Green Awards – For Creativity in Sustainability

Green Thing is a not-for-profit online community that makes it easy and enjoyable to be a bit greener. Every month you’ll get a different Green Thing to do. All you have to do is do it.

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.

Because lots of small things can add up to more than a few big things, Green Thing suggests one easy thing a month to tempt as many people as possible to do it. Green Thing is also free which makes it easier to be part of.

And because entertainment is very inspiring and lectures a bit less so, the monthly Green Things are suggested with brilliant content from brilliant writers, musicians, designers, directors and artists - pro and am, young and old.

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 leverage that people power to get government and business to do the Green Thing too. So it's ambitious.

It needs to be. Surprisingly few people are taking serious action to make their lifestyle more sustainable. And a NASA scientific report just concluded that the IPCC may have dangerously underestimated how fast things are changing: "Civilisation developed during a period of unusual climate stability, the Holocene, now almost 12,000 years in duration. That period is about to end."

Ultimately, Green Thing is about 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.

Green Thing is being supported by nine environmental advisors on both sides of the Atlantic including Nobel Peace laureate Professor Wangari Maathai, Satish Kumar, founder and editor of Resurgence magazine, Alex Steffen, co-founder and executive editor of WorldChanging.com, and Cathy Zoi, chief executive officer of Al Gore’s Alliance for Climate Protection.

It also now has a political advisor in Colin Challen M.P., Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Climate Change Group. Technology advisors and business angel donors include Paul Birch who co-founded Bebo, Christina Domecq the co-founder of Spinvox, James Alexander, co-founder of Zopa.com (who’s also COO) and Andrew Beebe, President of Energy Innovations - the company who just installed solar panels on the Googleplex.

Because Green Thing is about pitting creativity versus climate change, it’s also being supported by a growing community of artists, writers, designers, musicians, photographers and directors who are helping to make its creative content outstanding and delightful.

From the artistic world, graphic design maestro Pete Fowler has created the first Green Thing creature, illustrator Andrew Rae has done November’s creature and sculptor Sean Henry is doing another. Author Tracy Chevalier (Girl with the Pearl Earring), poet John Hegley and writing organization 26 have written walking stories for a Green Thing podcast. Satirist Alison Jackson will be lending Green Thing her photographic talents and artists Ackroyd and Harvey are also contributing. From the music world, Howie B, Zeep and Graeme Miller have helped Paul Gathercole from Universal Records put together a walking-paced track for another Green Thing podcast.

We've got a whole group of agencies helping us. For instance, TBWA London are doing next month’s video things, production company Partizan (who did award-winning work like the Honda cog and choir ads) are doing December’s, Mother are doing another. PHD are doing the media planning, Pentagram and Interbrand have helped with the design and brand identity, PR firms Shine, Cake, Bite and Mission Media are collaborating on spreading the word, BigMouthMedia, Agency.com, Glue, Agency Republic, AKQA, Headshift and LBi are all bringing the ideas to life online.

This is an idea that is absolutely of the moment. Come join us and do the Green Thing at http://dothegreenthing.com

Thank you.

Andy and Naresh.

DECLARATION OF INTEREST. NARESH IS A FRIEND OF MINE AND WE USED TO WORK TOGETHER. HAVING SAID WHICH I THINK GREEN THING IS ONE OF THE BEST THINGS TO LAUNCH IN THE GREEN SPACE THIS YEAR. DO GO AND JOIN UP NOW!!!! :J