If like me you spend a lot of time worrying about climate change, species extinction, violence, poverty and all of the negative things happening in the world then this movie might give you some hope.

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.

For all green art enthusiasts, this is the event for you!

A charity art auction, ‘Art Aid: Embrace‘ will be taking place on Saturday 21st June to raise money to support poor communities in Africa, Asia and Latin America adapt to climate change.

The work of around 50 artists from the East Midlands will be displayed in the View from the Top gallery in Nottingham from Wednesday 18th June until the reception and auction on Saturday 21st June.

The many artworks available are:
Painting and Drawing
Mixed Media
Original Printmaking
Ceramics and Sculpture
Photography
Signed Print

So there’s something for all art lovers out there!

If you’d like an evening of culture, treat yourself to a beautiful piece of art and help raise money for those affected by climate change then pop along to the website www.art-aid.org to find out more.

Can big business really save the planet?

Turning up the HEAT is a series of free interactive and virtual debates on climate change and corporate power organised by the World Development Movement.

You can turn up in person to the events in London (8th May), Cardiff (10th May) and Manchester (13th May) or you can watch and participate online – by watching the live webcasts and pre-recorded videos both before and after the events.

Panel speakers include: Rt. Hon Brian Wilson Flying Matters; Caroline Lucas MEP Green Party; Ricardo Navarro CESTA, El Salvador and many more.

For more information and to register please go to: www.wdm.org.uk/heat

Information provided by Rachel Tavernor

Moving on and off campus after a stressful semester is never fun. The idea of lugging tons of boxes, spending hours cleaning your old dorm or apartment and driving miles away from school with a jam-packed car, only to do it all again next semester, is more than enough to make the average student cringe.

Not only is it not fun to move, but it’s also very harmful to the environment. You accumulate excess waste from throwing out old possessions and packing boxes, and you release carbon dioxide into the air making several trips in your car to get everything home.

If you practice living green there are several steps that you can take to make your moving experience less stressful and more eco-friendly.

Give to a Good Cause
College students acquire more stuff in their tiny living space than most average people do in a lifetime, and when it’s time to move it takes triple the effort just to get everything packed! Here are some green ways to lighten the load:

• Donate – You can donate any items that you don’t use to a thrift store such as Goodwill Industries or the Salvation Army, who will sell your items to raise money for good causes. You reduce your carbon footprint because many of these places pick up your items from your front door.
• Sell – You can sell your stuff online through such sites as eBay and Craigslist. By doing this you not only get some extra money, but you also get to reduce paper waste because everything is done online. You can also have a yard sale (if you live in a house), which also saves you from spending gas money and driving to a new location.
• Recycle – Don’t forget that many items you may want to throw away, including old notebooks, metal tins and computers, can be recycled.

Post-Consumer Packing
Cardboard boxes are the standard way to pack up your items. Even though they are recyclable, an even better way to reduce your paper waste is to use an eco-friendly recycled container.

The people at Earth Friendly Moving created the RecoPack, which is a series of stackable moving containers made from plastic containers that were salvaged from U.S. landfills. You can rent them for $1 a week, and the Earth Friendly team will drop them off and pick them up for you!

Get a Helping Hand
If you need help moving you can always hire a moving company. I don’t mean the kind of company that releases tons of greenhouse gases in the air with their huge tractor-trailer trucks, but an eco-friendly moving company. A company like Go Green Moving uses biofuel to power its trucks and earth-friendly moving pads made from recycled cotton.

A Green Clean is a Great Clean
Once everything is packed up and shipped out, you still have one more thing to do: you get to clean up the messy spills and dirty corners. The best way to do this is to use eco-friendly cleaning products that are made of all-natural and organic ingredients. These are safe to use because they don’t release any toxic fumes and won’t irritate your skin. Some great places to get these products are Heather’s Natural & Organic Cleaning Products and Simple Green.

Moving may not be a fun experience, but it can be a green experience that will help you reduce your carbon footprint and save the environment’s natural resources. It just takes a little time and effort!

