About Green Thing
Green Thing has two mouths and three eyes, lives in South End Green in London and is aged 22 (which incidentally is the Scrabble score for 'global warming'). His favourite band is Green Day, his favourite author is Grahame Greene and his favourite movie is The Green Mile (or any film by Peter Greenaway). He's on a one-monster mission to inspire as many people as possible in as many countries as possible to do the Green Thing. Please join him @dothegreenthing and people in 205 countries/territories making a difference.
Recent Posts by Green Thing
Cycling in Cities: When There are Bike Paths, People Use ‘Em!
May 7, 2012 by Green Thing
(Image: StreetsBlog)
We’re always hearing about how great Amsterdam or Copenhagen are for Pedaling The Pedals but what exactly makes these cities so much better at cycling than others? The flat landscapes? The dry climates? Or toasty, warm summers?
Nope. It’s bike paths.
A new study looking at 90 of the 100 largest cities in the U.S. has concluded that the most important factor in what makes a city bicycle friendly is the prevalence of bike paths.
Put simply, if you build bike paths, people will cycle more. So better infrastructure is key.
Bike lanes certainly making cycling around a city like London a lot easier and much much safer, so it’s pretty easy to see why more people would use them if they were there.
As we know, cycling more = less pounds so building more bike lanes seems like a no brainer.
(Spotted on Good)
Off to Shwop at the Shwop Lab
May 6, 2012 by Green Thing
(Image: DailyMail)
Last week we told you all about Marks & Spencer’s Shwopping but that just wasn’t enough for M&S.
In their mission to promote sustainable fashion, they’ve set up the M&S Fashion Lab at the Old Truman Brewery in the heart of East London.
If you’ve passed by already, you might have noticed the building was been covered entirely in second hand clothes. The ‘Shwop Lab’, as it is called, is much more than just a cool visual display. It’s also a pop up fashion recycling studio that will be running until the 9th of May.
Working with Oxfam and the London College of Fashion, Marks and Spencer have created a space where you can bring your old or unloved threads to have them reconstructed into something new and wonderful by the team of creative folk working there. The team includes designers such as Michelle Lowe Holder and Gary Harvey so your worn out jumpers and jeans are in good hands.
As well as designers busily creating new out of old, you can also go along and partake in talks, sewing classes and workshops all based around the possibilities of second hand clothing.
All activities are free but the deal is you have to bring an unwanted item of clothing along in place of a ticket. Each item will then be assessed for potential use and will either be reused and transformed in the lab or handed to Oxfam to resell or recycle.
What’s not to like? Off you shwop.
Or if you can’t make it to the Shwop Lab, why not send your old t-shirts to be Saved instead?
Old is the new, don’t you know?
(Spotted on Now.Here.This.)
Asparagus Month: Schtuff You Can Do With It…
May 6, 2012 by Green Thing
(Image: Ecokarenlee)
Asparagus is now in season and to celebrate it’s fabulousness, the gorgeous green spears get an entire 31 days dedicated to them.
Yes, that’s right. May is Asparagus Month. But why does it deserve a whole month to it’s name? Here are a few reasons as to why the asparagus inspires such respect.
Speedy grower: An asparagus spear can grow 10 inches in a 24-hour period. 10 inches. So you can pick a new crop for dinner every night of the week.
Food of King: King Louis XIV of France was such a big fan of asparagus that he ordered special greenhouses to be built especially so he could munch on his favourite veg all year round (he obviously hadn’t heard about going Easy On The Unseasonal).
Sweet treat: You might boil it, fry it, microwave it or munch it raw but in China the spears are candied and served as special treats. Sounds delicious.
Sulfur stink: Only 22% of us have the gene required to smell that strange pee smell post-asparagus munching. Whether this is a good or bad thing remains a mystery…
Asparagus inspires gentle thoughts: Or so said famous English essayist, Charles Lamb. Meaning that next time you’ve got a grump on, snack on a few asparagus spears and mellow out.
