The traditionally incompatible worlds of computing and the green movement have, in recent years slowly started to sidle up to each other, and are set to become quite keen bedfellows. With everyone from IBM to Apple taking steps to green their organisation, and more and more people realising that those promoting the green cause may actually have a point, Green is clearly big business in the world of IT.

Against this backdrop of technological eco-awareness, The Register are running their first Green Computing Debate tonight (February 27th). It aims to “give you the chance to find out how the great Green rush is going to affect you”. You will have the opportunity to have your say about the movement, and find out what the options are for making your tech more eco-friendly.

The whole thing takes place online tonight at 6pm, and you can register for free here. Don’t worry if you can’t make it, we’ll be keeping an eye on the whole thing, and summarising the main findings tomorrow.

It is now impossible to walk down the high street or through a shopping mall without seeing the mark made by multinational coffee companies, which have in recent years made coffee the most valuable trading commodity in the world after oil.

The difference, however, in the price we pay for our latte or cappuccino, and the price paid to the farmers of the original bean, is so extreme that many farmers have been forced to give up the coffee fields as it is simply no longer viable to continue.

In Black Gold, British filmmakers Marc and Nic Francis follow the fate of Tadesse Meskela as he travels the world in an attempt to find buyers willing to pay a fair price for the coffee produced by the 74,000 farmers he represents.

Black Gold receives it’s UK network television premiere tonight (26/02/08)at 10pm on More4, and is certainly recommended viewing for anyone who cares about where their coffee comes from.

Trailer after the jump

“The threat from climate change is perhaps the greatest challenge facing our world. Without decisive and urgent action, it has the potential to be an economic disaster and an environmental catastrophe. This is why I have made it a top priority for this Government, both domestically and internationally.”
Tony Blair, March 2007

These are the opening words of the Climate Change Bill, which finally goes before parliament this Spring. The Bill has been the subject of extensive campaigns from over fifty organisations going under the I-Count banner for a number of years, as it offers a huge opportunity for the UK government to make a firm commitment to cutting the nation’s emissions.
More after the jump

While we’re still investigating the green credentials of Obama, Clinton and McCain, here’s an amusing look at Presidential initiatives designed to reduce the White House carbon footprint before they even knew it had one.

Little-known green factoids about US presidents throughout history

The sheep? They belonged to Woodrow Wilson who introduced them during the First World War to keep the grass short.