About the Author:
Trish Smith is a copywriter for Green Student U, a blog-style site that introduces today’s students to a wide variety of global environmental issues by recognizing college campus green initiatives and personal success stories, as well as how the world is being shaped by environmental reform.

Attention all East Midlands (UK) based GGG readers!

You are cordially invited to an East Midlands Day of Action on the Climate Change Bill outside East Midlands Airport on Saturday April 12^th from 1.30 until 3 p.m.

What’s it all about?

Since Friends of the Earth launched the Big Ask campaign in June 2005 we’ve made amazing progress towards securing binding climate change legislation in Britain. The Government has introduced a Climate Change Bill which will become law in 2008. However the Bill they propose is not strong enough to realise the carbon dioxide emission cuts that are needed to ensure global emissions are kept below dangerous levels.

For this reason Friends of the Earth are now campaigning to see 3 key amendments in the Bill:

· An increase in the overall target for 2050 to 80 per cent CO₂ reductions;

· The inclusion of the UK’s share of international aviation and shipping emissions;

· The adoption of annual targets rather than 5 year budgets. 

What are the aims?

We need to highlight the need for ALL emissions to be included in the Climate Change Bill and show how Gordon Brown and his government are wilfully ignoring the impact of international aviation emissions.  We need to generate as much local media coverage as possible. MPs carefully monitor the local press and coverage and it really does influence the decisions they make. With an impending vote on the Climate Change Bill this coverage could make all the difference.

What’s the Plan?

We’d like to get as many people as possible posing outside the airport wearing Gordon Brown masks with their hands over their eyes, as the planes fly overhead. The image is intended to show how Gordon Brown is wilfully ignoring international aviation.  We have already received support from Members of Parliament across the region and David Taylor MP for North West Leicestershire will also be joining us on the day.

How do I get involved?

We will provide all the masks and props for the day but we need you to register your attendance by contacting callie.lister@foe.co.uk or calling 0115 9506 926, this will allow us to alert the press in advance as to how many Gordon Browns they can expect outside the airport! If you can please wear a dark suit and tie for an even better Gordon Brown effect!

You can find information about public transport to the airport by clicking here.

We will meet by the airport sign outside the front of the airport at 1.30 p.m. (please be very careful if you are crossing the roads near the airport as they are very busy and the traffic travels incredibly fast). If you need to contact us on the day for any reason you can call 07831 648 171 – but please do register your attendance in advance.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any queries,

Thank you

Callie Lister

Friends of the Earth Regional Campaigns Co-ordinator

East Midlands Region

E.on is delighted to announce the discovery of a new form of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS).

Burning coal to generate electricity produces Carbon Dioxide (CO2), a green house gas that contributes to climate change. However by capturing the CO2 before it is released into the atmosphere and piping it through natural spring water we at E.on are able to create carbonated drinking water that is bottled and sold in Italian restaurants under the brand name evE.on

Although a simple solution, the implications are huge. With over a hundred years worth of coal deposits left and with massive growth in energy demand CCS will allow E.on to continue to burn coal for decades to come. evE.on’s Chief Executive Taton Rebfluw says, “climate change had turned coal into a dirty word, but carbonated drinking water could be the silver bullet we have been looking for” a quick sip of evE.on bottled water and he continues “the water tastes great and drinkers have the added bonus of helping combat climate change – the more water they drink, the more CO2 they store, and the more coal can be used to generate electricity, this really is symbiosis at its very best”.

evE.on is available now in restaurants and cafes. Please drink responsibly and refrain from burping or breathing the CO2 back into the atmosphere otherwise you may be responsible for causing climate change.

Find out more or to order online visit www.ev-eon.com

Have you ever considered whether good lives have to cost the earth? Well a diverse group of people have considered the question and their answers were documented in a book (with the question as the title) edited by Andrew Simms and Jo Smith.

