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

Made famous by tales of Robin Hood the Sherwood area of Nottinghamshire is known all around the world. Unfortunately though due to industrialisation and other factors this historic landscape is no longer the majestic place it used to be.

However don’t despair as this could be about to change!  A project titled ‘Sherwood: The Living Legend’ has been short listed (amongst four other great projects) for the People’s Millions lottery initiative and is with a chance to win £50 million.

This extremely important project is being led by Nottinghamshire County Council in conjunction with a variety of partners including the Sherwood Forest Trust and Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust.

Restoring Sherwood Forest

Recreating the forest to its former glory is a key element of the project. The plan is to convert at least 300 hectares of farmland (that’s roughly the size of 400 football pitches!), north and west of the River Trent back into wood and heath land.

Most of the new trees will be native oak and birch along with other shrubs sourced from the Sherwood area.  The new trees and heath will connect together existing but fragmented remains of the original forest and improve the visual landscape along the main routes into Sherwood Forest, giving locals and visitors alike a much better sense of how the most well known forest in the world appeared hundreds of years ago.

And of course all of these new trees, shrubs and heathland will help to absorb Carbon ensuring that Sherwood Forest can truly be the lungs of England.

Cycling, Walking and Horse Riding Network

If successful the project will also create a 250 kilometre network of walking, cycling and horse riding paths. 95 km of these will be completely new and introduce new road and river crossings to connect existing routes together. How sustainable is that!

Yes, you can help Sherwood Forest

You may have read the tales of Robin Hood when you was younger, you have probably watched at least one Robin Hood film and you may have even watched the BBC Robin Hood TV series….

….But now you can actually give Robin Hood the home he deserves, please vote for Sherwood: The Living Legend project to win the £50 million. The project is being backed by a range of celebrities including Brian Blessed, Kevin Costner and Jonas Armstrong who plays Robin Hood in the BBC TV series.

How to vote

To vote online for the Sherwood: Living Legend project please click here.

You can also vote by telephone, by calling:

However hurry as the voting ends at 12pm on Monday 10^th December.

Please vote Sherwood, thank you!

Anna-Lisa

Today the UK’s Prime Minister, Gordon Brown has announced that action on climate change is urgent and that developed countries must lead the way in cutting carbon emissions.

Also today the UK’s Environment Secretary Hillary Benn has announced the launch of a “one-stop” energy advice service to help householders save on bills and tackle global warming.

Great News!!! You would think….….

However the Guardian Newspaper reported on Saturday that the “The government department spearheading the fight against climate change is planning an emergency package of at least £300m of cuts covering key environmental services. The frontline agencies tackling recycling, nature protection, energy saving, carbon emissions and safeguarding the environment are all being targeted in the package which is being drawn up by Helen Ghosh, the top civil servant at the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.” Information source: The Guardian Newspaper

So although the first two announcements are positive and showing that the UK government is trying to help tackle climate change I am rather confused! As how can the government be ‘committed’ if it’s cutting funding for key environmental services within Defra.  This is extremely worrying and contradictory of the governments support for tackling climate change.

The Guardian Newspaper report also stated that “The cuts will impact heavily on nature conservation. Separate papers seen by the Guardian suggest that Natural England, the Defra body that protects places and wildlife, is expected to slash up to 30% from its budget for new conservation work.” Information Source: The Guardian Newspaper

I really do think that this is very sad news and suggests that the government is not truly committed to conservation and environmental issues. This combined with the government’s announcement of building 3 million more homes (which I reported in my Bills, Bills, Bills post means that there is a lot more work needed to be done to convince the UK government that we need substance and proper commitment from them in order to protect the environment – this includes essential funding!

I will be writing to my MP about my concerns over this and Defra. If you also feel disappointed and wish to show your support then I advise that you lobby your MP too, it is important that they know what the public think.

Jim Jay of The Daily (Maybe) blog was recently asked to write a chapter for political blogger Iain Dale’s new book ‘Guide to Political Blogging‘.

Jim’s chapter was “The State of Green Blogging” and along with it he compiled a list of top twenty blogs and guess what – Green Girls Global is in that list!

From that list of 20 a people’s choice winner will be announced on 25th November. So, please go over to The Daily (Maybe) now and VOTE FOR GGG!

Thank you x

This is big news so don’t miss out.

