What the FAQ is Green Thing?

In a nutshell, Green Thing is a not-for-profit online community uniting people to act against climate change. Green Thing's basic principle is to tempt people to do one delightful thing a month and so build up a programme of green behaviour one easy step at a time. Green Thing's mission is to get as many people in as many countries as possible to do the Green Thing to prevent global warming and then use that people power to persuade government and business to do the Green Thing too. You can read more about Green Thing here.

Who is it for?

Green Thing is for those of us - and there's a lot of us - who don't get turned on by the tree-hugging thing, the guilt thing, the scientific thing or the world-is-at-an-end thing. Green Thing is an easy thing, a fun thing, a creative thing and a community thing. It's for anyone who wants to be a bit greener but hasn't found a way.

Who's behind Green Thing?

Green Thing was started by Naresh Ramchandani and Andy Hobsbawm, two people with backgrounds in off and online communications who wanted to help make an environmental difference.

Green Thing is currently manned and womanned by James Alexander, Sarah Matthews, James Smith, Monica Srivastava and Katia Wengraf as well as Naresh and Andy.

Here's a list of Green Thing's non-exec directors and advisors and here's another list of the very kind people who have contributed thinking or creativity or opened doors or donated to Green Thing.

What's Green Thing trying to achieve?

Green Thing wants to help make a difference in the fight against climate change. To get technical, according to most calculations, our planet can only safely absorb about 1 tonne of carbon per person per year (George Monbiot calculates the figure should be no higher than 0.33 tonnes per person per year by 2030). The global average is currently between 3.9 to 4.5 tonnes per person, but in most developed countries it's much higher. In the UK, for instance, the average now stands at around 11 tonnes per person.

If you do each monthly Green Thing and keep doing them throughout the year (which changes your CO2 savings massively) and start to do some of the other and more significant things suggested on the 'Do More' pages, you will eventually cut the amount of CO2 you're responsible for by half.

The problem is that the other half is embedded into the products we buy and services we use which only the government and businesses have the power to change. But once enough people do the Green Thing, Green Thing can use this people power to persuade governments and businesses to do the Green Thing too and make changes necessary to begin to reduce the other fifty per cent.

How accurate are my Green Thing CO2 savings?

There are many different opinions about how to calculate the precise CO2 savings from any individual action and accurate accounting is difficult in this whole area. Green Thing tries to be as precise as possible in measuring the impact of each Green Thing action and you can see all the data and calculations in the Green Thing Wiki. There's always going to be a level of inaccuracy in this kind of measurement, and we're also relying on an honour system when people tell us they've done that month's Green Thing or any of the other 'Do more' actions.

But Green Thing is more focused on measuring the collective effect of everyone's actions. The CO2 saved by a global community of people doing the Green Thing is one thing, and that will be measured as accurately as it can be. But making a powerful statement that people want more ambitious action by business and government is another.

If you want a hardcore measurement of your personal 'carbon footprint' it's probably best to things like this official UK Government CO2 calculator. Green Thing plans create a version of this soon using the same government data and calculations and allow people to count the CO2 they measure there on their Green Thing profile (or visa versa if they prefer).

What does Green Thing stand for?

If Green Thing is about one thing, it's people power. If we all contribute to Green Thing, it will become as creative, as credible and as irresistible as it can be. If we all do the Green Thing, it will make the biggest impact it can make. You can read more about what Green Thing stands for here.

Why was Green Thing started?

Green Thing was started by Naresh and Andy because they felt nobody had come up with a great consumer-friendly initiative or an online community for environmental behaviour change that everyone could feel part of. They wanted to do their bit and help make a difference. They thought long and hard and decided that Green Thing was the best way to do it.

Where does Green Thing's money come from?

Green Thing is an independent, not-for-profit thing powered by grants from foundations and individual donations. The individual are among those thanked here, and some are also listed here. We will list others here as they come through.

What makes you different from other climate change initiatives?

Most climate change campaigns and initiatives split their focus between raising awareness, shifting attitudes and changing behaviour. They try to convince people to take action but few have any ongoing way to remind people or make it part of their routine. They suggest a mix of actions, some of which are easy but some of which are difficult and off-putting. They are mostly serious in tone and they take a top-down approach: experts informing people who know less and telling them what to do.

Green Thing exists only to translate all the current awareness of climate change into action. It encourages people to take action at least once a month every month to build a routine of green behaviour. It starts with easy actions to encourage people into more significant ones. It uses creativity to turn action on climate change from a chore to a pleasure. It takes a bottom-up, grassroots approach so that green behaviour is suggested and more widely adopted by an online community for whom this is their thing.

Can I make a donation to Green Thing?

No. Alright then, yes. Go to www.justgiving.com/dothegreenthing. Thank you.

How will you actually spend my money?

On fast electric cars and cases of organic wine. No, not really. Green Thing will put all its money into helping as many people as possible in as many countries as possible to do the Green Thing. It obviously needs to pay for staff and other business costs (office, computers, that sort of thing). Any profits beyond that go to environmental charities and causes fighting climate change. Green Thing is planning to set up Green Thing Trust to do just this once there's enough money to do so.

Is Green Thing a registered charity?

