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Get the 'bear facts' on climate change

nationalgridfloe.jpgThere are lots of sites offering tips on how to reduce your carbon footprint, but few are as pretty as Nationalgridfloe, which transports you to an iceberg for an arctic lesson on climate change courtesy of a family of polar bears.

I've been on the site this morning, playing with my adopted baby bear ("Buffy"). My eco-knowledge meant that I won quite a few fish for my pixelated friend, but sadly my throwing abilities were lacking, and I now have a very hungry cub haunting my desktop. Can you do better? It's good relaxing fun and you might even learn something. Give it a go here.

Related: Free rice: help the hungry while you skive | Raise a virtual tree from your desk

Posted by AbiSilvester on July 15, 2008 10:20 AM in Games
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Environmentally friendly board games from Green Board Games

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If you're looking for an alternative to watching your parents fall asleep in front of the Queen's Speech on Christmas day, you might want to invest in some gifts from Green Board Games to keep everyone occupied after the last bite of Xmas pud's gone down. As the company name suggests, Green Board Games products are made from recycled or recyclable materials, or using wood from managed forests. They sell a large selection of different games - both reproductions of existing games and games original to Green Board Games. Their range of educational games is particularly impressive - whether you want to teach your children about gravity, or test your knowledge of fractions in French, Green Board Games has it all!

Related: The Great Ethical Toy Guide

Posted by Charlotte Dingle on November 5, 2007 3:27 PM in Ethical & green gifts| Games
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Free Rice: Help the hungry while you skive

free%20rice.jpgFinding it hard to kickstart your brain on a Monday? Can't focus on work? Here's a fun language game to distract you that won't make you feel too guilty...

Free Rice, an offshoot of the excellent World Poverty Site, is a variation on all those other sites that allow you to donate just by clicking on a link. What makes this one so effective, though, is its addictive element; it's a word game that flashes up increasingly 'obscure' English words, then asks you to identify the correct meaning.

Each time you get the answer right, ten grains of rice are donated to hungry people in developing countries. This is distributed by the World Food Programme, wherever famine strikes.

So if you're in a bit of a lull and about to put on the kettle, why not give Free Rice a go. It'll sharpen your own vocabulary, and make you feel a whole lot better about skiving!

Related: Feed the hungry for free with The hunger site

Posted by AbiSilvester on October 22, 2007 2:02 PM in Games
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Sim City gets its own virtual windfarm

sim%20city%20Wind%20Farm%20small.jpgNothing is real until it's been immortalised in Sim City (or the Simpsons) and climate change has now had a namecheck in both. I think we can call that progress!

More specifically, Sim City Societies, the latest edition of the world-domination game that's been a hit since 1989, has made energy saving and carbon reduction an important goal for players, allowing them to build their own windfarms and make other renewable energy choices to reduce Sim City's carbon footprint.

The game does not force players to power their cities any specific way, but allows them to make choices, each of which come with advantages and disadvantages.

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Posted by Abi Silvester on October 12, 2007 11:12 AM in Arts & information| Friday fun| Games| Green News| Green gadgets
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Raise a Virtual Tree

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Tamagotchi should watch their backs. Virtual trees are the next big thing.

Children can learn more about the environment and climate change by at Raise A Tree

This nifty variation on a virtual pet allows children to raise their own virtual tree anywhere in the world. If their tree is unlucky enough to suffer from a natural disaster that affects its growth the child will learn about what happened and why.

Posted by Emma McNeil on June 26, 2007 9:16 AM in Games| Kids stuff
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Recycled tyre animal swings

bull1.jpgI stumbled upon these amazing swings purely by chance, and I’m glad I did. With summer almost here, and the weather men/women promising us a scorcher this year, what better gift for the children? Imagine your children spending summer afternoons in the garden being active and close to nature rather than in front of the tv or pc or computer games console. These recycled tyre animal swings are designed by artist Patrick Palumbo from New Jersey, USA. These are the original recycled tyre animal swings and are tested to BS EN Standards and are the only tyre animal swings to be CE approved. So they’re safe, ethical and great fun. All you need is a suitable tree to hang them from, and at least one child of course!

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Posted by Andrew Chrysostomou on May 10, 2007 6:16 PM in Games
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Turn it all off! Then have a lovely weekend...

turn-off.gifI probably don't need to remind you that it's Friday, but I don't think the point can ever be overstated. So in the appropriate spirit, here's a little a little diversion to keep you entertained til hometime. Turn it all off is a fun little game with a message that should become obvious pretty quickly...

I'm going to dedicate this one to our very own Shiny Katie, who does a stirling job keeping Shiny Towers as eco friendly as possible (and woe betide anyone who leaves their PC on standby at the end of the day!) She's out of the office today, so with any luck, this should remind us all to switch off before we scarper...

Posted by Abi Silvester on February 23, 2007 1:34 PM in Games
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