Former Beatle and life-long animal and environment friend Sir Paul McCartney has joined Greenpeace's campaign to help Save the Arctic. In a statement, the musician writes about 1968, a year revolution was in the air - much like 2012 - and when a single image of delicate Earth was captured from space, Earthrise. As McCartney writes 'that single image made such an impact on the human psyche that it's credited with sparking the birth of the global environment movement - with changing the very way we think about ourselves.'

Forty years later, and with the polar ice rapidly melting, McCartney has joined the Greenpeace movement to fight the oil giants moving in to digging up the Arctic seabed in search of find fossil fuels.

"Since Earthrise was taken we've been so busy warming our world that it now looks radically different from space. By digging up fossil fuels and burning our ancient forests we've put so much carbon into the atmosphere that today's astronauts are looking at a different planet."

Speaking about his dedication to the cause McCartney notes: 'Here's something that just baffles me. As the ice retreats, the oil giants are moving in. Instead of seeing the melting as a grave warning to humanity, they're eyeing the previously inaccessible oil beneath the seabed at the top of the world. They're exploiting the disappearance of the ice to drill for the very same fuel that caused the melting in the first place. Fossil fuels have colonized every corner of our Earth, but at some time and in some place we need to say, "No more." I believe that time is now and that place is the Arctic."

To date more than one million have signed up at www.savethearctic.org to show their support for the campaign. As an Arctic native I've already signed it. And I think you should too.

And you can, like Sir Paul join the Arctic Rising online movement, which gives you the chance to be one of five Arctic animals - a polar bear, a snowy owl, an Arctic fox, a walrus or a narwhal. No prize for guessing which one Sir Paul is...

[via Huffington Post]

As someone who grew up in the Arctic regions, I often joke about polar bears roaming the streets of my small home town when meeting people of a more southern latitude. This is of course not true, but could it be the future when polar bears and other Arctic animals are driven out of their natural habitat as the polar ice melts..? Or will they simply become extinct?

'The melting Arctic is under threat from oil drilling, industrial fishing and conflict', Greenpeace UK writes on its website as they are looking for people to sign their Save the Arctic petition.

Accompanying the campaign is a short video of a homeless polar bear roaming around London, ignored by everyone, as she looks for food. The video which highlights the plight of the Arctic is voiced by actor Jude Law and comes with a Radiohead soundtrack.

The Arctic ice is melting, facing threat from both climate change and oil drilling. As more of the ice disappears oil companies are moving in to get their hands ion the fossil fuels that are behind the devastating polar ice melting in the first place. Greenpeace, among others, is working to halt climate change and avoid the catastrophe waiting to happen.

You can help by signing their Save the Arctic petition - once it has reached 1 million signatures Greenpeace will plant all names and a Flag for the Future on the bottom of the ocean at the top of the world.

I have signed it and so have over 500,000 others - will you?

On September 24 over 150 countries will join in on the Moving Planet day to help put the focus on the global climate crisis and spend a day without fossil fuels.

In Moving Planet's own words "for too long, our leaders have denied and delayed, compromised and caved," it is now time to call for the world to go beyond fossil fuels. It doesn't matter if you're marching, biking or skating, just get around in a sustainable way.

On Thursday, people all over the world are organising events that work locally but have a potential global impact: cycle to work, drum up a non-violent march against the use of fossil fuels, or to get your local community to hold a mini-festival with fun, food and talks about creating a sustainable future. The more people that join in the more effect our actions will have!

The global fossil fuel infrastructure is a threat to our planet's future; it is polluting our oceans, our lands, our communities , our air and our lungs. Don't be part of the things that will tip climate change into climate catastrophe - take action now!

If you live in or around London, UK, we found a couple of interesting events that might be worth joining in on:

Camden up Close: a treasure trail

Camden Friends of the Earth will host a treasure hunt that will link some excellent eco haunts, hidden green spaces, unique shops, pubs and cafes using sustainable transport to explore trendy Camden.

To take part, pick up your treasure trail map and instructions from our stall at Camden Lock (outside Lock 17), between 10am and 12 noon on Saturday 24 September.

Be part of London's biggest bike aerial photo - Haggerston Park, Hoxton

Bring yourself - and your bike if you want - to be part of a gigantic aerial art image to create London's biggest ever bike! With an aim to show how transport is a key part of reducing the use of fossil fuel this is a fun event that is certain to get much attention.

To take part, RSVP via their Facebook events page and get to Haggerston Park (nearest tube station is Hoxton) for 12 noon - 3pm on Saturday 24 September.