Fast food: These green spears cook up so quickly that Roman emperor Augustus coined the expression ‘faster than cooking asparagus’ when referring to a speedy action. Given it’s not a widely used phrase today, it clearly went out of fashion faster than cooking asparagus.
A brand new breakfast soldier: Dip it in an egg.
So if you love the stuff, you’ll probably love it even more now. If you hate it, well you can’t deny it has some pretty interesting history. If you’ve never tried these tasty spears before, then now is the time to give it a go. Happy Asparagus Month.
“Connect The Dots” Between Climate Change and Extreme Weather
May 3, 2012 by Green Thing
(Image: Solarfeeds)
So it’s hard not to miss all the earthquakes, floods and volcanoes that have been active the last few years. Sometimes it seems like the Earth is literally crumbling around us and maybe it is.
2011 had more extreme weather than any other year on record. And with the drought in the UK this year, you have to face it – climate change is happening.
The folks over at 350.org think it’s high time we all stood up and took action on the matter. So they are holding Climate Impact Day on 5th May so that people can Connect The Dots between climate change and extreme weather. It is a global participatory creative project to highlight climate change and climate crisis and a day to drive home a message to politicians and fuel companies.
They want you to go out and shout from the tops of buildings and mountains that: “We’re connecting the dots: we know fossil fuels are changing our climate and causing extreme weather conditions. We are standing-up for climate justice and you’re standing in the way!”
So for ideas on how to take action and shout very loudly but purposefully, take a look at these Creative Action Ideas.
Screen Free Week – Switch OFF to Switch ON!
May 2, 2012 by Green Thing
(Image: Almostallthetruth)
From April 30th until May 6th, it’s Screen Free Week. The week in the year when all across the land, we’re being encouraged as a nation to Plug Out from TV and all other screens and to ‘turn on life’ instead.
It’s run by the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood and whilst it’s mainly aimed at families and children, there’s a message in there for all of us.
Switch off to switch on.
To help making turning off your telly so much easier, we’ve come up with some ideas of stuff you can do, taken from your favourite TV programmes. You wont even realise the TV is off.
Put on your thinking cap. Stop watching Eggheads, Pointless, The Million Pound Drop and all the rest of them. Instead go to your local pub quiz, get your friends along, meet your neighbours, learn some stuff and maybe even win the prize. And if your local pub doesn’t have a weekly quiz, what better week than Screen Free Week to organise one yourself.
Make a song and dance. Instead of watching your heroes in Glee and letting them have all the fun, break out your best dance moves and belt out the tunes in your living room, down the park or in the local cafe/canteen/football pitch. Invite friends along too as it’ll be more fun and no one will mistake you for Rachel.
Have a kick around. Instead of watching Steven Gerrard and Scott Parker dribble and score, why not go outside and practice your footie skills yourself? If you don’t like football or fancy footwork isn’t your thing, there is always cricket, rounders, rolling down hills, frisbee or climbing trees to keep you busy.
Get crafty. Put an end to watching Kirstie’s Homemade Home or Changing Rooms and thinking ‘that is a great idea’ by starting doing it yourself. Indulge your crafty/DIY/home improvement side and realise all those great ideas in your own life in reality instead of mentally repainting the bathroom for the 30th time this year.
Make a scene. That’s right – forget your zen ways. Make your own drama. Head down the pub, pretend you’re in the The Queen Vic, pull some hair, throw some pints and let the action begin.
Get romantic. Do you love watching chick flicks and cooing over the gushy scenes? Well, turn off Aniston and make that your real life. Throw caution to the wind, make a grand romantic gesture to the one you love, or even just the one you fancy, or even just start by saying hello to that attractive person on the bus.
Competitive dining. If you love shows like Come Dine With Me, then try hosting your own dinner party and get your mates to either bring a dish each or take it in turns each night that week to cook dinner at each other’s houses. You could also be a bit competitive about the whole affair, write the scores down and have a prize where the winner gets a crate of fizz (or never invited round for dinner again).
