For some, there is no solution – it’s in our make-up as humans to self-destruct and we’re on a course with catastrophe. For others, global warming is a myth and part of a ‘natural’ cycle, an excuse for governments to raise green taxes and science will get us out of the mess we’re in. These two groups are characterised by a combination of apathy, denial and disinterest.

Finally, there are a group of people who see something wrong and try to do something about it. These are the people with conviction and a sense of moral duty, committed to making a contribution despite cynicism and carping. Their reward is not financial or profit-driven – they are driven by selflessness and knowing that they are making some contribution, however small or seemingly insignificant. As David Attenborough has said: “If my grandchildren thought of me when they looked at the desolation that has overcome great patches of the earth and thought, ‘He knew what was happening but he did nothing about it’, I would feel deeply, deeply ashamed of myself.” Moral conviction is worth more than anything.

Back in 2005 I sat watching Live 8, listening to Birhan Woldu, and my Dad in the background telling me how this could be the start of revolution. At that point decided it was time for my own revolution.  Time to give something back. I hadn’t reached dizzying heights of wealth, but I had enough to be comfortable.

Having previously been introduced to WaterAid (Registered Charity 288701) at Glastonbury Festival, and their morally unambiguous message that everyone should have safe water, the starting position for my own personal ‘revolution’ was clear.

Satifying my impatient thirst for continuous challenges, shortly after I signed up to undertake the greatest challenge of my life to date, a trek to Everest Base Camp that would raise enough money to change the lives of 200 people.

You quickly become an event manager, a fund raiser, a negotiator and a member of the insane club overnight.  Alongside juggling all these roles and undertaking a 3 month training programme you have to keep your own life going.  At the back of my mind I kept telling myself, others in the world had it harder. Charity fundraisers of this nature should not be mocked, and anyone that calls them holiday, should sign themselves up immediately to learn what they are really about.

Thanks to lots of great people and a pony, we were successful. I even managed to document my journey on  TravelBlog.

A year of rest later I was back pondering what to do next.  Tour de France – Lycra shorts? You’ve got to be kidding.  Baked Bean Bath -  I Baked Beans.  It a trickly one, no matter how much you know it’s not a holiday, there will always be those that believe it is, and cycling round Cuba in my own humble opinion won’t help that perception.  I needed something that would stand out alongside the difficulty of Everest.

Surviving in the Arctic?  That’ll do nicely.

So that’s my next challenge.  In February 2009 I’m be heading into the Arctic Circle in Northern Sweden for an Arctic Survival Challenge.  It going to get cold (upto -50c if you include windchill), and three of the nights of the week I’m there I’ll be in snow holes and makeshift shelters, having spent the day learning the basics of arctic survival.  A few weeks ago I undertook my survival preparation course in Devon and decided bugs taste quite nice.  I’m putting the final touches to my kit, I’ve started a new TravelBlog and if you could spare some change, in this time of change, you really are amazing.

Follow my progress and watch me eating bugs for breakfast on TravelBlog.

TravelBlog.Org/Bloggers/ArcticSurvivalChallenge.

Donate to WaterAid via my sponsorship website:

http://www.justgiving.com/ChangeTheWorldNow

or just drop me a line if you want to help out

The world seem to be divided today between those who wants to go 150 years back and those advocating to invest all our resources in developing green and clean energy technologies. After reading few articles on this topic I must admit I’m rather confused. Coal has a high potential in future energy supply, only once new technology to reduce CO2-emissions from coal combustion will become economically viable. But currently they aren’t and the fact of the matter is that 40% of the global carbon dioxide emissions are due to coal.

If you want to read more on this subject you should read the debate between George Monbiot and Arthur Scargill few months back in the Guardian. The EU Energy Policy Blog also written some illuminating facts about the future of coal-based energy.

The reason for this lengthy introduction is a new Greenpeace campaign. Inspiring, engaging environmental campaigns are difficult to pull out. Especially these days, when the economic meltdown is contributing to the already short and fatigued attention span of the general public in relation to green issues you have to produce something that will stand out and cut through and I think that Greenpeace have managed to pull a nifty little campaign called….CoalFinger:

The campaign is topical and full of funny moments and the microsite is nicely designed with clear, plain English articulation of the problem.

