Google Earth Outreach has teamed up with Met Office Hadley Centre and British Antartic Survey to produce new layers for the Google Earth maps which show climate change will affect the world in the future. The Met Office shows how future predicted temperatures will affect certain parts of the world whilst the British Antartic Survey layer shows ice caps retreating. Both are fully animated with stunning pictures of the Antartic.

The Big Green Challenge from the NESTA (National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) is a £1 million prize fund designed to encourage and reward people working together.  The competition is designed to encourage new solutions to climate change, which can be repeated across different communities to big reductions in CO₂ emissions over a large scale.  The competition is now down to the last 100 groups and are currently being judged by green guru's such as Jack Strawbridge and Dale Vince.

Launched in April 2006 to replace the DTI Clear Skies and Solar PV programmes, the Low Carbon Buildings programme offers information and grants on microgeneration techniques such as wind turbines, biomass boilers and photovoltaics. Grants are available for householders, community groups, public, not for profit and commercial organisations. More information is available from the Low Carbon Buildings Programme website.

Staff in the Environmental Action Team at Leicestershire County Council have recently completed a feasibility study into the conversion of agricultural and food waste into renewable energy. Further information can be obtained from the Leicestershire Rural Partnership website.

Breathing Spaces is helping people to get involved in with wildlife projects in their local area whether that be transforming a piece of wasteland for wildlife, rejunvinating an existing nature reserve or creating a haven for wildlife in backgardens. The BBC in partnership with wildlife organisations is helping to transform thousands of places across the UK to improve them for people and wildlife. To find out more visit the Breathing Spaces website for a wealth of information and handy hints on creating wildlife sites, Springwatch, grant schemes and sign up to the newsletter.

If you would like to get involved in some nature conservation projects locally then contact either British Trust for Conservation Volunteers, (BTCV) Tel. 0116 255 3515 or the Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust (LRWT) Tel. 0116 272 0444. The ENABLE Community Action Pack also contains lots of useful tips for setting up a community wildlife or green spaces project

Every Action Counts is a three-year initiative to boost grassroots efforts to protect the environment and tackle climate change and is aimed at all community groups, clubs and societies big and small, urban and rural who can all do something simple to help make a big difference. Examples fitting energy-saving light bulbs in community meeting rooms, appointing an energy champion to monitor bills, car-sharing to club events and collecting paper or cans from group members to recycle together. Every Action Counts helps local community groups with free access to information, action planning tools, publications and trained Community Champions.

For further information on the Every Action Counts initiative visit: www.everyactioncounts.org.uk