Check out the video below for more information about Moving Planet:

Sunday 5 June is World Environment Day (WED) which is an annual event aimed at being the biggest and most widely celebrated global day for positive environmental action.

WED celebration began in 1972 and has grown to become the one of the main vehicles through which the UN stimulates worldwide awareness of the environment and encourages political attention and action.

It is a day for people from all walks of life to come together and ensure a cleaner, greener and brighter outlook for both themselves and generations to come.

This year the theme is Forests: Nature at your service (there is some interesting facts about forests below)

Now every little thing counts here: you can organise a clean-up of your neighbourhood or street; take a vow to stop using plastic bags; plant a tree or do some urban guerrilla gardening; leave the car and walk to work; or start recycling more. If you're lacking ideas check out the WED Pack for inspiration.

Now back to the forests...

Forests cover one third of the earth's land mass, performing vital functions and services around the world which make our planet alive with possibilities. In fact, 1.6 billion people depend on forests for their livelihoods. They play a key role in our battle against climate change, releasing oxygen into the atmosphere while storing carbon dioxide.

Short-term investments for immediate gains (e.g., logging) compound these losses. People who depend on forests for their livelihoods are struggling to survive. Many precious species face extinction. Biodiversity is being obliterated. What's more, economists around the world have proven that by not integrating the values of forests into their budgets, countries and businesses are paying a high price. One that ultimately impoverishes us all as harm to our forest life-support system continues each and every single day.

Despite being stuck in the office for most of National Vegetarian Week, 23 to 29 May (shouldn't we all be out and about doing a bit of urban gardening or enjoying a glass of cold organic apple cider this sunny Wednesday 25 May - it is in London at least!), there are lots of things you can do to make it a bit more fun.

Share vegetarian recipes with your work colleagues. Not only is this a great way to spread the word about how fantastic vegetables are, but also a good way to try new dishes!

Use Google to locate a vegetarian eatery near your office and get everyone (or the colleagues you like best) to go for lunch together. Not only could it be a new experience, it will give you some time out of the office to chat to the people you spent most of your time with. Who knows, you might learn something new about them! If you live or work in the capital, check out our top 5 vegetarian restaurants in London.

Alternatively, head to your local Lush store during your lunch break and let the cheerful staff guide you through some of their products. Tip: they will give you a hand massage if you show interest in their massage bars! The perfect way to get rid of some stress and you might even find yourself leaving with a sample or two.

Whether you eat fish or not, could you ever imagine a world without fish in the sea?

London landmark retailer Selfridges has launched a new initiative with the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) called Project Ocean through which the department store is collaborating with campaigners to increase awareness, inspire consumers to change their habits and to raise funds to help the world's marine life.

Launched today, 11 May 2011, the project is both a celebration of the oceans and a forum for conservationists to issue and urgent appeal for people to address issues of sustainability, overfishing and marine protection.

If we continue like today, we might experience a world with no more fish in the sea in the near future - and we don't want that!

Driven by this unthinkable prospect, Selfridges has given itself over to leading international marine protection campaigners and 22 environmental NGOs as well as high profile activists from the worlds of art, fashion, culinary arts and entertainment.
From today until 12 June Project Ocean will take over the store. Everything from its iconic windows, façade and atrium, to The Wonder Room, foodhall and restaurant will be transformed in homage to the ocean. The Ultralound will act as the hub of all activity so make sure you head down there to see it for yourself! Every Friday evening for five weeks, the Ultralounge will also emerge as the Dive Bar, and be host to musical acts and performances.

Easter is over and you're feeling all the fairtrade chocolate you devoured over the long weekend. But there are only three working days until we can do it all again! With the royal wedding on Friday and May Bank holiday next Monday us Brits are set for another long weekend (perhaps a bit less sunny and less chocolatey) than the one just gone.

If you're lost for ideas of what to do on 1 May, this cool event we came across on Facebook might be just the thing!

Sunday 1 May 2001 sees the fifth International Sunflower Guerrilla Gardening Day, where guerrilla gardeners around the world unite to sow sunflowers wherever they see fit - such a nice way to bring some beauty to the neighbourhoods.

According to event listing on Facebook by GuerillaGardening.org "make a plan for 1 May and head out to a patch of public land" and we're guessing with some sunflower seeds and get planting!

If you want to see more of what the idea is check out this YouTube clip, and if you're taking part share your photos on Facebook and Flickr.
Happy sunflower planting!

On our daily quest to find the eco movements out there we came across Green Office Week - yes there is a week for everything these days.

