High Fives to the Top 10
Posted by andyh on 8th May
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It’s official, these beautiful people are the top ten Greenest Things (as of a few hours ago). Kudos and karma to all.
So far, the Green Thing community, which by the way now has visitors from 159 countries, has saved 2294.85 tonnes CO2.
paulalexander - 7613.58kg
ellie_gair - 5133.72kg
ccardone - 4769.63kg
Clare - 4219.84kg
loppy - 4088.24kg
Lisa - 3805.11kg
goingkermit - 3699.83kg
paperaeroplane - 3659.09kg
chuma - 3653.58kg
maggalus - 3649.54kg
Honourable mentions also go to the following 5 folk for the sheer number of Green Things they have done.
clarencethetoad - 172
maryannah - 169
Despairing - 106
Jairusdaughter42 - 105
Malinda - 79
CO2 on Twitter
Posted by Floppy on 7th May
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May Day “mayday”
Posted by James on 1st May
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In launching Business in the Communities 2nd Prince’s May Day Summit, HRH Prince of Wales challenged leaders – individual, corporate and political – to respond with “urgent collective action” to the global climate change “mayday”.
Leaders from over 1,600 UK companies attended today’s May Day Summit to pledge to take action into climate change.
The Prince of Wales “begged” the audience to take individual and collective action “now – there is no time to lose”, to avoid “headless chickens having to come home to roost in the only trees left standing”. He also urged against allowing the current global economic troubles to divert or delay the necessary action and instead encouraged leaders to make the right decisions now for the long term.
The Prime Minister Gordon Brown, as did all the speakers, praised Prince Charles for his visionary leadership in alerting the world relentlessly and tirelessly – and for initiating the May Day Network.
He went on to outline how he believed that the fourth technological revolution since the industrial revolution would be the transformation to a low carbon world – which would require new thinking, creativity, entrepreneurialism and technology. He revealed the Government’s new recommendations to:
1. Create a long-term policy framework, including the Climate Change Bill
2. Support innovation and reduce regulatory barriers to change
3. Skill the labour force
4. Encourage consumer behaviour change
He said it was time for people power – and people choosing to do the right thing [I think it was a typo and that what he really meant was that it was time for people to do the Green Thing].
Senator George Mitchell – having echoed the call for more committed leadership - said that in addition to all of the social, environmental and economic justifications for action we should also remember a fourth – “the threat to world peace and stability”. He went on to say that he expected that the next White House incumbent would drive the US to take real and committed action – and to show real leadership and that the US population would no longer tolerate the US being a laggard in this arena.
Jonathan Porritt, as ever so eloquent, felt that the tide had turned from one of indifference to one of emerging leadership and action. But he urged everyone, particularly Government, to mandate action – and to take more action urgently.
Stephen Howard, the CEO of BITC closed the event, by quoting Martin Luther King and calling us all to seize “the fierce urgency of now”.
Huge congratulations must go to Lucy, Katie and Jim at Business in the Community for creating such an event – quite simply brilliant.
I left believing that there is at least a chance the business community – and perhaps even the political community - will choose to do the right thing quickly enough …. But fervently believing that all of us who are part of the Green Thing community have a major role in creatively inspiring people to change their individual behaviour with respect to the environment – and have some fun in doing it.
Waterless Living
Posted by bluemoon on 26th April
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Here at Green Thing we've been saving water all month. According to Defra’s Future Water report, we’ll need to reduce our individual water consumption by around a fifth by 2030, if we’re to cope with pressures due to climate change, population growth and housing demands.
The nice thing about water-saving is that even simple, inexpensive actions can make the world of difference. Sticking a hippo in your loo, or fixing leaks, or just remembering to turn taps off costs hardly anything and can save thousands upon thousands of litres of water. And, necessity being the fabulous mother of invention that she is, there are products out there dedicated to helping you save even more. For example, rather than hauling buckets of water around the place, waterless cleaning is a lot easier on your arms as well as the environment. Microfibre cloths, for instance, use the power of tiny little fibres a hundred times smaller than the width of a human hair to trap dirt and bacteria, without any nasty chemicals and just the minimum of water.
And if you’re out in the garden, things like Wet ‘n Gro Soil Moistener can help your plants absorb up to 80% more water. In Australia, which has been in the grip of a drought for several years, the Watertube is being used to continuously drip-feed water to newly-planted trees and plants. In just one month it can save hundreds of litres compared to hoses and even watering cans.
So water-saving doesn’t have to mean going all out and re-plumbing your home to use rainwater, although of course you can if you want to. And perhaps one day we'll all have self-cleaning glass and waterless washing machines. But for now most of us can save gallons just by wasting a lot less and being a bit more efficient about how we use what’s left.
Earth Day and MySpace Impact
Posted by James on 17th April
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Tuesday 22nd April is this years Earth Day. Earth Day, which first began in 1970, promotes environmental citizenship and year round progressive action worldwide. Earth Day claims to be the only event celebrated simultaneously around the globe by people of all backgrounds, faiths and nationalities (can you name others?) – with more than a half billion people participating. For more information – and to find out how to get involved take a look here.
Now, with Earth Day in mind, the kind people at MySpace Impact (thanks Dani and Fran) – are kindly introducing Green Thing (and of course our creative creatures) throughout next week to the MySpace community. Take a look here. MySpace Impact is all about MySpace choosing to do the right thing and enable "civic good" by connecting individuals and communities.
So if you’re a MySpace user please join our group here and if you’re not, take a look at what all the fuss is about and join in here.
PS - watch out MySpace, the Green Thing hoardes are coming.
Green Thing, BITC and Groups
Posted by James on 10th April
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The wonderful people at Business in the Community are getting ready for their annual May Day Business Summit on Climate Change.
