Timberland, in partnership with Changents.com and the support of TrendsUpdates, is sponsoring the “Spot Green” contest created to find the coolest green projects and trends inspiring eco-friendly lifestyles in communities across the globe. Trend spotters can submit a photo, video or brief description of the eco-craze or green project in their hometown at SpotGreenContest.com. The top three Green Trend Spotters will win a pair of Timberland Earthkeeper boots and featured in a video on Changents.com and TrendsUpdates.com

Timberland Earthkeeper Hero Cate Trotter (a.k.a. the “Green Insider”), a 27-year-old environmental sustainability trend spotter and “greentrepreneur”—green business expert, together with TrendsUpdates will judge the submissions. Cate, a green trend spotting pro, is sharing stories about her journey through London while she discovers emerging trends from its green scene including environmentally sustainable break-throughs, eco-architectural feats, ethical fashion trends, green technology innovations, and Gen Y eco-conscious culture spanning from art to nightlife.

So far, Cate’s made some cool progress. She took a well-known creative agency and mobile phone brand on a tour of London’s greenest communities, helping them understand new approaches to energy saving in an innovative light. She had an in-depth tour of Sanford, Britain’s first street to have energy saving features on every house, cutting carbon by 60% already – the same as the government’s target for 2050. Also, she showed the associates of a government department round a cutting-edge green office, showing them new (but tangible) ways that they could personally reduce their impact at work. Judi Leon, Head of Sustainable Operations, said “it motivated our overseas colleagues to think more laterally about what more they can do to green their Embassies.

Help Cate discover green trends in your town.

Artciel by Jennifer Simckowitz

Canvass Your MP is all about tackling climate change and was masterminded by a group of bloggers (including our very own Asi, a Green Guys Global editor) who came up with this great idea just last week.

The campaign aims to inspire members of the public to engage with their local MP and encourage them to support a new target of 80% cuts in CO2 emissions, strengthening the Climate Change Bill.

Well that’s a very brief explanation anyway. You can find out more at the website www.canvassyourmp.com which was created & built by Jez (also a Green Guys editor) here at Make Hay Ethical E-media.

Asi’s posts over at Green Guys Global tell you much more about the beginnings of the campaign, the thinking behind it, how it works and most importantly how you can get involved. Visit Green Guys Global and keep up to date.

Keep checking back at www.canvassyourmp.com for campaign updates and progress.

Edinburgh MP Mark Lazarowicz has introduced a new Bill titled The Environmental Protection (Transfers at Sea) Bill, which if introduced would improve the regulation of ship-to-ship transfers of oil and other hazardous cargos throughout UK seas, thus helping to protect the UK’s marine habitats and wildlife from potential oil spills.

Why is the Bill needed?

Ship-to-ship (STS) transfer is a process by which cargo is transferred between ships at anchor, this includes oil! The transfer of oil currently takes place at Scapa Flow Orkney) and Sullum Voe (Shetland).

However what is very worrying is that there are new proposed STS sites around the UK including include Falmouth Harbour (Cornwall), Southwold (Suffolk), the Firth of Forth (SE Scotland) and Nigg Bay (NE Scotland). Lyme Bay (Devon/Dorset) (remember that Lyme Bay is already suffering from commercial scallop dredging as reported in the post titled ‘Help save the seaside’)

Currently, STS operations are insufficiently regulated. The UK Department of Transport (which is responsible for shipping matters) has failed to fulfil repeated promises to introduce stronger measures.

Mark Lazarowicz’s Bill would require the Secretary of State for Transport to bring in new regulations controlling STS transfer of cargos, including strict safeguards to protect our seas and sea life. STS transfer is not addressed by the forthcoming Marine Bill (which I wrote about in the post titled Can we have the Bill please’) , so separate legislation is necessary and extremely important.

Please act now

The Bill’s Second Reading in the House of Commons will take place on 25 January and as this is  a make-or-break time for the Bill, the Wildlife Trust is urging people to email their MP asking him / her to support the Bill and attend the debate on 25^th January.

4 simple steps to help secure the bill

1)  Visit www.theyworkforyou.com and type in your postcode to locate your MP.

2) Click on ‘Send a message to…’.

3) Write a short message in your own words, using the following notes to help you:

- The Environmental Protection (Transfers at Sea) Bill, introduced by Mark Lazarowicz MP, would improve the regulation of ship-to-ship transfers of oil and other hazardous cargos throughout UK seas.

-This would allow strict controls on ship-to-ship transfers, helping to protect the
UK’s marine and coastal habitats and wildlife from potentially catastrophics spills.

-The Bill’s Second Hearing is on 25 January.

-More information about the Bill can be found on Mark Lazarowicz’s website: www.marklazarowicz.org.uk

4) Email the Wildlife Trust Marine team marine(at)wildlifetrusts.org to let them know that you have done it and please put STS as the subject and let them know who your MP is.

Attention non UK citizen’s whilst you wont be able to do the above steps I see no harm in you contacting Mark Lazarowicz and offering support to this Bill, his contact information can be found on his website.

Thank you

Have you ever watched the film “Pay It forward?”

Well Jane over at ‘Live the Solution’ has written a fantastic post about how the pay it forward concept is being applied by an American Science Teacher who has made a series of very interesting (and funny) short films titled ‘How it all ends’.