It's all good being green at home, but what is the state of your office? A 2010 Avery environmental survey found that one in three office workers has a lazy attitude when it comes to looking after the environment at work, despite 69% believing that being eco-friendly at work will make a substantial difference to the environment.

Simply by making a few small changes you can make a difference to the environment - something we all should be doing every day of the year. Green Office Week (GOW) runs from Monday 9th May to Friday 13th May this year and is encouraging you to make your office greener by daily themes. So why not use this year's Green Office Week as a start to a greener office environment!

Check out the gallery below to see how you can make your office greener in just five steps!

The world's leading animal welfare and environmental organisation WWF are currently trying to raise vital funds to help protect the forest home of the spectacled bear. As part of this appeal they have teamed up with origami expert Joseph Wu to challenge you to make an origami spectacled bear!

Here at Hippyshopper we're always up for a challenge, so we invested in some green (our colour), recycled paper (only the finest for the bears), and followed the step-by-step video instructions below.

Spectacled Bear from Joseph Wu on Vimeo.

In hindsight the paper was perhaps a wee bit too thick for origami, but the result was pretty decent!

We've shared our green paper bear on WWF's Facebook page - will you?!

Follow Hippyshopper on Facebook.

Did you know that a plant on your desk will make you happier and healthier at work? According to an Australian Facebook campaign by the Nursery & Garden Industry of Australia designed to help people improve their plant/life balance, having a plant around will "brighten up your workspace, help reduce office noise, improve air quality and heaps more."

Earlier this week, on March 2, the people behind Put A Plan On Your Desk gave away over 20,000 plants at major train stations across Australia, with each plant having a special code that has to be activated through a Facebook app.

The app then teaches you how to care for a plant on your desk at works, and challenges you, your friends and co-workers to be part of a 12 week experience. Being part of this growing community of plant enthusiasts - and keeping your little green friend alive! - could also win you some great prizes, including a holiday to The Daintree Eco Lodge & Spa in Cairns (somehow we think this competition is only open to Australian residents...).

If you don't have a plant and don't know which one to get, the app also has a matchmaking feature that finds the perfect plant for your personality! No excuses anymore.

The first person to swim long distance in every ocean, Lewis Pugh, 40,  has just completed his biggest challenge so far - a 1Km swim across a glacial lake on Everest at 5,300m.

Hippyshopper caught up with him at Speedo's Covent Garden store to talk about his 'extreme swims' and how he uses them to raise awareness about the dangers of climate challenge. His book, Achieving the Impossible, is out now.

How are you feeling after your challenge?
I've got a terrible sore throat. There is a lot of dust up on Everest and you can't wear a face mask while you're swimming like the climbers do.

How do you prepare for your extreme swims?
I do a huge amount of physical training, swimming in cold water, but the most important thing is to get the mind right. That's the most challenging thing because as soon as you jump in the water everything is saying to you 'get out' because it's so cold.

You have to keep on pushing. They used to talk in the SAS about the initials standing for Speed, Aggression, Surprise. When I left the SAS and went into swimming I decided that the best way to tackle cold was with speed and aggression. You have to just dive in and commit to it 100 per cent.

What influence does your time in the SAS have on what you do now?
It's huge. You really do learn how to survive in very difficult conditions and how to push boundaries and how to choose teams.  The team I've just taken up Everest was 38 people.  You have to choose every single one of those people really carefully.

It's not like if things go bad during the expedition you can change them. You've got to get the right people. My time in the SAS taught me how to identify the sort of people who can survive in very difficult conditions.

What was it like up on Everest?
The biggest difficulty was training for the altitude. It's a significant altitude. It's very difficult to breathe up there and all of us struggled. All of us were vomiting. As we were going up I sat in every single river to try and acclimatise my body and mind to the cold.

But I'm never swimming on Everest again. It's such a frightening place, just so difficult to breathe up there. You wake up at night and you're tossing and turning. I had very bad headaches and vomiting.

Just why did you choose to swim a glacial lake so high up on the mountain?
I chose that lake because I'm concerned about what's happening in the Himalayas. Those glaciers are beginning to retreat because of climate change and they provide water to nearly 2 billion people -one in three people in this world. There is a real risk of instability and conflict in the area unless we are able to stop climate change because we have India, Pakistan and China all relying on water from the Himalayas.

How did your love of the environment start?
Well it actually started with my father. He was at an atomic bomb test in 1952. He used to describe that moment when the bomb went off and afterwards when he had to go back to pick up all the dead animals. That left quite a mark on him. He really instilled in me the need to love and protect the environment.

