Carbon Nation tells the story of a growing voice in the USA which says that going green makes sense, even if you don't care about being green.

'Start' is a new initiative backed by the Prince of Wales' Charities Foundation, to promote and celebrate sustainable living nationwide.

Here's a great clip from the BBC about the problem of excess packaging:

You can find out more about this issue at the Excess Packaging campaign on Greenvoice.

Our roving reporter Joe has been filming video diaries at the London Eco-Village. In this recent entry, find out about the Hexayurt, a 'prize-winning shelter' that can be built from reclaimed materials.

For more video diaries, check the London Eco-Village video page, or subscribe to the Greenvoice YouTube channel.

We've recently rolled out a new feature on Greenvoice for those of you who are running groups or campaigns. You can now add additional administrators to your page, so that you can share the work of updating the blog, keeping your description and photo up-to-date, and so on.

To add people as administrators, you need to add them as friends on Greenvoice first. Then, go to your campaign or group, and click the 'manage administrators' link.

Also, we've made it possible for groups to create campaigns, as well as individuals. If you're an administrator for a group, when you go to create a campaign you'll see an option to make the campaign belong to the group, rather than you as an individual. Or, you can change an existing campaign by clicking the 'edit creator' link.

We hope these changes will make it easier for groups and collectives to own and manage campaigns and groups on Greenvoice. If you have any questions or feedback, please leave a comment on this post, or visit our feedback forum.

Film Vert is a new cinematic term meaning stylish environmentally-friendly moving images – films that emphasise both the problems facing our existence on our beautiful planet and, more importantly, providing solutions to help halt the decline.

Greenvoice is running a nationwide search for great Film Vert. From film schools and university campuses to production companies and local authority funded schemes and even as high up as the BFI we will be running the search to find green talent for over 2 months, culminating in a summer evening at the Hospital Club in London where the winning films will be announced and screened.

The winning filmmaker(s) will then have the chance to remake their film using a veritable who's who of London's film and production world. On top of this they will be handed the opportunity to produce 3 short films as a Greenvoice in-house creative filmmaker.

For full details, see our competition web site at www.filmvert.co.uk.

Environmentalists are calling on the government to put a halt to the building of a new biofuel power plant in Beckton amid claims that biofuels contribute more to climate change than previously thought.

Blue-NG, a joint venture between National Grid Blue Power and 20C Ltd, have applied to Newham Council to build a 19.5 MWe Combined Heat and intelligent Power (CHiP) plant in Beckton, East London. If given the go-ahead the plant will burn up to 20,000 tonnes of Biofuel per year, producing energy sufficient to meet the electricity needs of 50,000 homes in the UK. The company have plans for a further seven similar plants.

However, both local and national environmental groups have raised arms over the plans, arguing that the proposed plant will have an averse effect on the local area, add to UK carbon emissions and perpetuate the displacement of people in the global south through changes in land use.

An exclusive Greenvoice interview with the editor of FT 2020, the spoof Financial Times that was handed out to Londoners earlier this month.

Looking for something worthwhile to do with your Summer? Well, here at Greenvoice we need some volunteers to help spread the word about what we do.

As a volunteer, you'll be working with the current outreach team. The goal is to research grassroots environmental groups in the UK, and make contact with the aim of encouraging these groups to take advantage of Greenvoice, and to promote communication between groups involved in similar areas of environmentalism.

Strong communications skills are required, as is an ability to track and cross-check work with the rest of the team to prevent overlaps in outreach work.

Ideally you'll be working from our base in the City of London, but it may be possible to work from home. Also, on occasion we make visits to a particular group or area. We try to make sure the person who made the original contact with the grassroots group is present for these trips. However, these travel opportunities are not mandatory.

It's a great internship opportunity for anyone who's interested in environmentalism, and you'll gain valuable experience promoting an up-and-coming web-based organisation.

For more information, email us on volunteers@greenvoice.com.

Since being set up 8 months ago, the Little Hen Rescue has rescued over 6,000 battery hens from slaughter. Watch this video for a touching insight into the work of Little Hen Rescue founder Joanna Eglen.

Julia Hailes, author and environmental consultant, talks to Greenvoice about her work. Visit chillingfacts.org.uk to learn more about that campaign, and to participate in the campaign action. You can also check out her blog, at juliahailesblog.blogspot.com.

We met with George Marshall last week, and spoke a little about the psychology of climate change denial. Watch the video below to hear his views.

