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Emma Thompson, James Blunt and Rosie Huntingdon-Whiteley do the Green Thing

As opposed to criticizing companies for their carbon footprint Green Thing has set up ‘Green Thing Groups’ to help support businesses in reducing their carbon footprint and Nokia, Yahoo and Carphone warehouse have already signed up to the revolutionary new scheme.

Flying works of art from a rooftop, recruiting top chefs to find the UK’s tastiest tap water and having a supermodel take a green poodle for a walk are just some of the imaginative ways not for profit public service, Green Thing uses creativity to inspire people to lead a greener life.

Green Thing (www.dothegreenthing.com) encourages people to take small green steps that add up to big environmental changes. Winner of the Best Green Digital at the Green Awards 2008 and endorsed by respected environmental thinkers, Green Thing focuses on seven green actions that individuals can do to help improve the environment.
  • Green Thing’s seven things you can do to lead a greener life are:
  • You get from A to B without any C when you Walk The Walk
  • It’s delicious but it causes more CO2 than cars so go Easy On The Meat
  • Resist the urge to buy the latest and Stick With What You Got
  • Turn down the central heating and turn up the Human Heat
  • The art of wasting nothing and using up everything: All-Consuming
  • Instead of jetting your way around the world Stay Grounded
  • Don’t leave it on or even put it on: Plug Out
Powered by the idea of ‘creativity vs. climate change’, Green Thing works with a growing community of celebrities and highly respected artists, writers, musicians, photographers and film directors to make each one of the seven green actions easy and entertaining. Works of art and celebrity sketches by the likes of Dinos Chapman, James Blunt and Emma Thompson were amongst a fleet of protest paper planes launched from a building as part of Green Thing’s ‘Stay Grounded’ campaign. Supermodel Rosie Huntington-Whiteley may be more accustomed to walking down the catwalk but she was photographed exclusively for Green Thing walking a green poodle to lend her support to its “Walk the Walk” initiative.

These campaigns have helped people from 196 countries worldwide engage with Green Thing over 2.2 million times and save over 6.6 million Kgs of CO2. Coincidentally this is the same amount of CO2 that would be produced by 90,000 fans at a rock concert in Wembley Stadium saluting 5,155 hours worth of guitar solos with butane-fueled lighters!

Fun and empowering, Green Thing is designed to encourage manageable but meaningful green steps, rather than making people feel guilty about their impact on the environment. Users simply join up at www.dothegreenthing.com and they have access to videos, podcasts and games to reflect each of the 7 actions, and can also share green stories and experiences with other community members. Each month, Green Thing reports back on the collective difference the whole community is making.

Green Thing is endorsed by many respected environmental thinkers on both sides of the Atlantic including: Nobel Peace laureate, Professor Wangari Maathai; Cathy Zoi, CEO of Al Gore’s Alliance for Climate Protection; Alex Steffen of Worldchanging.com and George Marshall, founder of the Climate Outreach Information Network. Founded in 2007 by communications experts Naresh Ramchandani and Andy Hobsbawm, Green Thing reflects their passion to encourage the world to help improve the environment.

Naresh Ramchandani said: “It’s all about making green living simple and fun. The contributions from such a talented creative community mean that Green Thing is able to make its point straightforwardly and entertainingly without lecturing people or making them feel guilty about the environment.”

Andy Hobsbawm said: “If Green Thing is about one thing, it's inspiring green action. If we all contribute to Green Thing, it will become as creative, as credible and as inspiring as it can be. If we all do the Green Thing, it will make the biggest impact it can make.”

Source: Mark Oakland, Mission Media
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