On Green Girls Global’s first birthday in November we’ll be celebrating with the launch of a brand new sister (or should I say brother?) site, Green Guys Global!

At the same time Green Girls Global will be re-vamped with a fresh look and a funky logo for our guys.

Right now we’re looking for potential new contributors from all over the world to join the GGG team and you just might be one of them. If you can answer yes to the following questions get in touch now…

Are you a man who cares about environmental issues?

Do you just have so much to say about climate change, sustainability and other green topics that there’s no way you can keep it to yourself?

Are you committed to telling the world about all the things we can do to make a difference?

So, you know what we’re looking for and you know what to do.

If you’d like to be involved with either GGG (Girls or Guys) blogs as a full time contributor or guest editor then contact me (Vicky) using our contact page.

I’ll look forward to hearing from you!

Blogger brothers Joel and Adam over at Life Goggles have written a fantastic e-book, ’100 Ways to Save the Planet’.

Going through the 100 ways you’ll see some of the more familiar mantras such as ‘use energy saving lightbulbs’ and ‘buy food that’s in season’. This definitely reinforces how easy it is to make those little changes and what a massive difference it could make if everyone did.

For every familiar tip you see and give yourself a ‘tick’ there are many others that remind you of more you could be doing or unusual ones that you could give a try. If you want to know what they are then request the book for yourself!

Whilst you’re over at Life Goggles have a look around, I noticed an interesting article ‘Are you Experiencing Green Fatigue?‘ which is definitely topical and links in with our own ‘Beware the Backlash‘ and ‘Will the green bubble burst‘ discussions.

Check out the blog at www.lifegoggles.com and download the book ’100 Ways to Save the Planet’

After my last two posts about shop lighting and other commercial electricals being left on at night time (‘And let there be less light’ & ‘And the rant goes on…’) Henriette suggested that we take this further and form something official to encourage businesses to waste less energy and cause less light pollution.

Of course, its not just shop lighting. Poorly directed street lighting and unnecessarily bright floodlights and security lighting are also culprits.

It struck me that we’re not the only ones bugged by this issue. We received comments from GGG readers and editors saying that they would join the ‘shop light fight’ and our friends over at ‘All things Eco’ have already included it on their Campaigns page!

Taking a further look on the internet I’ve found that others are making the same points and asking the same questions.

The Good Human asks “Why in the world do businesses leave their lights on?”

Darren Baskill writes an excellent article on the BBC website – ‘Lighting is still in the Dark Age’ .

Carry out a search on Google for ‘Light Pollution’ and you will find stargazers, environmentalists, campaigners and health experts telling us that light pollution:

• disrupts wildlife
• is damaging to human health
• wastes electricity (and therefore increases carbon emissions) and;
• impedes our view of the night sky

They also ask:

• Why don’t governments bring in more stringent laws about unneccessary lighting?
• If some countries can bring in measures (e.g. to dim lights after midnight) then why can’t others?
• Why is inefficient lighting still made available in diy stores?

In my view the laws in the UK (and other countries) need to be stricter on when and how lighting is used, particularly with regard to commercial use on shop fronts.

So, what can we do? Here’s a few ideas for GGG editors and readers:

1. Contact your favourite green blogs and ask them if they will mention light pollution in one of their upcoming posts. I’m a firm believer in there being power in numbers – Imagine how far spread this message could become if even a few of the many green bloggers talked about light pollution all at the same time!

2. Write to your local MP, tell them about your concerns and ask them to raise this issue in parliament.

3. Petition the PM. There are currently around 300 petitions relating to light pollution on the 10 Downing Street petition site (UK). It only takes a few moments to add your name and tell the PM how you feel about this issue. If anyone can tell us about similar petitions in countries other than the UK please let us know and we’ll post them up here.

4. Express your interest. If you want to join the shop light fight or indeed have already taken action then please tell us! We can provide updates about what you have been doing and continue this campaign with your support.

Thank you x

Just going through my backlog of New Consumer rss feeds I noticed their post about a new online magazine ‘Ethics Girls’.

Launched this summer Ethics Girls announce that they want to “SET THE EXAMPLE” – Liking this already? Me too! They go on to tell us that:

“We are the website for fashion, shopping and ideas – all with an ethical twist. We think every day can be a better day.”