Before I started reading the book I already had an answer to the question myself and that is No. It has always been my belief and my experience (even as a child) that a good / happy life does not have to cost the earth. To me the simple / free pleasure are always the best for example:

* Just peacefully being with my loved ones

* Volunteering my time to help people and also the planet

*Breathing the fresh air of the countryside

*The taste of freshly picked organic food from my garden

*The beautiful sound of bird song

*Walking along the beach with my fiancé

As you may have gathered from some of my posts I always aim to consume as little as possible in life as it is my belief and the book also supports this that….

“people who consume above their fair and sustainable source of the Earth’s resources is no more likely to be satisfied with life than someone who is living within our collective environmental means”

(Quote within book and sourced from the European (un)Happy Planet Index, 2007)

The book has some interesting contributors all of whom have focussed on different areas of what makes a good life. Below you will find my favourite quotes from all of the featured contributors:

Tom Hodgkinson (Editor of the Idler): “Good lives are cheap, cheerful and will save the planet to boot”

David Boyle (Author): “Victorian economists calculated that the average English peasant in 1485 needed to work fifteen weeks a year to earn the money the needed to survive. In 1564, it was forty weeks. Now of course it is questionable whether we can manage to afford a reasonable life in
Britain without two salaries all the year round”

David Goldblatt (Author) “Step forward motor sports: Seriously, guys, yes you in the fast cars, peak oil is here or near. What are your great-grandchildren going to think a hundred years from now when they look back and see you spunking up the last precious drops of gasoline”

Phillip Pullman (Author) “Environmentalists need to know something about basic story telling in order to make their words effective”

A.C Grayling (Philosopher) “The environment has suffered in pursuit of wealth”

Oliver James (Author) “We talk of needing these things (i-pods/cars etc), but really we only want them”

John Bird (Creator of the Big Issue) “What we need today is to keep monopolies out of our life. Whenever we have a monopoly, whether public or private, you have the limitation of choice.”

Adair Turner (Vice Chairman at Merrill Launch Europe) “Population stabilization will be crucial to our long term success in dealing with climate change and other global environmental impacts”

Dame Anita Roddick (Founder of the Body Shop) “Providing for these vital human needs requires another kind of economy altogether, which emphasizes beauty, community and creativity”

Ann Pettifor (of Advocacy International Ltd) “We live in a global community that worships the god ‘Money’”

Larry Elliott (Financial Journalist) “The idea of personal thrift has gone out of the window, to be replaced by a culture in which it is not just permissible but commonplace – acceptable even – to live beyond our means”

Colin Tudge (Author) “The people who get to be in charge are the people who like power and the people who like power are not necessarily on the side of humanity”

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (Writer, broadcaster, campaigner) “Buy local food and almost by definition your buying seasonal produce with a low environmental impact”

Rosie Boycott (Writer and Broadcaster) “How you live is just as important as what you say. We argued (the feminist movement) that by changing the way in which we lived, we would in time influence the larger world around us. Now, I believe that sentiment is back”

Kevin McCloud (of Grand Designs) “I think that human beings are of our own environment, we are the problem but we are also the solution: the cause and the cure of our own environment”

Wayne Hemingway (Creator of Red or Dead and the Land of Lost Content) “We cant change the fact that new things stimulate us. But if we are really to achieve sustainability, then durability is incredibly important”

Stephen Bayley (Design Correspondent of the Observer) “Man is homo faber, a divine monkey who makes tools. While saving the planet it is a priority no one should ignore, its important to remember that since we stepped out of the primeval glop on to the dry shore and started the journey that ended with reality TV, the world has been constructed by us”

Nic Marks (Founder of the Centre of Well-Being at nef) “The language of well being doesn’t rely on an economic model that assumes that more consumption is always better”

David Cameron (Conservative party MP) “The greatest responsibility in the fight to save our planet lies with the Government, which must give a lead on the issue and set the right framework”

Hilary Benn (Labour party MP) “Transforming our economy, our cities, our way of life and cherishing our countryside and wildlife is something that we have to do”

Caroline Lucas (Green Party MEP) “Whether good lives are defined as happy lives or lives of well being, the bottom line is that living a good life and sage guarding the climate are not only simply compatible, they are inextricably connected and mutually dependent”

As you can see the book really does have a wide range of contributors, each providing their own insight in to whether good lives have to cost the earth.  I found the book an excellent read as it provided different perspectives on the green movement, I highly recommend it – however to be green and frugal get a copy from the library, a friend or second hand.