Through the films he raises some important questions about climate change and provides lots of food for thought. He also encourages you to look into the issues further so that you become educated and informed resulting in an increased ability to participate in level headed and informed discussions about climate change.

With regards to dealing with climate change sceptics, he advises “We shouldn’t be dismissive, or cruel, or even angry with them, although we might feel like it sometimes.” Instead he provides you with the mission of tracking down and “counter the hard-line skeptics at every turn online and in the media.  Keep them from influencing the undecided.  Drown them out with deliberate, level-headed, informed arguments, like a fire extinguisher of reason and logic.”

If you would like to watch the films (and I recommend that you do) please click here and you will be redirected to the WonderingMinds42 website.

Your mission if you choose to accept it is to “Pay it forward” by:

1) Encouraging friends, family and colleagues to watch the films

2) Writing about it on your blog / website

3) Posting a link to the videos on social networking (i.e. on your profile / groups etc)

4) Getting all of the people you have told to also do steps 1 to 3.

And don’t forget, its important that we all become informed about the issues so that when we talk to Climate Change / Green Living sceptics we are able to speak to them in a level headed way with backed up facts.

Good luck

What name do you give a whale? Mister Splashy Pants of course!

For those who are wondering what I am talking about, cast your minds back to my post titled A whale by any other name…in October, when I reported that Greenpeace had launched a competition to name a whale.

Apparently over 11,000 submissions were entered, which were narrowed down to 30 and then it was up to the public to vote. Of those 30 short listed names, 150,000 (over 78 percent) voted Mister Splashy Pants as their favourite.

However now that the humpback whale has been named, he needs your help! He might have a great name but he and his friends are still in danger. The only way to be 100 percent sure that ‘Splashy’ doesn’t get harpooned is to stop killing all whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.

You can help Mister Splashy Pants and all of the other whales by clicking here and signing Greenpeace’s petition calling upon the Japanese Fisheries Agency to promise not to kill Mister Splashy Pants.

Come on GGG readers let’s save Splashy Pants !

A few days ago my niece Beth told me about Mars’ announcement to put rennet (an animal enzyme) in their products. Because it was National Vegetarian Week I asked her to write me a post for GGG about it.

Over to you Beth….

Veggie Rights

With recent news that Mars have decided to use animal rennet in their chocolate the Vegetarian Society have protested against this and want to know why they have done this. The vegetarian alternative is cheaper and also healthier and the sales will obviously decrease due to the amount of vegetarians who will not eat or buy it any more.

Chocolates that would contain this product are: Mars, Snickers, Minstrels, Maltesers, Bounty, Milky Way, Twix

Since Beth wrote this post Mars have changed their decision, saying they had “made a mistake”.

What I think is amazing here is the power of the consumers’ voice. Like Beth many people wrote to Mars to protest against the use of the animal product and as a result that major decision was turned around.

Whether you feel strongly about animal rights, organic cotton in high street fashion shops or plastic wrapping in supermarkets, why not make the time to write a letter to let the shop / company / local MP in question know how you feel. This kind of activity does work and we’ve seen it in action this week.

Well done Beth and the Vegetarian Society!

After losing my home and everything in it, I moved to New York, but my heart—as they say—still knows what it means to miss New Orleans. I not only miss it with my whole heart every waking moment, but I want to affect great green changes there. I want to do it for my beloved city, and for the future. We can all be a part of the greening of New Orleans- if we only knew where to look.

So let’s start here…..
The Green Project is an organization based in New Orleans that salvages and recycles building supplies and other materials. Their work, which provides low cost building materials, has become particularly important as the gulf coast area works to rebuild following Hurricane Katrina. It is also vital in its efforts to preserve the historical treasures found in New Orleans architecture. All too often the destruction of homes leads to a pile of rubble. The Green Project (TGP) is railing hard against the very concept. They painstakingly take buildings apart piece by piece rather than with energy hogging construction equipment. Then they make those resources available to the community. Some of the great finds I have personally come across included original hurricane shutters, wainscoting, hand crafted mouldings, antique doorknobs and stained glass.

Recycle for the Arts is a subset of The Green Project which offers recycled art workshops and provides recycled art materials to local artists, schools, and art programs. They truly are a community center based organization and a haven for creativity.

These two interwoven non-profits are in dire need of assistance in post-Katrina New Orleans. They are one of just a handful of green efforts in the city and do such important work. The programs and facilities are vital not only to the rebuilding of a sustainable city, but to the arts community as well. New Orleans is a city based on the artists that create a rich tapestry in the city. The city needs programs and venues that encourage young artists to express their love for the city and the desire to see it move in a more positive direction. The Green Project is instrumental in that process and fundamental in the healing of everyone who has ever loved New Orleans.

Support Us!

I have created a site, NOLA Green Project, to accept online donations. I have partnered with some incredibly generous, phenomenal greentrepreneurs to offer an incentive for the fundraiser. Will draw 2 winners from the online donor list & the winners will receive an amazing tote bag filled with over 200 dollars worth of green goods. Please visit http://nolagreenproject.chipin.com/nola-green-project to help make a difference in New Orleans. BE THE CHANGE—KEEP THE BAG!!