So, on the website they provide guidance on how to shop and live ethically giving useful information under the headings:

• UK Made
• Organic
• Fair Trade
• Recycling
• No Nasties

Under ‘recycling’ they discuss one of my favourite things at the moment – recycling clothes (either from second hand / charity shops or making your own) and ‘No Nasties’ covers items like cleaning products and cosmetics and what nasty chemicals to look out for.

They also have a shop in which I noticed some familiar brands (like People Tree & No Sweat) and most importantly their bi-monthly magazine. You can sign-up to their newsletter too for updates in between.

Good luck Ethics Girls!

Do you know which activities create the most carbon emissions?

How does your livestyle compare with others?

Are you an ‘Urban Hipster’ a ‘Mountain Maven’ or a ‘Globe Trotter’?

Take the Marie Claire carbon footprint test and see if you can guess which woman has the smallest carbon footprint, you might be surprised. Robert Henson, author of The Rough Guide to Climate Change gives us the answers and most importantly explains where we can cut down.

Check it out at the Marie Claire website.

I have to say that I’ve always thought of Marie Claire as being different from other women’s magazines and having my attention drawn to this feature prompted me to post about it. Marie Claire doesn’t insult our intelligence with stories about drunk-driving celebrities or assume our only goal in life is to find that perfect man but has always tackled a wide range of other important issues. Of course they tell us about clothes and make up and all those lovely girly things and on GGG we’ve been known to enjoy a fashion post or two too.

I’ve subscribed to Marie Claire UK for years now (I know its not great for my tree consumption but I don’t regularly buy lots of newspapers or magazines) and even before that it was the one magazine that we always had a copy of in our student house, even when we were really broke. Over time I’ve noticed their growing support for green and ethical living.

So, keep up the good work Marie Claire and lets have more of this stuff please!!!!

I’ve just recieved this press release from Peace Point Entertainment Group who are looking for you green geniuses out there. Get your thinking caps on…..

Science Channel Seeking Backyard Green Inventors!

US television network are looking for grassroots green inventors for new television series.

Do you take it upon yourself to create your own ingenious solutions to environmental conundrums? 

We’re looking to feature inventions and inventors from all walks of life that will inspire a greener globe!

A brief description of your savvy invention along with why your project is deserving of national attention should be included!

Please put your city and state in the subject line.  Photographs would also be a big help, but aren’t mandatory.

Contact:  greeninventors@peacepoint.tv

About the Show
Trippin’ the Green Fantastic seeks out and gives light to grassroots, green inventors –those everyday folks who have taken it upon themselves to create their own ingenious solutions to environmental conundrums.

The Hosts
A couple of everyday guys who are passionate about being green hop aboard ‘Lady’ a veggie oil fueled SUV and trek across America on an awesome road trip adventure to find the homespun green gold – those far out homemade eco inventions.
 
Every episode begins with the hosts driving Lady down a stretch of highway en-route to visit their next backyard inventor. Our hosts have been a part of this quiet revolution, live and online, for years so for our hosts these visits feel as intimate as visiting old friends.

Our hosts showcase three to four grassroots inventors every episode. Soon after the introductions the guys’ passion and curiosity take over. They explore the lives of the inventors to get a sense of the person and why they took ‘going green’ into their own hands. What was the ultimate moment of inspiration that moved them to action? What was the green problem that just had to be solved? How was the contraption built? What tools did they use –from duct tape to found items? Our hosts are fascinated by the processes of prototyping, testing and final application. They want to learn everything about the invention, including its limitations that perhaps they can help solve.

To make the exploration show-don’t tell, our hosts get as involved as possible with the inventor and his contraption. Testing, tweaking, rebuilding, enhancing and of course getting in the application of the contraption, whether it’s testing out a toilet bowl sink invention, helping build a solar panel from used CDs or tasting meals cooked in a dishwasher. For good episodic balance between ‘viewer accessibility’ and ’wow-factor’, the McGyver-esque designs range from simple to complex –from a cholesterol lamp made from cast-off plastic cartons to an entire residence living completely off the grid.

Between visits we hang with them doing the sustainable living thing, stopping for fuel and negotiating their way into roadside diner kitchens to clean them out of their used grease and generally inspiring (not preaching to) all the Americans they meet along the way to get a little greener.

On Trippin’ the Green Fantastic we extract basic science principles behind the inventions as well as show that passion, purpose and imagination can make anything possible.