies and products. Companies that were being creative and conscious with resource use; ones that were supporting causes and campaigns; ones that put care into their craft. After creating a whole collection of these great companies, Quirk decided it was time to go public and share her collection. And This Because was born.

We’re constantly confronted with messaging, advertisements and social norms that tell us what we should buy and why. Buy these shoes they’ll make your legs look fabulous. Buy this gadget, you’ll have super fast cyber connection. Buy this one-legged stuffed dog, you’ll be the coolest kid on the block. Lets be honest, a lot of what we consume is unnecessary and doesn’t really benefit anyone but ourselves. This Because is like the antithesis to this consumer culture.

This Because is website containing a carefully curated collection of products that are made resourcefully and help people live generously. It provides people with a a selection of products that aren’t just self-serving, products that benefit others in the process - be it sausages where a portion of the cost gets donated to impoverished areas, or upcycled purses that helps raise money for Women for Orphans and Widows. Products range from food to household items to clothing and each product tells the story of the cause and/or craft you’re supporting with your purchase.

We love This Because. They’re on to something great, helping people consume consciously in a simple and sustainable way.

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3600 seconds.  Sixty minutes. One hour. What can you accomplish in one hour of time? Go on a hike? Bake a cake? Take a nap? Or maybe just save the world?

It may seem a little far fetched, but that's exactly what WWF is asking people from around the world to participate in on March 23rd, at 8:30pm for Earth Hour.

Earth Hour encourages everyone to undergo complete darkness as businesses, households and cities are asked to extinguish their lights for a single hour.

Originating in Sydney in 2007 a staggering 2.2 million people participated in flicking off the light in support of raising awareness about climate change and a push for renewable energy. It has gained speed ever since and now is celebrated globally every year.

Sceptical about how much can really be done in an hour?

Last year, a huge 34.92 megawatts of energy was saved from all the participants of Earth hour. That's the equivalent of powering 40,000 homes, or one small town. That's a ton of energy saved from just one single hour of darkness.

And because it's only for one hour, there's is absolutely no excuse not to participate.

Click here to discover some special Earth Hour recipes from Gordon Ramsay, Ken Hom and Val Warner, some tips for living a more sustainable life from Kristy Gallacher and how to keep the kids entertained when it all goes dark.

Turn out your lights, grab some candles and get ready to make a difference.

P.S. Keep your eyes peeled for a big announcement from us about what we're doing in the run up to Earth Hour. Start getting excited.

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So Liv (who makes some of our films at Do The Green Thing) likes a challenge - preferably a Good Green Challenge. You might remember that in 2010 she gave up buying new clothes for a year and wrote a blog about the experience. It cured her by the way. No new clothes any more. Ever.

Then last year she gave up the car. Now her family of four walk and cycle everywhere and she's suddenly fit and rich and on time.

This year she's set herself a Very Big Challenge indeed. She's starting a business. And we think it's a good green one. It's called Patchwork Present and it's a website that lets friends come together to buy one gift that's really wanted - piece by piece.

Patchwork Present. See?

We think it's a great idea and we wish it'd launched already. For Christmas we got our fair share of novelty gifts, unsurprising socks and unwanted items. All, at best, destined for the charity shop but ultimately for landfill. It would have been great if we could have got just one thing we really wanted rather than all that waste.

Patchwork Present is about being collective, creative and resourceful when it comes to gift giving. It's not about consumerism or getting you to buy more. It's about making sure what you do spend gets spent on something good, something wanted and something worthwhile. Like a bike or a playhouse, life drawing classes or a years supply of organic veg - one thing you want not tons of things you don't. I know what I'd use it for, a traincation to the south of France. In the summer of course. But what about you? Patchwork Present hasn't launched yet but Liv's already collecting ideas and sharing them here. Just tweet her at @PatchworkP with #onethingiwant to let her know.

If you want to know when Patchwork Present launches, leave your email here.

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