Green Thing is a not-for-profit company. A separate charitable company Green Thing Trust has been established and is applying for charitable status. It will receive any profits from Green Thing and will seek grants to fund charitable activities.

Are there any jobs going at Green Thing?

Sometimes, yes. A lot of it depends on when funding comes through and exactly how much funding. Volunteers are always welcome. Please send your details to jobs@dothegreenthing.com and we'll get back to you.

Where is Green Thing?

Green Thing's registered address is: co/o Stephen Lloyd, Bates Wells & Braithwaite London LLP, 2-6 Cannon Street, EC4M 6YH. We tend not to hang out there because its full of lawyers. Most days we can be found in The Telephone Exchange, 5 North Crescent, Chenies Street, London WC1E 7PH instead.

How can I get in touch with Green Thing?

Best thing is to e-mail the team:

General enquiries: hello@dothegreenthing.com
Help with the site: help@dothegreenthing.com
Questions or suggestions about this FAQ: faq@dothegreenthing.com
(or just add a comment at the bottom of this page)
Questions or suggestions about the Green Thing Wiki: wiki@dothegreenthing.com
Questions about jobs at Green Thing: jobs@dothegreenthing.com

SITE THINGS

How do I get the most out of the site?

First thing, you should sign-up to make sure you get the two video things every month to make you smile or think (or both) and be inspired to do that month's Green Thing.

Then there are really four main areas on the site.

Do it

Do It is all about the current month's Green Thing actions, links to things that can help you do it (like videos, podcasts and games), explanations of why you should do it, more things you can do and what impact it all makes.

On the You plus everyone else page in the Do It section, for instance, you can see a Google map showing the top 200 cities around the world with the highest number of Green Thing visitors. It’s updated nightly using a feed we set up from Google analytics. You can zoom in and around the map to your heart’s content and when you click on a pin it’ll tell you how many people have visited from that particular place on the globe. We’ve also added the total number of individual visitors and times they’ve visited so far to the top of the map, plus how much CO2 the community has saved at the bottom.

View It

Then there's View it which is where you'll find all the content from Green Thing and its community: videos, photos, podcasts, blogs/comments and other lovely stuff.

If you've done your Green Thing and taken some photos or made a video or recorded a short story or a comedy sketch or a deep profound thoughpiece or a song about it then you can also upload it onto the site to inspire others to a) appreciate your creative genius and perhaps more importantly b) do the Green Thing too. Do this on the Upload page.

Done It

Thirdly, there's Done It. Here you'll find a complete list of all the Green Thing actions. This is important because every time you do a Green Thing, we'd like you to tell us by clicking the DONE IT button next to that action. That way we can count it and tell you how much CO2 we've all saved together.

In the header on every page you can always see the last three people who've done the Green Thing and how they've done it. A site-wide feed of everything the community is doing – including who’s just done the Green Thing – can be seen here on the the activity page. You get to this by clicking "show all" on the header.

Profile

Finally, once you've started doing Green Things - and assuming you've signed-up by this point - you should visit Your Profile (called "[user name]'s things" just under the logo in each page header). You can start collecting Green Thing creatures created by graphic designers like Pete Fowler and Andrew Rae for each action. What's more they walk, flicker, oggle and cry depending on how you treat them. So treat them well. (And if you click on them, they might reveal creature features like downloadable wallpaper and buddy icons).

You can also click on anyone's name you see on the site to check out their Profile. See what their creatures say about how they’re doing the Green Thing. Have they got any? If so, are they dancing in the streets or sadder than a sack of sad-eyed basset hounds on anti-depressants? These things matter.

The "my CO2 savings" tab tells you how much CO2 you've saved by doing the Green Thing. And "my site activities" keeps track of all the things you do on the site, like post comments, upload content, and so on. On the right hand side of your profile page you can find and post messages to friends who might also be doing the Green Thing too.

Why should I sign-up?

Because it takes 45 seconds and doesn't cost a thing and gets you two videos a month and access to Your Green Things. Also you can't actually participate in the community without being a registered Green Thing so if you want to post a comment, rate a video or photo or contact other Green Things you'll need to sign up first. It's incredibly quick and easy. We only need three things: e-mail, password and username.

Where can I buy Green Thing products?

You can't because there's aren't any but some are planned for the future. It's worth saying that Green Thing will do commercial things that fit the community and help expand the Green Thing mission, not to rake in the cash.

I'm having problems with the site. The videos or audio won't play or the pages won't load, or that kind of thing. What's going wrong?

Hmmm, don't like the sound of that. Email help@dothegreenthing.com and one of the team will try to sort it out.

Do I need permission to quote or reproduce an article from the website or share any content?

You can look at or share anything on Green Thing but please credit Green Thing if you re-use it (like re-posting a podcast on your site) and you can only use things for non-commercial purposes - of course you understand why.

Where can I get technical help on using the Green Thing site?

help@dothegreenthing.com

I have a marvellous idea for Green Thing, how can I tell you about it?

Go to this place on the blog for general Green Thing ideas and discussion.

I've thought of an important question you didn't answer on your FAQ, how can I tell you about that?

Please e-mail us at faq@dothegreenthing.com or tell us about iton the blog or comment at the bottom of this page.

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