7 ideas for 7 days means you’ll be so busy having so much screen free fun this week, you’ll forget how the remote control even worked. Maybe try not to remember the following week and the next and the next…
Swapping What You Got: Trade A Tea Pot for a Teacher
May 2, 2012 by Green Thing
(Image: LondonTradeSchool)
When it comes to ways to Swap What You Got, swishing and freecycle aren’t the only way to do it. You can also swap your knowledge with a bit of bartering and where better to do so than the Trade School, where classes can be exchanged for related objects.
For instance, if you want to attend a class on an introduction to bike maintenance (which is happening on the 29th of April), you can bring along an animal related book or a tea pot to ‘pay’ the teacher with. Essentially you are going back to the good ole days where people traded things instead of money in return for something. Bring along some second hand books and you can join in on an Open Poetry Workshop.
If this sounds like your sort of thing, then pop down to the Farm:Shop in Dalston quick snap and you could learn how to make upcycled baby trousers from an old jumper, create a self-contained womery composter, or make some ‘easy bake’ bread.
Anyone can teach a class and you sign up by agreeing to bring along the items that the teacher has requested. So what skills do you have? Would you like to show everyone how you can make your own clothes in exchange for some sheet music? Or are you desperate to learn and have so many things to trade with? Either way, this is the place for you!
(Spotted on Time Out)
Pizza Pizza: Make The Box into a Solar Oven
May 1, 2012 by Green Thing
The only possible downside to electric vehicles is not being able to hear them coming. Many an oblivious pedestrian has been known to step out onto silent roads without remembering what those clever hedgehogs taught us in Primary School and been startled by a passing Prius or Honda.
The Netherlands branch of the pizza delivery company, Domino’s, decided that this safety issue could not go on uncorrected any longer and that they had to do something about it.
The fact that their solution was a brilliant and hilarious form of free advertising just happened to be a bi-product of their citizenly concern. No, really.
To help draw much needed pedestrian attention to their silent electric delivery scooters, Domino’s added in man-made revving noises interspersed with some warning shouts of “Domino’s!”and “Pizza!”, just to make sure that everyone was completely aware of the approaching vehicle.
If you are an electric car driver yourself and are worried about your silent presence on the roads, we suggest you roll down the windows and loudly sing ‘She’s electric‘ by Oasis or perhaps ’Can you hear me?‘ by Enrique Iglesias at your walking buddies, just to avoid any unnecessary mishaps.
A brilliant way to improve Driving the Good Drive. Just don’t forget to go Easy on the Pepperoni.
Well done Domino’s, for making our streets safer, tastier and more accident free.
P.S. Finished your safely delivered pizza? Why not make the box into a solar oven?
(Spotted on Mashable)
Repair Cafes: Space to Build on Your Fixing Skills…
May 1, 2012 by Green Thing
(All Images: Repaircafe)
The Dutch are already pretty keen on Pedaling The Pedals but now they’ve taken to Fixing What They Got with the arrival of Repair Cafés. These cafés offer the community a space to come together and build on their fixing skills. Local residents can bring their battered kettles along and help each other out with mending broken appliances, clothes, furniture and the like instead of simply discarding them.
The cafés run off the enthusiasm of volunteers and those in the know, who are happy to lend a helping hand to their friends and neighbours.
So if carpentery or sewing is your thing, you can just pop along and not only darn old socks but also teach new skills to whoever brought in their torn jumper.
These Repair Cafés have become increasingly popular since they first opened in 2009, with 20 operational cafés already repairing and 50 more on the way.
It’s a great way to get to know your neighbours, save money getting stuff repaired and learning how to do-it-yourself. So next time the kettle goes on the blink, why not think about going for a cuppa down the café and seeing if anyone there knows what’s what with making it sing again.
This story reminds us of the resource stores of Paris.
(Spotted on PSFK)
