thegreenguy - Adam Vaughan

A SmartPlanet is born

Finally, I can share what I've been working away on for the last two months - ladies and gentlemen, meet SmartPlanet. It's a green and ethical consumer blog put together by me, our excellent staff writer Rikke Bruntse-Dahl and a whole bunch of other people at CNET Networks who I owe thank yous to. Here are a few of my favourite articles: interviews with Lush and Neal's Yard on ethical beauty, a video on Londoners' carbon footprints and a first-hand report from that O2 Sustainability Show last weekend. This is our first toe in the water. Expect even more exciting things very soon...

My 5 minutes with Gordon Brown (plus Energy Saving Week, communities and more)

Yep, that's me to the Prime Minister's left yesterday. I'll blog about the experience in full soon via my new day job SmartPlanet, but the long-and-short is that it was a great experience. I was there with seven other people -- plus MP Joan Ruddock -- representing energy-saving communities around the UK. In a ridiculously flattering gesture, the Energy Saving Trust invited me to Downing Street to represent online green communities, so if you're a Brit and write a green blog, post in eco forums or joined a green group on Facebook, I owe you a big thank you. Incidentally, today is 'digital day' of Energy Saving Week, so if you're chatting with mates online, spread some of these tips. In the photo, from left to r ight: Joy Greasley (WI) Kai Boschman DSGI (DIXONS),Rachel Bradley B&Q, Philip Selwood CEO Energy Saving Trust, Adam Vaughan environmental journalist,PM,Joan Ruddock,Dr Martin Blake Royal Mail,Andrew Fisk Proctor and Gamble,David Shreeve C of E.

A list of top green communities (please add your own!)

In case you missed starter's orders, Energy Saving Week is underway, and this year's big theme is communities. Which is the most influential - the church? The WI? Local towns? My main green community is online: this blog, other blogs, on forums, Facebook, on my Delicious links and elsewhere. Here's a big list of links to green communities I like, after the click-through.

Natural Collection site gets a makeover

Check it out. It's a big improvement on navigation and design.

Who are your green online communities?

Next week's Energy Saving Week, and on Monday I'm joining the EST (the organisers) at a round-table talk with big-wigs from businesses, NGOs and religious groups. I'll be chatting to them about the wired green web, so I wanted to hear from you - which online green communities do you hang out in? Do you post comments on blogs such as Treehugger and Hippyshopper? Do you live in forums like Friends of the Earths' and New Builder's? Or are you on Facebook 24/7 lapping up the I Am Green and Greenbook apps? Let me know in the comments and I'll spread the word next week with some influential men and women.

Digital switch, TV reuse and me

Sorry for all the 'me-me-me', but for housekeeping's sake here's a link to a piece in last weekend's Telegraph quoting me blabbing away about reusing and recycling your telly if you're switching to digital. For all those Whitehaveners - try giving your old TVs away or flogging them before going down recycle road.

Me on The Compost Heap (an interview)

The ever industrious Jason of Ethical Jobs - who seems to launch a new green site every week and makes me feel lazy - has run an interview with me on his new eco interviews blog, The Compost Heap. There's also with one with Chris, a chap who runs a recycling firm.

My fling with Eco Wool insulation

Saw your own breath this morning? Yep, it's nippy out, which is why I headed over to B&Q last weekend to pile up on insulation bric-a-brac for the house. The Heater Wars have already begun at Chez Vaughan, with my wife and I alternately turning it on and off, so I've decided to try and trap as much heat as possible. I'll extrapolate on the radiator foil, thermostatic valves, foam stuff and other such scintillating hot products soon, but for now I want to talk loft insulation. Specifically, the eight bags I bought of B&Q's new cheapo green option, Eco Wool.

Thousands due at St Pauls' climate rally this lunch

I've just got back from the preparations for this lunch's Cut the Carbon rally at St Pauls church in London - and it looks good. There'll be 2,000+ people attending, according to organisers Christian Aid. If you're in the vicinity - that's all office monkeys in zone one, me included - then pop along at 12.45 to hear a samba band and bunch of speakers talking at 1pm. The cause: making sure the gov's Climate Bill is a tough one, with an 80 per cent CO2 cut by 2050, rather than the current out-moded 60 per cent aim.