Well done Greenpeace.

This year I’ll be going to Glastonbury Festival, and Camp Bestival and living by 10 greener festival tips as The GreenFestivalMan.

Number TEN – Fashion
Don’t waste money buying new clothes that will get trashed. Shop around charity or thrift Shops for pre-festival bargains. A large number of UK festivals have charity shops on site.

Number NINE – Toilets
This applies to guys more than girls. Festival toilets can be pretty grim but less grim than the thought of 10′000s of people urinating at random in a field. Doing so is tantamount, to empting the content of a large toilet right over the entire festival. Poor santitation = nasty stomach upsets and ecosystem pollution.

Number EIGHT – Lighting
It’s dark you need light. Use renewable power torches and lights, like the Puma Dynamo Torch available from EcoOutlet.co.uk. (It even has a strobe light).

Lights comes in all forms from solar to water powered.

Number SEVEN – Tent pegs
Made from potato starch, Millets.co.uk have launched a range of biodegradable tent pegs from GreenStake. Reusable, but won’t harm wildlife if you lose them in the ground.

Number SIX – Fire!
If like me you need fire be sociable and gather round someone else’s.

Use deadwood, don’t pull any branches down. Using charcoal? make sure it’s from a sustainable source. Charcoal in the UK should be FSC certified and can be sourced from British woodlands.

This year I’ll be using the WoodGas Biomass Camp Stove. Originally designed for developing countries to minimise smoke pollution. There are only a few UK stockists at the moment, but a larger number in the USA.

Number FIVE – Power
Use recharagable batteries or personal renewable power sources.

A number of personal solar panels are available to charge various different electronics like MP3 players, batteries and mobile phones. Most can be found for reasonable rates on the internet.

A recent addition to the pack, is the HYmini wind powered generator and handheld charger.

Number FOUR – Cleanliness
Use natural, bio degradable, wet wipes. Better still, take a flannel, remember those?

Use biodegradable soap and Eco-friendly toothpaste. Many ‘non-green’ hygiene products release nasty chemicals. These chemicals eventually get into food chains.

Number THREE – Rubbish / Trash
Leave no trace. Leave nothing but footprints. Use on-site recycling facilities or take home waste to recycle and/or compost.

Don’t trash your tent or burn it, give it to an organisation like Globalhand.org for recycling. If it does get trashed, salvage the useful bits. Tent poles can make good flag poles. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

Number TWO – Food
Buy local, eat seasonal – try out the local food stalls. Meat eaters can cut back their carbon footprints but eating more vegetarian food. Cut it out or cut it back. This year at Glastonbury I’ll be only eating vegetarian food, but only if I can find another 15 meat eaters to join me. Sign up on www.PledgeBank.Com/GoVegetarian .

If going vegetarian isn’t your bag try to make the special effort to get something that’s local, free range and preferably organic. The meat tastes better that way and will have taken less carbon to produce.

A good range of organic and fairtrade museli and granola bars are available (excellent munchie food).

Decant soft drinks into a re-usable bottle, like CamelBak’s innovative BPA free range.

Alcohol from local breweries will quench the festival thirst. Find yourself stuck with a bottle but no way of getting in to it? Show your friends how old stuff can be reused. EcoOutlet.co.uk retail bottle openers made from recycled metal spoons.

• Number ONE -Transportation

Most of your Carbon footprint originates from the way you travel to the event. Use public transport where possible, many festivals across the world can be accessed by trains and coaches. Rock am Ring in Nurberg and Glastonbury included.

Going by car? arrange a lift share via liftshare.org or find a travelling companion on boards like eFestivals.com or networking sites like isanyonegoingto.com. Whatever your means offset it a few times using audited carbon offset companies like Climatecare.org.

Have a happy Festival and Camping Season. See you at Glastonbury or Camp Bestival.

GreenFestivalMan

(aka Gareth, GGG Editor)

Recently a number of GreenGuys and GreenGirls have written about the environmental and health benefits of going vegetarian. Some reports even say vegetarians have half the carbon footprint of their meat eating counterparts.

People go vegetarian for many different reasons, but for me it’s about the environment.

I’m looking for 15 other meat-eaters to join me between the 25th – 29th June 2008, and try out vegetarianism.