Led by HRH The Prince of Wales, The May Day Summit is the largest gathering of companies committed to taking positive action on climate change. If you're interested in joining in take a look here.
We're also excited and delighted to announce that Business in the Community will be the first community to create a Green Thing Group and will shortly be introducing Green Thing to its corporate members.
Green Thing Groups is an initiative that will allow any group of individuals, including companies, to create their own Green Thing sub-group so that they can galvanise their wider network to help in the fight against climate change. Green Thing Groups is free .... although you're free to donate ... and is quick and easy to deploy. We'll of course provide more information on Green Thing Groups over the next few weeks, but if you'd like to register your interest in finding out more then please drop me an email at: groups@dothegreenthing.com
Green Thing Groups is a core part of our intent "to help as many people as possible in as many countries as possible to do the Green Thing ... and then use that people power to get Governments and Businesses to do the Green Thing too ".
One of the things that has dawned on me over the last few months is that there are rapidly increasing numbers of individuals and businesses showing genuine leadership in taking action against climate change. I really hope that, as this movement continues to stengthen, we will start to see some genuine political leadership as well - to date IMHO it has been sadly missing.
We Can Solve It (just not particularly creatively)
Posted by andyh on 8th April
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A couple of years ago I first heard about this massive fund being raised from the proceeds of An Inconvenient Truth plus donations from Steve Jobs and others, to create a mass awareness and action campaign in the US. Well $300 million definitely 'aint chopped liver and I was really hoping something quite special came out of it, but based on this ad and the website, the signs aren’t too promising.
As Alex Steffen says in an excellent WorldChanging post on the matter: “$100 million a year is real money. For half of that, they could create a networked activism campaign unlike anything ever seen. No ad campaign, no matter how good, is going to be unlike anything we've ever seen.”
I'm a big fan of Al Gore and the Alliance for Climate Protection, but after first being distinctly underwhelmed by Live Earth (supposedly planned again for 2010) and now this, I can't help feeling they're trying so hard to appeal to everyone that they end up with something that doesn't speak powerfully to anyone.
Green Thing believes in the idea of “Creativity against climate change”. When the world has faced great turning points or moments of crisis in the past, great moments of creativity have been the catalysts of mass social and behavioural transformation. Photographs and images that galvanised mass consciousness. Music and symbols that gave a voice to new generations. Architecture and design that expressed and amplified the spirit and mood of the times.
In 1969 John Lennon’s “Give Peace A Chance” became an anthem of the anti-war movement. In 1958 Gerald Holtom’s peace logo for CND became one of the worlds most politically powerful symbols by turning complex ideas into a single, recognisable shape you could wear as a badge or carry as a banner. These things have the power to move populations to think differently and take action they would not otherwise have taken. They can change the course of history.
The thought behind this ad isn’t so different – it talks about great rather than creatively great moments in history – but the execution is sadly very different. Any great moment, creative or otherwise, needs originality and vitality, it needs to take risks and follow a singular vision. (Creatively, An Inconvenient Truth succeeded because it was exactly that).
Sometimes mass movements move everyone by reaching the people for whom they were not originally intended. Eventually everyone wants to be part of something with its own powerful energy and momentum.
One problem with Live Earth was that global pop concerts are a pretty tired idea by now. In 1985 when Bob Geldof got the world to feed the world, Live Aid was a startlingly original creative concept: the first and best example of a global creative community coming together to make a difference. Ever since then it’s like an analog compilation tape that loses quality every time it gets re-recorded.
My worry about this initial We ad is that it’s also using old creative formulas, playing it safe and aiming to please everyone. I’m all for recycling, but in a way that creates something new and different and inspirational. This problem won’t be solved by saying the same things in the same ways in a louder voice.
Green Shoots - the perfect storm
Posted by andyh on 5th April
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Green Shoots is a series of events hosted by Green Thing friend Judith Clegg's The Glasshouse in major cities around the world exploring "entrepreneurial trends, successes and opportunities in the sustainable economy".
This coming Tuesday 8th April, renewable energy entrepreneur and peak oil commentator Jeremy Leggett is being interviewed by Guardian economics correspondent Ashley Seager.
Full details are here: http://www.theglasshouse.net/content/glasshouselondon
Glasshouse events are always top class affairs. James A. is going from the Green Thing team and will blog about what happens.
The Virtual Water Project
Posted by andyh on 2nd April
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This month's Green Thing is all about taking Short Sharp Showers. There are CO2 savings involved because of the energy used to heat up the H2O, but the overall principle is one of water conservation.
Over one billion people in the world can’t get clean water and twenty per cent of those are children. Disease from dirty water causes death or illness in four out of five infants in the developing world.
But if you think water shortages aren’t a problem in the West, think again. Apart from Belgium and Cyprus, the UK has less water available per person than any other EU country and our capital city is even drier than Istanbul. Meanwhile, the average American uses 80-100 gallons of water a day, 8 times what a family of four in Africa might use, and over 100% more than we needed 25 years ago
As we explain on the "Why?" page, there's really much less water around than we might think - at least the fresh, drinkable kind. And scientists predict we’ll need every drop with coming heatwaves, droughts and population growth. So we may as well start saving it now.
And saving water in terms of showers, taps and pipes is on thing, but we don't tend to think about the amount of water that goes into making the products in our daily lives. The image above is from a lovely piece of information design by Timm Kekeritz. His double-sided Virtual Water Project poster illustrates how much water countries use and also everyday products, including food.
He says it's designed "to show how much freshwater is used to produce selected products - hoping for people to rethink their consumption patterns." Well worth a look.
Thanks to the EdenBee blog for pointing it out.
And penguins might fly
Posted by andyh on 1st April
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