Why do you just wear Speedos for your swims?
I do it for a number of reasons, but the main one is that I go round the world meeting heads of state and business leaders, trying to get them to understand what's happening, asking them to be courageous to enact laws to protect the environment.

If I'm asking them to be courageous I need to be courageous too. Also if you swam across the North Pole in a wetsuit I don't think you'd get any publicity. And these swims are about trying to raise publicity for the environment.

Can you tell us a little bit about the Polar Defence Project which you founded?
I did a swim across the north pole in 2007. Two months later the Russians sent a submarine there and planted a flag on the seabed. What they were doing is trying to claim all the rights for drilling for oil and gas all the way up to the north pole.

We've all seen what's happening now with BP's oil well in the Gulf of Mexico. I feel the Arctic should not be exploited - it should be one big national park. It's not for the countries around there to start cutting it up and drilling for oil and gas. We should be moving to renewable energy.

How long do you think it will be before the glaciers have melted completely?
I don't like to make predictions because we don't know what's going to happen. But there's a glacier just north of Mount Everest that has lost 350ft of depth in 90 years. I don't know how long it's going to take but what I've seen already really frightens me.

So what's next?

A bit of a rest. I'm moving from being a swimmer to being an environmental campaigner. I can't see me doing this for a lot longer. It's so extreme. It's really a young man's game.

I've got a couple more swims planned but not in cold water!

Thanks to Speedo.co.uk for arranging the interview with Lewis

Adventurer Lewis Pugh, known as the 'human polar bear' for his extreme swimming challenges, has safely crossed a glacial lake on Mount Everest to raise awareness of global warming.

Pugh, who has previously swum in Antarctica and the North Pole, not only had to battle extremely low temperatures of 2 degrees centigrade (36 fahrenheit) without a wet suit, he also had to cope with altitude sickness at over 5,300m.

"It's one of the hardest swims I've ever undertaken," said the 40 year old. "Swimming 20 metres at full speed in the test swim I felt I was going to drown."

"I was deeply concerned I wouldn't make 1km and I'm delighted that I've finally achieved it...I had to find a delicate balance between going too fast in which case I might drown due to hyperventilation and going too slowly and risk dying of hyperthermia."

Lewis says he took part in the swim to bring the "world's attention" to the melting of glaciers and its effect on the region.

He said: ''The glaciers in the Himalayas are not just ice. They are a lifeline - they provide water to approximately two billion people.''

Lewis swam the 1Km challenge in 22mins 55 seconds.

Via Goggleblog

You can see the swim on YouTube below:

See why Lewis Pugh completed the challenge on YouTube below:

Everybody's favourite TV geek crush, David Tennant of Dr Who fame, has joined up with Oxfam to offer an online climate challenge, writes ShinyShiny's Anna Leach. You must guide David to answer questions about climate change, and pick the correct option out of three or four answers.

Watch David Tennant screw his face up as he tries to figure out how many wind turbines China builds every day. You make the celeb answer by clicking one of the three or four answers, you get a mark for what time you chose it in, and then the celebrity says your answer. Other stars involved include: Ashley Lensen, Mackenzie Crook and Miranda Richardson.

Games include: Boiling Point; Trains, Planes and Bananas; and Pollution Solution.

There's a button to sign an Oxfam petition on climate change and an option to share the game on your Facebook account. Oxfam have also hooked the climate challenge up with Nokia phones, so it's available as an Ovi app.

It's a moreish way of getting people to swallow some hard facts on Climate Change.

http://www.theclimatechallenge.org/

Related: Weird Website of the Week: Dalston Oxfam Shop

One week in, and new year's resolutions that seemed like a good idea at the time are beginning to take their toll. Why not forget trying to detox (it's terribly unfashionable anyway) and worrying about your nailbiting habit and think about making some longer-term goals that will help the planet instead?

I've been compiling a list of the best lifestyle changes you can make to green up your life, none of which are a major hassle for you, but all of which will make a really positive impact if we all try and bear them in mind.

Follow the jump for green new year's resolutions 6-10

Related: 20 ways to green up your life in 2009 #1-5

Fearing I was on to a loser, I didn't mention this particular challenge before I did it, but having decided to try and stick to green and ethical gifts this Christmas by taking the Handmade Pledge. I'm reporting back on my undercover operation now to say that it's all going surprisingly well. I'd already made the painful decision not to send Christmas cards this year (I'm a sucker for a well-designed card, but the online versions I found this year made it worth forgoing them) and having visited a street market this weekend, may have just cracked it. It started with a jar of chutney...

Related: Green Challenge #2: energy monitoring week | Green Challenge #1: Leftover food week