WILL YOU JOIN ME?

Join in the fun at http://www.pledgebank.com/GoVegetarian

OR text ‘pledge GoVegetarian’ to 60022 (in the UK only)

The idea has already generated a lot of lively debate on eFestivals and fits in nicely with Glastonbury’s attempt to lead the way in Green Festivals in 2008. Much of their marketing material carrying the strapline ‘Leave no trace, Love the farm’.

Over the coming weeks I’ll be reviewing a number of the latest eco-camping products and publishing my 10 Greener Festival/Camping Tips on GreenGuysGlobal.

I’ll be writing from the festival on my environmental finds, and asking people what they are doing in their lives to help reduce their carbon footprint, and finding difficult about making changes in their lives.

Join the group ‘Follow The Green Festival Man’ on Facebook, and become a friend of the Green Festival Man on Myspace http://www.myspace.com/GreenFestivalMan.

Look forward to chatting with you soon.

GreenFestivalMan
(aka GGG Editor Gareth)

PS Keep watching this website for my GreenFestivalTips later in the week.

The UK has the opportunity to show real leadership in combating global climate change by delivering a strong Climate Change Bill. We need to set a target that delivers the reduction in UK climate-changing gases that is needed – the scientific data tells us the target should be at least 80%, not the 60% the government proposes, which is based on out of date science (read more here).

Annoyingly, for most politicians, especially the Tories with their phony green disguise but the labour is not much better on this one, this is a petty political matter and they will probably vote as a herd.

So we had a nice improvised brainstorm and quickly realised that WE DON’T need another public awareness campaign, and we don’t need another pledge, and the email your MP mechanism has lost it’s steam.

We need something else. Something that might not involve thousands of participants as there is not only general green fatigue, but also the green activism sphere is highly fragmented. We need something personal and effective that will send MPs the message that this is a national and global matter and it’s not the time for political pettiness and herd voting. Vote as you believe you should.

This is how we came out with Canvas My MP. The final mechanisms are still being sorted out but the idea is that we want to reveal each and every MP personal stand on the bill and put as much pressure as possible on those who refuse to acknowledge the need for a stronger, more effective bill. So we are moving away from the rather ineffective email your MP to hopefully more effective action of meeting every MP in person to try to convince them to vote for stronger bill. In a nutshell we will ask people to set an appointment with their local MP and and nag them to vote for a stronger bill. These people (we are hoping that a dozen constituents meeting their MP in person can start making an impact.

Our efforts will of course be documented and all MPs opinions and replies will be reported. We hope to get all green organisations and initiatives like the brilliant The Nag, Do the Green Thing as well as BBC Green and Treehugger on board in helping promote this one.

This all happens in the speed of light with not much time to polish the details (the details are being sorted out as we speak) but with lots of great people cheeping in for help so if anyone has any more ideas on how this initiative can grow more teeth please get in touch or leave a comment below. The lovely

I’m trying to convince Steve Webb to go for some BIG PRish initiative to get a nice kick start t this and send the message that this is a cross-party a-political issue – something like 12 MPs Calendar-Girls-like project (Prescott in bikini anyone???)

Will keep you posted on further developments.

UPDATE: I just been told that the lovely Make Hay have volunteered to design the website and already put some initial page…cheeers for that Vicky!!

Tony’s message was clear. “Democracy is not just voting every 5 years, watching Big Brother in between and wondering why nothing happens. Democracy is what we do and say. Where we live and work….”

Like anything in life if you want to use, it you need to know how to. Democracy is a lot like that, if you want to make real changes, you need to learn to use it.

Last year I visited my local Member of Parliament (MP) to find out how to use the system.

This is what I found out…

Email campaigns
You plug your name and address into a website, like magic an email wings its way to your local politician describing your disdain for whaling, climate change or the latest concern of the day.

Lots of people make a difference, but MPs sometimes treat these emails like a petition. It’s easy to sign something without giving it much consideration and MPs know this. “If you get 15 e-mails in one go, the usual reaction is not ‘this is important’ but ‘oh God, my inbox is full of e-mails!”

Effectiveness rating: *

Protests
The Orange Revolution in the Ukraine, Gandhi’s march, the Iraq war protests.