Climate Camp's E-On F-Off campaign continues at Emirates stadium:

Check out the video below to see what great things they're doing for their local community and the island environment.

To find out more, have a look at the Footprint Trust group.

If you're a regular visitor to Greenvoice, you'll notice some radical changes around here. We've been working hard on a big refresh of the site, and we're delighted to unveil it today.

We wanted to showcase more of the brilliant campaigning content that you've been making. One of the first things you'll notice is that it's much easier to see what activity is going on around Greenvoice, and that there are more chances to discover campaigns and groups that you might be interested in.

We have a few more new features up our sleeves, which we'll be releasing in the next few weeks. If you have any ideas of your own, or feedback on the changes so far, we'd love to hear from you. You can visit our new feedback and support site to leave your comments. That's also the place to go if you need help with any bugs or problems you have with the new site.

Thanks for reading -- we hope you enjoy using the new Greenvoice, and that it inspires you to do some great campaigning for the environment! 

Guest post by Will Acker of The Ecologist.

All he wanted to know was what the policies of the 'big four' supermarkets were for GM foods. But what Will Acker got was the big supermarket runaround...

It's generally safe to say that most of us have been concerned about the environment for a long time, so why are we expanding aviation and building new coal-fired power stations? Have the lines of communication in our proudly democratic society broken down?

A few months ago I interviewed Tamsin Omond, activist and campaigner for Plane Stupid and key figure in the recently established Climate Sufragettes. When we spoke, Tamsin was on bail after being arrested, with four others, for climbing onto the roof of the House of Commons in protest of government aviation expansion plans.

Next year, at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, the world comes together to respond to the challenge of climate change. While there is still no consensus on just how hot it is going to get, if we want to insure ourselves and the Third World against a bad case scenario on the other side of the tipping point, then this will be the time to act and turn things around.

One important step towards Copenhagen is the UK Climate Change Bill, which has the opportunity to lead the world by example.

Gordon Brown hailed this year's G8 summit, where the leaders agreed to cut CO2 emissions by 50% by 2050, as "major progress". The change from last year's promise to "seriously consider" a 50% reduction to this year's promise to "consider and adopt" this reduction has Mr. Brown so enthusiastic that he has put the UK at the forefront with a 60% reduction in the coming Climate Change Bill.

While it seems noble of Mr. Brown to propose leadership with an additional 10% reduction over the G8 agreed target for 2050, this supposed visionary outlook has a blind spot: the developing world. While the industrialised world, which is responsible for the human contribution to climate change, is demanding a 50% cut in CO2 emissions in the developing world, it is itself proposing to 'lead' the developing world by exactly the same reduction target.

It is this lack of leadership that has the developing world, with India and China in the forefront, saying, "no, thank you." Leading by example means that you lead the way, and therefore the developing world is demanding a 90% reduction from the industrialised world in exchange for its reduction of 50%. After all, the Third World did not have time to reap the benefits of development, so why should they pay the price for our climate mess? This thinking is outdated; we created the problem, so we must lead in solving it.

This logic has been understood by both the opposition and rebel MPs within the government, who are calling for an 80% reduction in a new amendment to the Bill. An 80% reduction in the Bill would make the UK stand out as a leader on climate change, and would mean that a more realistic deal of 90/50 per cent reductions will be possible next year in Copenhagen.

The UK Climate Change Bill is likely to be voted on in November, so now is the time to start campaigning for a UK 80% reduction target.

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Related campaigns on Greenvoice:

• The Climate Rush - October 13th
• Project Climate
• Carbon Rations Now
• Global Day of Action - 6th December
• Take Responsibility for your carbon footprint
• Carbon Rationing Action Groups

Water is the foundation for human life - it is our basic and most important requirement. Yet over 1 billion people do not have access to adequate water for their basic needs. Why? There is enough water on the planet for everybody, but the UN reckons that in twenty-five years time 5 billion people will lack a decent supply of water.

Shouldn't water be a collective right and not something that is traded and sold, sequestered and abused and polluted for mammon? Why is water ten times more expensive in Niger than it is in Manhattan - is that fair? Water should be a public good and all governments should regard it as such and protect it as they would a national park.

When I eat a tomato in January I am eating Spanish water table. I am literally eating the future of a country. In a decade or so the water table of western Andalucia will be empty and the farmers (after seeking compensation from the government) will move on leaving a barren desolate land devoid of water. When I play on a golf course in Spain I am walking across something that uses 2.3 million litres of water a day, enough for 16,000 people!