If you have already read the book what did you think? If not what are your thoughts about the featured quotations? And a question for everyone ‘do you think that goods lives have to cost the earth’?

Let’s all discuss….

The battle against the violations of animal rights its not that evident, even among “green” activist groups of today. If we look at today’s activist groups, we consider it normal for them to be against sexism, racism, capitalism, the consumer society, the army, nuclear energy, environmental pollution, etc. But why isn’t it normal that the activist of today is also a vegetarian or a vegan? Why are animal right activists the outsiders of the action world?

Most of the time, when an individual activist is not being consistent, it is considered quite normal. No harm is done and nobody thinks anything of that. Because living green all the time is difficult: sometimes we have to take the plane, we need a long bath, we buy a Nike football, we take our car to go to our local grocery store,… Everybody ‘understands’ these minor errors, and this activist won’t be judged in any way. However, animal rights activists are scrutinised and judged almost immediately. Just after mentioning the fact that they are vegan, they promptly have to defend themselves: “So you don’t think wearing plastic shoes is polluting?” , “Are you sure all your clothes are fair trade?”, “Why don’t you consider on helping the children in Africa?”, … The shortcomings of the vegan appear to be much worse than those of the non- (vegan) activist.

Moreover, people become angry when we request them to keep their hands of animals, but at the same time, they consider it normal that we are against racism and global warming. It seems nobody knows, or wants to know that all these beliefs and convictions go hand in hand. For example veganism and the environment: “Cattle-rearing generates more global warming greenhouse gases, than transportation.” (UN report of 29 november 2006) “Livestock are one of the most significant contributors to today’s most serious environmental problems and urgent action is required to remedy the situation” (senior UN Food and Agriculture Organization official Henning Steinfeld)

Wouldn’t it be common sense for all the green movements to take on the battle of animal welfare? Wouldn’t it be logical that on a protest against tree-cutting, nobody will eat meat? That on an anti-fascist demonstration, everybody denies the food if it is not vegan, instead of gladly consuming the available ham and cheese sandwiches?

Of course it is very important that an animal rights movement is also against racism, sexism, environmental pollution etc. Also, animal rights magazines should be printed on recycled paper etc. But this won’t be very difficult: it’s hard to even find a veggie that is not “green” or at least trying to be green in every way possible.

With this article, we are not judging. We are merely asking questions, thinking out loud… Maybe you will start asking questions also…

It is our own strong belief in vegetarianism that inspired us doing what we are doing today: we started our online boutique with vegan chic footwear for us green girls! Check out our website at www.georgette-shoes.com or www.georgette.be and enjoy!

Inspired by the article of Erik de Gier in “Ravage Digitaal”

There is is fascinating new book titled Earth: The Sequel by Fred Krupp, President of the Environmental Defense Fund and Miriam Horn.  I have to admit I have not read the book- yet- but I have been receiving so many emails and hearing a lot buzz surrounding it, that I finally went to its website to see what all the hype is about.

It’s about hope, inspiration, ingenuity, entrepreneurship, and optimism, plus the biggest explosion of wealth for whoever wins this race (their words not mine)!

I even found the few minutes of the video educational, as there are many things happening as we race to end global warming and reinvent energy; that I have never heard of; and from what I gather the book is about all these innovative technologies and the inventors behind them.

The book tells us we can’t wait for governments to change the world, it’s the thinkers, risk takers, and innovators who will save the planet, in other words it’s us – the people!