Doing the green thing

Launched earlier this month, Green Thing is an online community that aims to inspire people to ‘do the green thing’. Each month, members are given a new task: something straightforward that will help combat climate change. October’s Green Thing is ‘walk’. Registered users list the number of times they’ve done this month’s thing, when they’ve done it and how, and Green Thing estimates how many kilograms of CO2 have been saved. At the end of each month, Green Thing announces the total reduction in CO2 realized by the entire community. To make the whole process more entertaining and less doom-and-gloomy, Green Thing has enlisted the help of professional and amateur writers, musicians, designers, directors and artists. In line with this month’s Green Thing, for example, users can download walkcasts: podcasts to make their walks more enjoyable, created by contributors like musician/producer Howie B and author Tracy Chevalier. Videos about the current Green Thing are added regularly, and users are encouraged to upload their own content. Founded by Andy Hobsbawm and Naresh Ramchandani, two respected online marketers, the not-for-profit community’s target audience isn’t your typical crunchy-granola treesitter. In their own words: “We all want to live greener lives these days but often find it too hard, too confusing or too futile to make a habit of 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.” On a larger scale, Green Thing’s mission is to create a massive online community of people around the world who are willing to actively help prevent global warming, and to use their collective clout to convince governments and businesses to do the Green Thing, too. One to partner with? Or at least sign up and start making your own lifestyle more sustainable 😉