We need fewer dams, less bottled water and a more responsible attitude from our politicians to our most precious resource.

I have a suggestion for Greenvoice users. If you have a garden, get a water butt and use rain water on your plants; that in itself would save water as a garden hose uses 1,100 litres of water per hour. And if you're feeling empowered please sign up for a water campaign or two on the site and read Anita Roddick's book Troubled Water.

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A selection of water campaigns from Greenvoice:

• Dirty aid, dirty water
• Provide safe water in Uganda
• Refill your water bottle

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Sources:

Unesco Water Portal Weekly Update No. 92: Water Use
http://www.unesco.org/water/news/newsletter/92.shtml

Barcelona forced to import emergency water
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/may/14/spain.water

What are the implications of a chicken costing less than a cappuccino? How can you produce an animal to eat, get it packed and delivered to a supermarket, and make money for yourself and the retailer, for just lb1.50? The answer is: focus on economics above all else, above animal welfare and above the environment. What sort of life does a pig or a cow or a chicken have when farmed in this way? What does the resulting run-off of excrement do to the fields and the community living nearby an intensive farming system? How do you keep animals alive, in a farming system that is so intensive that the average attrition rate is 11%?

These are not questions that you ask when you place your chicken or pork fillets under the grill. But it's true that the quest for cheaper food has destroyed communities, wrecked the environment and affected human health. The reason that this still goes on, despite all the evidence, is because the companies that pursue this relentless economic strategy employ people, pay taxes, lobby governments, and keep the world going round.

Amazingly enough, there is a more serious issue. The relentless drive for economic growth through cheap food has resulted in the majority of the world relying mainly on four types of food: rice, potatoes, wheat and maize. The collapse of one of these crops would result in widespread famine and civil unrest.

We're wobbling, at the moment, with wheat and maize riots in Mexico, Italy and Egypt. This isn't Darfur - this is our doorstep. These are normal, middle-class people with jobs, fighting over a loaf of bread. Anyone who wants to know the effect of a population relying on one type of food, need only research the potato blight famine in Ireland in the 19th century.

As plants are more intensively farmed with more chemicals, they develop resistance, other pathogens arrive to attack them. And the response from the food industry is more chemicals.

For the World Trade Organisation (WTO), a global food industry was a no-brainer. But they didn't think it through. Fifty years ago, diversity was a barrier to disease transmission. The average farm had more than ten crops that were all sold locally. Nowadays, with food transported long distances across borders, the rapid spread of disease is a likelihood, not a possibility. The chemical response ends up being consumed by you and me.

This year, potato blight will affect every crop in Britain, and the response from farmers, desperate to increase yields for supermarkets, that pay them for intensive production, will be a fungicide, the residue of which will be left on the product that we eat. Governments don't care about farmers and how they farm, because there aren't enough of them to form a big voting lobby, and because they need the economic juggernaut to keep on going.

The implication of the WTO-inspired global food industry is not just increased urbanisation, the destruction of rural communities, food travelling longer distances, animals being cruelly treated, the creation of monocultures, water courses being polluted, more chemicals in food and a rise in food allergies and soft tissue cancer - it is famine, and death.

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A selection of food, farming and sustainability campaigns from Greenvoice:

• Climate Change tests Kenya's worsening food deficit
• Change billions of lives. Including yours.
• Ending the Squander of Our Seas
• Calling on Government for a Freeze on GM
• Robbing from the Poor, Stealing from the Planet
• Food for Life Partnership
• Ugly Veggies - They have flavours too!
• Don't Buy Battery!
• Reduce Food Catering Waste At Wimbledon
• GM Crops: The Right to Know

What does this mean for the environment?

The sub prime issue will mean that the take-up for environmental improvement to homes in Europe will be reduced. When people are having trouble paying their mortgages, they will have less money to provide solar power and insulation to improve the efficiency of their homes. There is a danger that sub prime and the economy pushes out environmental concerns.

Large scale environmental projects like wind and solar projects will be tougher to finance, and investors in those projects will be few and far between.

There will be a flight to "quality" stocks with guaranteed cash flows. This may mean more money going into oil companies and retailers specialising in cheap foods, where environmental concerns and animal welfare take second place behind price. One good thing though, is that property development and real estate generally, will be more connected to the real economy.

Some countries, like Germany, will be extremely well positioned to take advantage of this economic shift because they have invested more heavily in renewables and environmental technologies.

In conclusion, sub prime will be bad for the environment because short term economic priorities will take precedence over a longer term, more enlightened approach to business.