Welcome to G-lish.

“G” stands for many things. It’s the first letter of the foundation we support in, erm, Ghana: G-lish Foundation. (If you’re itching for the gifts, scroll down!)

Global

“G” also stands for “Global”: our outlook. That’s because the choices you and I make today—our brand of coffee or tea, our clothing, our shoes, and even our Christmas gifts—impact, for better or worse, a chain of inter-connected human beings around the Globe.

We will show you the impact of our consumer choices and provide solutions that please both people and our planet.

Green

G is also the first letter of “Green,” which represents all things environmental. In fact, a certain frog once sung: “It’s not easy being green…”

We ask: What about “reducing green-house gases”? “Could you make money online from green sources?” We’ll keep you posted on that here too.

Generation

“G” also stands for “Generation,” those future folks we strive to save from our past and present excesses and help to make a greener world.

Our names also begin with G.

One of us is called Gayle, an Australian. Incidentally, when she lived in Japan, one of Gayle’s nicknames was “frog.” Gayle becomes “Gaeru” (phonetically) which sounds like “Kaeru”: frog in Japanese. And while the Muppets were banned in her childhood home, much to her chagrin at the time, she was permitted to watch Monkey Magic, Dr Who, Are You Being Served, Fawlty Towers, and The Goodies, from age five. She still wonders how Mrs Slocombe was more acceptable than Miss Piggy to the parents of a five year old. (And now she chooses not to articulate the obvious alPhabetical gag.) Anyway, Fawlty Towers was a favourite and, later, so was A Fish Called Wanda, among other Pythonesque offerings.

Another one of us is called G-G-Godwin. (The frog is now hopping back in the other direction.) Godwin is a common male name in the northern part of Ghana. Godwin has spent his life committed to improving circumstances for some of the world’s poorest people, particularly where G-lish Foundation now operates. While Gayle was forbidden from certain frog-tastic TV shows as a child, Godwin’s family did not own a television until a few years ago. It simply was not an option.

Global Gaps

And while lack of television is not the greatest horror of all global inequities, it is an obvious difference. Would you give up TV? Are you prepared to die when you get sick because there are no medical services or you simply cannot afford them? What about giving up dental care? Would you eat the same food day in, day out, forever? That’s the reality for many people where G-lish operates and across the developing world. Some people don’t have a choice. And, to put it crudely, these global gaps suck.

Godwin and Gayle, and guest writers too, will share their knowledge and experience to demonstrate how we can reduce the gaps, prosper and be kind to our global brothers and sisters and our planet because, let’s face it:

no planet = no frogs, no elephants, no whales, no Harry Potter, no books—full stop, actually, no waterfalls (or too many waterfalls), no Man U (we know a few people who’d like no Man U—but that ain’t the point, right?), no beer, no coral reefs, no sushi, no Yankees, no chocolate—fair trade or otherwise, no spin bowlers, no diversity, no Leonard Cohen, no Facebook friends, no air travel and, no daiquiris by the pool, most importantly, no you and me. In other words, no human civilization and a very f*cked up natural world.

F! (or the letter before G)

Since you’re still reading, we’re guessing you see the need for extra emphasis in the last sentence. In fact, in his article We’re Hot as Hell and We’re Not Going To Take it Any More, Bil McKibben, a Methodist Sunday school teacher said, of global warming, “This is fucked up. The time has come to get mad, and then get busy.”

Greenhouse Gases

We’re particularly passionate about how we can reduce greenhouse gas emissions so as to stem global warming. It’s really not that difficult to make small changes that will have significant impacts so that we can each do our best to help stay below critical carbon emissions levels. We will demonstrate how we make this reality. We’ll explain how you can help. We’ll also help you understand the deal with CO2, NO2 and methane–the three big emissions culprits.

First, you can subscribe to receive updates from G-lish so you can follow the tips and guides on how to make stress-free changes to your habits that our children will thank us for.

*Bill McKibben is founder of 350.org.