Protests can raise important media attention and apply intense pressure to political systems. They can even be used to highlight the ridiculousness of legislation, such as Mark Thomas demonstrations against restrictions on campaigning in Parliament Square.

Effectiveness rating: * to ****

Letters
I highlighted the sentiment of an email was the same as a letter but was told: “It would be better if somebody wrote a letter in their own words. Sometimes if lots of people send an email it can have an impact, but most of the cynical politicians will think ’somebody has just gathered 50 people to annoy me by filling up my inbox”.

I guess the pen is mightier than the keyboard.

Effectiveness rating: **

Face to face
Many politicians run appointments when you can go along and meet them in person. Don’t be shy, most of them are human. If you know a few people with the similar concerns go along together. If there are many of you why not invite them to come and see you.

Politicians know that issues must be really important to their constituents when they take the time to meet them.

Effectiveness rating: ***

Political systems are different in every country. The guidance above will help you get started, but it is by no means exhaustive. All politicians are different and vary in the type of communication they take most notice of. Different countries have different forms of democracy. The more liberal a democracy is, the more accountable the government to the people, the increased civil and political rights people have and the freer and fairer elections are. (Dahl, 1989)

I know people that give up even before they’ve tried, they tell me their concerns, ‘One person can’t make a difference’. I believe they can. Florence Nightingale, Nelson Mandela, Abraham Lincoln. History is full of individuals and groups making a difference.

Over the last few weeks I’ve decided to see my MP about Climate Change. I’ve dusted off the notes from my Environmental Science degree, boned up on the latest developments from the IPCC, and have taken it upon myself to give my MP a grounding in the climate science basics.

The first meeting went well. Once we had finished our ‘Save the World’ talk, I took it upon myself to complain that it takes 5 years in my town to get an allotment. A giant leap from the melting permafrost, or destruction of the rainforest, but I’ve come to realise that everything is connected to everything.

Effectiveness rating: ? Watch this space

References:

Dahl, R. (1989) Democracy and Its Critics, Yale University Press, New Haven

Links:

In the UK you can find out who your local MP is at http://www.WriteToThem.com

Mark Thomas – Mass lone demonstrations : Against legislation to prevent free protest around British Parliament http://www.markthomasinfo.com/demo/default.asp

The IPCC assesses the scientific, technical and socio-economic information relevant for the understanding of risk of human-induced climate change. http://www.ipcc.ch

We all do it every now and then: forget to lock our phone’s keypad and accidentally call the first person on our contact list. Usually some unlucky person by the name of Asi or Abigail (or Armani if you’re well connected ).

Belgian ad agency Duval Guillaume came up with a clever campaign that turns accidental calls into accidental donations to the Belgian League for the Blind. They’re asking people to add ‘A Blind Call’ to their list of contacts (for those of you in Belgium, the phone number is 070 222260). Every time the number is called, A Blind Call is given a cut of the call’s proceeds. Calls are cut off after 30 seconds, and the cost to the dialler is never more than EUR 0.75.

Not only will the proceeds help the League for the Blind fund useful projects and research for sight-impaired people, every Alice, Alan and Abdullah will be spared a few coat-pocket soundtracks.

Border genius – I wish I had thought about it…

Check it here (In French/Dutch)

Story via Springwise

And now they’ve done it again with a brilliantly simple campaign : Buy One, Get One Tree

Buy One, Get One Tree is a lovely initiative where they plant a tree for every carton of innocent smoothie you buy and there’s a virtual forest where you can see your trees and a treeometer to see how many have been planted.

There’s even a widget for your blog to show how many you’ve planted by proxy.

From an engagement (one of the hottest buzz words of recent years) marketing point of view it is just oh so smart as you actually need to register the number on the pack to plant your tree, which means that they encourage you, the customer, to actively do some goodness by logging on the website and ‘plant’ your tree.

Kudos to you Innocent!

Not everyone will agree with the points made and some of them are vague and loose as we couldn’t fit more text on there (and have the ebook anyway), so it would be great to hear your comments and any feedback that you have.

Due to feedback we already have from the eBook, we’re now working on the next generation of the 100 Ways which will be followed up by a new, improved version of the eBook in the months to come – there’s no end to the ways you can go green!